{{Short description|French aviation pioneer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Ernest Archdeacon | image = Ernest Archdeacon circa 1890s.jpg | image_upright = 0.9 | caption = Archdeacon in the 1890s | birth_date = {{birth date|1863|03|23|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Paris]], France | death_date = {{death date and age|1950|01|03|1863|03|23|df=y}} | death_place = [[Versailles (city)|Versailles]], France | occupation = [[Lawyer]] | organization = [[Aéro-Club de France]] | known_for = [[Aviation pioneer]]ing | signature = Lepassepresent autographe ernest-archdeacon.jpg }}
'''Ernest Archdeacon''' (23 March 1863 – 3 January 1950) was a French lawyer and [[aviation pioneer]] before the [[First World War]]. He made his first balloon flight at the age of 20. He commissioned a copy of the [[Wright Glider#1902 glider|1902 Wright No. 3 glider]] but had only limited success. He was regarded as France's foremost promoter and sponsor of aviation, offering prizes (''Coupe d'Aviation Ernest Archdeacon'' and the ''Deutsch de la Meurthe-Archdeacon prize''), commissioning designs, and organising tests and events.
His most lasting contribution to aviation is the [[Aéro-Club de France]], the oldest aero-club in the world, which he co-founded in 1898.{{r|Hargrave}} On 29 May 1908, Archdeacon became the first aeroplane passenger in Europe when he was piloted by [[Henry Farman]] at [[Ghent]].
==Early life== Archdeacon was born and raised in Paris, and studied law for a career at the [[Bar (law)|bar]]. His passionate interest in science led him to also study ballooning and aviation, and in 1884, at age 20, he made his first balloon flight.
==Motoring== Archdeacon was a keen sporting motorist, taking part in many of the main events of the period.
In 1894 he finished 17th in the world's first motor race, driving his [[Serpollet]] steamer from [[Paris–Rouen (motor race)|Paris to Rouen]], covering the distance of {{convert|127|km|mi|abbr=on}} in 13 hours.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/upto1903/1894.html |title=TeamDan Motoring Results Archive - 1894 |access-date=2013-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924113830/http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/upto1903/1894.html |archive-date=2015-09-24 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
In 1896 he finished 7th in the [[1896 Paris–Marseille–Paris|Paris-Marseilles-Paris Trail]] driving a [[Delahaye]]. Covering the 1710 km in 75 hours 29 minutes 48 seconds. The event had 14 finishers from around 32 starters.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/upto1903/1896.html |title=TeamDan Motoring Results Archive - 1896 |access-date=2013-01-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924113832/http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/upto1903/1896.html |archive-date=2015-09-24 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
In 1897 he finished 21st in the Paris-Dieppe Trail on 24 July driving a Delahaye. Covering the 170.8 km in 5 hours 41 minutes 15 seconds at an average speed of 30 kilometres per hour. The event had 43 finishers from over 45 starters.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/upto1903/1897.html |title=TeamDan Motoring Results Archive - 1897 |access-date=2012-04-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170106114806/http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/upto1903/1897.html |archive-date=2017-01-06 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
In 1899 he finished 8th in the Nice-Castellane-Nice race on 21 March driving a Delahaye, covering the 120.7 km in 3 hours 40 minutes.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/upto1903/1899.html |title=TeamDan Motoring Results Archive - 1899 |access-date=2012-04-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924113836/http://www.teamdan.com/archive/gen/upto1903/1899.html |archive-date=2015-09-24 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==The Aero Club of France== On 20 October 1898, in partnership with the oil magnate [[Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe]]. Archdeacon founded the Aéro-Club de France, which is still the official authority of the organization of sports aviation in France. Other founding members included the Marquis de Fonvielle, Count [[Henri de la Vaulx]] and Count Henri de la Valette. The first president of the Aero Club in 1900 was the Marquis [[Jules-Albert de Dion]].
==Sponsor of aviation== In April 1900, the [[Aéro-Club de France]] announced the 'Deutsch de la Meurthe' prize of one hundred thousand francs for the first flying machine to complete the round trip from [[Saint-Cloud]] to the [[Eiffel Tower]] and back in less than thirty minutes. On 19 October 1901 [[Alberto Santos-Dumont]] won the prize in his airship No 6.
