History of aviation – October 2, 1906. On September 30, 1906, “the kickoff” of the Gordon Bennett Cup was given, a competition between aeronauts. The principle of the event, of which James Gordon Bennett is at the origin, namely an American press magnate, is simple: the competitors must complete the longest flight in terms of distance. And on October 2, 1906, the winners were finally revealed, since the “Britannia” balloon measuring 2,250 cubic meters piloted by Charles S. Roll and Colonel Capper finally landed near Hull, this one was the last one expected to carry out the classification.
All the competing crews have completed their raid and after checking the distances covered, an American crew wins the prize. Traveling with a balloon of no less than 2,080 cubic meters, bearing the name “the United States”, Franck P. Lahm and Major Hersey were declared winners of this first edition of the Gordon Bennett Cup.
The fifteen other crews competing in this cup bowed to their magnificent performance: racing from the Jardins des Tuileries in Paris to Flynghall, they covered a distance of 640 kilometers.
