Henry de La Vaulx | |
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| Born | 2 April 1870 Bierville, France |
| Died | 18 April 1930 (aged 60) Jersey City, New Jersey |
| Cause of death | Aviation accident |
| Resting place | Castle Rozoy-Bellevalle. 48°55′25″N 3°27′22″E / 48.923611°N 3.456111°E |
| Monuments |
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| Nationality | French |
| Known for | cofounder of Aero Club of France, 1898; cofounder of FAI, 1905 |
| Awards | Grand Medal of the Aero Club of France, 1900 |
| Aviation career | |
| Full name | Comte Henry de La Vaulx |
| Famous flights | 1900 ballooning distance record |
Henry de La Vaulx (1870–1930) was a French balloonist, author, and cofounder of major French and international aeronautical associations.
He was born in Bierville, France on April 2, 1870.
From March 1896 to May 1897 he stayed with native tribes in Patagonia, and later wrote a book about this experience.
In 1898, he co-founded the Aero Club of France with Ernest Archdeacon, Léon Serpollet, Henri de la Valette, Jules Verne, Honorine de Viane Morel Verne, André Michelin, Albert de Dion, Alberto Santos-Dumont, and Henry Deutsch de la Meurthe.[1]
On Oct 9, 1900 he and a companion set a distance record in a balloon traveling 1200 miles from Vincennes to Korostyshiv near Kiev (Now Ukraine, then in Russia) in 35.75 hours.[2][3][user-generated source][4] Also in 1900 he received the Grand Medal of the Aero Club of France for exceptional contributions to the progress of aviation.
In 1905 he cofounded and became a director of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI).[5] The FAI now awards the De la Vaulx Medal, named for him. He visited the United States several times for ballooning ventures and the New York Times described him as one of the "most successful and daring balloonists in the world."[6]
He developed airships for the Zodiac company.
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Further information: List of Zodiac airships |
He published a dozen books, mostly on aviation.
He lived in the castle Rozoy-Bellevalle.
He died when a scheduled flight between Montreal, Canada and Newark, NJ that he was on collided with power lines on approach to Newark on April 18, 1930,[7] and was buried in the Rozoy-Bellevalle cemetery.