After learning about the [[Wright brothers]] glider flights from [[Octave Chanute]]'s lecture to the Aero Club de France on 2 April 1903, Archdeacon decided to further encourage the development of aviation in France. He was encouraged to do this by the pioneer French aviator Captain [[Ferdinand Ferber|Ferber]], who had written to Archdeacon demanding "Do not let the aeroplane be achieved in America first." Archdeacon donated 3000 francs to the "Archdeacon committee!" of the Aéro-Club de France to sponsor aviation competitions.{{r|La Vie 280}}
===Gliders=== In 1903, Archdeacon commissioned an imperfect copy of the [[Wright Glider#1902 glider|1902 Wright glider]]{{r|Cent Flight April}}{{r|US Cent}} from Monsieur Dargent at the military balloons and airships workshop at [[Chalais-Meudon]].{{r|Ville Meud}} It was a [[biplane]] with an [[fraxinus|ash]] framework covered with silk and braced with piano wire, and lacked the provision for lateral control that was the key to the success of the Wright Brothers' aircraft. It was described in ''La Vie au Grand Air'':{{r|La Vie 285}} {{quote|"The two wings, slightly convex from front to back, have a wingspan of {{convert|7.5|m|ft|abbr=on}}, a width of {{convert|1.4|m|ft|abbr=on}} and are separated vertically by {{convert|0.4|m|ft|abbr=on}}. Total area: 22 square meters. ...It has two rudders: the horizontal rudder at the front for the vertical direction and preparing landing by gradually decreasing the speed; and the vertical rudder at the back for getting the direction in the horizontal plane (steering). The ''aéroplane'' is very robust despite weighing only 34 kilograms.}}
The first experiments with this glider were conducted in April 1904 on the dunes at [[Merlimont]] near [[Berck-sur-Mer]], piloted by [[Gabriel Voisin]] and Captain Ferber.{{r|Ville Meud}}{{r|La Vie 293}}{{r|EarlyAvi}}
In March 1905, he commissioned a second glider from Voisin. In its unmanned first test, towed by a car, it broke apart in the air.{{r|Hargrave}}{{r|US Cent}}
A third glider, the '''Voisin-Archdeacon floatplane glider''', was then commissioned from Voisin. This aircraft marked the introduction to European aviation of the Hargrave cell, based on [[Lawrence Hargrave]]'s box-kites:<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith |last=Gibbs-Smith |first=C. H. |title=The Rebirth of European Aviation |location=[[London]] |publisher=[[HMSO]] |year=1974 |isbn=0-11290180-8 |page=159}}</ref> it was a three-bay biplane with side-curtains between the wings, a double-cell biplane tail and a forward elevator, and was fitted with a pair of floats. It was successfully tested on the [[Seine|River Seine]] at [[Boulogne-Billancourt]] using a boat to tow it between the bridges of [[Saint-Cloud]] and [[Sèvres]]. It rose to about {{convert|18|m|ft|abbr=on}} above the Seine and flew about {{convert|610|m|ft|abbr=on}}, but was damaged in its next test and never flew again,{{r|US Cent}} although further attempts were made on [[Lake Geneva]] in September.<ref>Gibbs-Smith, p. 158.</ref>
===Heavier-than-air powered flight=== In 1903 Ernest Archdeacon and the Aéro-Club de France announced the ''Coupe d'Aviation Ernest Archdeacon'', a silver trophy for the first flight of more than 25 metres by a 'heavier-than-air' craft.{{r|US Cent}} Later, the Aéro-Club de France offered a prize of 1500 francs to the first person to fly {{convert|100|m|ft|abbr=on}}.{{r|US Cent}}
In October 1904, Ernest Archdeacon joined [[Deutsch de la Meurthe]] to offer a prize of 50,000 francs for the first heavier-than-air flight around a one kilometre closed circuit. The sum represented about 20 times the annual earnings of a Parisian professional worker.{{r|Chadeau}} Archdeacon and de la Meurthe understood that apart from the Wrights (see below), all heavier-than-air flights had been in a straight line. The prize was intended to encourage the development of an airplane that could turn, so the prize winner would have to fly a closed circuit.{{r|Berget}}
The 25 metre prize was won{{r|WriB}} by [[Alberto Santos-Dumont]] on 23 October 1906 at [[Château de Bagatelle|Bagatelle]]. He went on to win{{r|WriB}} the 100 metre prize on 12 November 1906. The 1 kilometre prize was won by [[Henri Farman]] on 13 January 1908, at [[Issy-les-Moulineaux]].
