Léon Delagrange (1872-1910) had as a nickname 'The Dandy Pilot', being of a rich family he could afford an order for an own aeroplane. He ordered in all three biplanes from the Voisin brothers, which were named Delagrange-1 till -3.
Seen here in flight is the Delagrange-3, which boasted the latest configuration of the Voisin brothers in 1908/1909 with the characteristic compartments between the wings.
The engine fitted was an Antoinette V-8 water-cooled engine rated at 50 hp, in that period the best water-cooled engine available.
As Delagrange performed many flights in September 1908 on the Issy-les-Moulineaux field, this could be a picture taken on 7 September 1908. According to the record he performed 17 rounds of the field, totalling 28 min. 1 sec. It is remarked that a collision with the Malecot dirigible was just prevented.
The day before he broke the world distance record, setting a flight of 24 km 727 m.
One wonders with what method those distances were measured, but there is a slight clue as a lot of posts are visible on the edge of the field which might be used to measure the exact distance.
Unfortunately Léon Delagrange came to his end on 4 October 1910 when he fatally crashed with a Blériot Type XI monoplane.
Source: Léon Delagrange : le "Dandy Volant". Editions Larivière, © 2003.
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