Delaunay-Belleville and the "Club genevois d'aviation"
On September 24 , 1909 - 13 years after the fatal crash of aviation pioneer Otto von Lilienthal - a few enterprising, wealthy Genevans founded the "Club genevois d'aviation". Its aim was to provide its members with gliders and hoped "to train future motor pilots with a minimum of danger at a modest cost." The Genevans wisely built two planes at the same time, because David Deluz crashed the first plane from seven meters and the "Vol au vent" - 8.5 m wingspan, 9 m length, 15 m2 surface area, 20 kg weight - broke up.
The fact that this sport required a great deal of courage was demonstrated by the best results achieved by the Genevans. President Brassier reached a height of 15 m, another member achieved a flight time of 15 seconds and a Mr. Siegfried flew 250 m at a height of 12 meters.
However, the Geneva team was unable to attract enough young talent and spectators, as the era of the motorized pilots had already begun. Geo Chavez had conquered the Alps, there were already flying days in Avenches and Zurich and the press wrote enthusiastically about Louis Blériot and his crossing of the English Channel. The promotion of motorless flight, which had been raised with great hope, soon died down.
And the Delaunay-Belleville, built in 1904 in St. Denis, France? It was actually a luxury car, already equipped with oil pumps, characterized by the round radiator and Delaunay-Bellwille was the favourite brand of Tsar Nicholas II. At the "airfield" in Geneva, it replaced a catapult device like the one used a few years earlier by the Whright brothers in the USA. As soon as the Delaunay-Belleville took off, the pilot had to run for all he was worth in the recess of the lower wing. As soon as the glider lifted off the ground, the death-defying "pilot" jumped up and clung to the rods - unsecured. Legs and buttocks floated freely in the air! The desired flight position of the glider could be more or less determined by shifting the body, while the driver rumbled across the Tivoli meadow at full throttle in the Delaunay-Belleville.
This was also the time when the automobile and aviation pioneers published a joint organ, the "Technische und sportliche Wochenschrift für Automobilismus und Aviatik", in which they defended their interests with a sharp tongue. However, it would be years before gliding was recognized by the Aero Club in Switzerland and taken seriously by the population.
Delaunay-Belleville produced dream and luxury cars until the 1920s, then built commercial vehicles and disappeared as an independent brand in 1948, bought up by former small car manufacturer Rovin.
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