==Archdeacon Aéromotocyclette Anzani== [[File:Aeromotocyclette2.jpg|thumb|Archdeacon's 'Aéro-Moto-Cyclette', September 1906]] [[File:Aéromotocyclette Anzani (1906).jpg|thumb|Aéromotocyclette Anzani (1906)]] In 1906 Archdeacon commissioned a propeller-driven motorcycle, the ''Aéromotocyclette Anzani'', which achieved a timed speed of 79.5 kilometres per hour at [[Achères-la-Forêt]].{{r|La Vie 418}}{{r|Collectif}} This ''aéromotocyclette'', based on a '[[Buchet]]' motorcycle,{{r|Oze}} was equipped with a 6-horsepower [[Anzani]] engine driving a propeller mounted on a {{convert|1.5|m|ft|abbr=on}} steel tube.{{r|Collectif}}{{r|La Vie 418}}{{r|Oze}} There is no evidence that he applied for a patent.
==Scepticism toward the Wright brothers== In November 1905 the Wright Brothers had written a letter to George Besançon, the editor of ''l'Aérophile'' describing their recent achievements in detail. The letter was published in the Paris sporting daily newspaper ''l'Auto'' on 30 November 1905, since Besançon was not able to publish it himself without delay.
This news polarized members of the Aero Club de France. A minority, including Besançon, Ferber and [[Henry Kapférer]], believed the claims of the Wright Brothers, but the majority, led by Archdeacon, thought that they were false. In 1906 the anti-[[Wright brothers]] sceptics in the European aviation community had converted the press. European newspapers, especially in France, were openly derisive, calling them ''bluffeurs'' (bluffers).{{r|WriB}} Archdeacon was publicly sceptical of the brothers' claims in spite of published reports; he wrote several articles and stated that "the French would make the first public demonstration of powered flight".{{r|US Cent}}
On 10 February 1906 the Paris edition of the ''[[New York Herald]]'' summed up Europe's opinion of the Wright brothers in an editorial: "The Wrights have flown or they have not flown. They possess a machine or they do not possess one. They are in fact either fliers or liars. It is difficult to fly. It's easy to say, 'We have flown.'" {{r|WriB}}
In August 1908, after Wilbur Wright's demonstrations at Les Hunaudières race course near [[Le Mans]], Archdeacon publicly admitted that he had done them an injustice.{{r|US Cent}}
==Aeroplane passenger== [[File:Farman-archdeacon-ghent.jpg|thumbnail|Archdeacon in Farman's Voisin Biplane in May 1908]] Ernest Archdeacon is widely cited as the first aeroplane passenger in Europe when he was piloted by [[Henry Farman]] at [[Ghent]] on 29 May 1908.<ref>[[Charles Harvard Gibbs-Smith|Gibbs-Smith, C. H.]], ''The Rebirth of European Aviation'': London, HMSO, 1974. {{ISBN|0 11290180 8}}, p. 254</ref> The total flight was {{convert|1241|m|ft|abbr=on}}.{{r|Quid}} Charles E. Vivian says he was preceded on 29 March by [[Leon Delagrange]], who was also flown by Farman.<ref name=v>{{cite book|last=Vivian|first=E. Charles|title=A history of aeronautics|year=2004|publisher=Kessinger Pub.|location=[S.l.]|isbn=1-4191-0156-0|pages=134–135|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7huSV1ijZeAC&dq=Voisin%20Antoinette%20Farman%20Santos&pg=PA109|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140524071437/http://books.google.com/books?id=7huSV1ijZeAC&lpg=PA110&dq=Voisin%20Antoinette%20Farman%20Santos&pg=PA109|archivedate=2014-05-24}}</ref>
== Esperanto == Archdeacon also spoke [[Esperanto]], which he learned in 1908. He wrote "Why I became an Esperanto speaker" (''Pourquoi je suis devenu espérantiste'', Paris: Fayard, 1910, 265 p.), prefaced by Henri Farman. He was elected president of the ''Société Française pour la Propagation de l'Espéranto'' in 1925, and advocated that international language until the end of his life.
