History of aviation – September 7, 1908. On this Monday, September 7, 1908, the French sculptor Léon Delagrange, who was seduced by aerial locomotion, will take flight to try to become the record holder for duration in gliding flight. It was the day after his magnificent 24.40 kilometer flight completed in 29 minutes and 53 seconds that the pilot attempted to take on this ambitious challenge.
It is above the town of Issy-les-Moulineaux that the aviator will make his test, taking off for this purpose in the early morning of September 7, 1908, installed at the controls of his Voisin-Delagrange No. 3 aircraft. which is none other than a biplane type aircraft. Delagrange making his attempt under the control of Mr. Fournier, but also of Captain Ferber and Louis Blériot.
If Léon Delagrange will succeed in surpassing the performance established by the American Wilbur Wright by no less than 10 minutes, he will unfortunately not succeed in obtaining the long-awaited record, flying only 28 minutes and 1 1/5 seconds, which is all in all quite remarkable, but not enough…