==See also== * [[Aviation history]] * [[List of firsts in aviation]] * [[Timeline of aviation - 19th century]] * [[Timeline of aviation - 20th century]]
==References== {{reflist|2|refs= <ref name="Berget">Berget, Alphonse, ''The Conquest of the Air'', 1909, London, Heinemann</ref> <ref name="Cent Flight April">[http://www.centennialofflight.gov/user/fact_apr.htm Centennial of Flight, April. Archdeacon] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007031031/http://www.centennialofflight.gov/user/fact_apr.htm |date=2012-10-07 }}</ref> <ref name="Chadeau">Chadeau, Emmanuel, The aviation industry in France 1900-1950, Bleriot to Dassault, Paris, Fayard, 1987</ref> <ref name="Collectif">Collectif, Les Grands Dossiers de l'Illustration, L'épopée de l'Aviation, histoire d'un siècle 1843-1944, Sefag et l'Illustration, 1987</ref> <ref name="EarlyAvi">[http://www.earlyaviators.com/eferber.htm Early Aviators, Profile and image of Capitaine L.F.Ferber]</ref> <ref name="Hargrave">[http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/farman.html Ctie-Monash, Hargrave, Archdeacon pioneer passenger]</ref> <ref name="La Vie 280">''La Vie au Grand Air'', No. 280, January 21, 1904</ref> <ref name="La Vie 285">''La Vie au Grand Air'', No. 285, February 25, 1904</ref> <ref name="La Vie 293">''La Vie au Grand Air'', No. 293, April 21, 1904.</ref> <!--<ref name="La Vie 342">''La Vie au Grand Air'', No. 342, March 30, 1905</ref>--> <ref name="La Vie 418">''La Vie au Grand Air'', No. 418, dated September 22, 1906</ref> <ref name="Oze">[http://www.ozebook.com/buchet.htm OzeBook, Top 100 motorcycles of the 20th Century, Image of standard 'chain-driven' 1903 ''Buchet'' without Archdeacon's experimental Anzani/propeller modifications.]</ref> <ref name="Quid">[http://www.quid.fr/2007/Transports_Aeriens/Quelques_Dates/1 Quid, Transports Aeriens, Avions, Dates/Milestones, First passenger in Europe]</ref> <ref name="US Cent">[http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Dictionary/Archdeacon/DI49.htm US Centennial of Flight, Ernest Archdeacon] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008023307/http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Dictionary/Archdeacon/DI49.htm |date=October 8, 2012 }}</ref> <ref name="Ville Meud">[http://www.carnetdevol.org/aerostation/aviation.htm Ville de Meudon, Aviation, Archdeacon and Wright No 3]</ref> <ref name="WriB">[http://www.wright-brothers.org/History_Wing/Wright_Story/Showing_the_World/Prize_Patrol/Prize_Patrol.htm Wright Brothers.org self-published research, "The Prize Patrol"]</ref>
}}
==External links== *[http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/archdeacon.html The Pioneers - An Anthology Ernest Archdeacon (1863 - 1950)] *[http://www.ozebook.com/buchet.htm OzeBook, Catalogue of Motorcycles, 1903 Buchet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081109205043/http://www.ozebook.com/buchet.htm |date=9 November 2008 }} ;Image gallery of Archdeacon projects * [http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/images/archdeacon_factory_750_PX.jpg Archdeacon-Voisin Glider, c.1904] * [http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/images/voisin_archdeacon_01_750.jpg Archdeacon-Voisin Glider, c.1904. L'aéroplane Archdeacon, construit a Chalais-Meudon] * [http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/images/archdeacon_1905_2_1000.jpg Archdeacon-Voisin Glider, Issy les Moulineaux, March 1905] * [http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/images/archdeacon_1905_1_1000.jpg Archdeacon-Voisin Glider, Issy les Moulineaux, March 1905] * [http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/images/ferber_2603xx_750.jpg Archdeacon-Voisin Glider, Issy les Moulineaux, March 1905, Towed by car with sand bag load] * [http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/images/farman_archdeacon_1908_750.jpg Henry Farman and Ernest Archdeacon, Issy-les-Moulineaux, 1908. On 29 May Farman took Archdeacon as 'the first air passenger in Europe'.]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Archdeacon, Ernest}} [[Category:1863 births]] [[Category:1950 deaths]] [[Category:French aviation pioneers]] [[Category:French people of Irish descent]] [[Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery]]