New Orleans City Park (Images of America)

1910 - Moisant's Death



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On New Year's Eve Moisant competed with four pilots for the $4,000 Michelin Prize to beat the sustained flight record of 362.66 miles. He flew from City Park headed for the competition's start field in Harahan. After circling three times at 200 feet, wind shear at twenty-five feet caused the plane to crash as he attempted to land. Scientific American magazine reported that he was the first aviator to be thrown from a plane in a. fatal accident. In 1946, the city named its new airport in Kenner Moisant Field (now Louis Armstrong International). At the dedication ceremonies aviator Jimmy Doolittle was present to unveil the monument which reads “In commemoration of a pioneer in aviation, who lost his life in an airplane accident near this site December 31, 1910. He was the first pilot: to carry a passenger across the English Channel, inventor of the early all-metal airplane, a man of lovable character whose tragic death was a great loss to aviation”. Note that the date on this photograph – Moisant had also crashed in October, 1910 but escaped serious injury. (LOC)

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Home
~Introduction~
~The Bayou, Road, Oaks, and Native Americans: 1400-1769~
~Plantation to Peristyle: 1770-1907~
~Expansion and Modernization: 1908-1928~
~The New Deal: 1929-1939~
~Children & Friends: 1940-2004~
~Rebirth: 2005-2010~
~The People Behind the Names: Donors, Benefactors, and Patrons~
~Acknowledgments~
Photo Gallery

The images in this book appear courtesy of the New Orleans Public Library (NOPL), Louisiana Digital Library (LDL), the Library of Congress (LOC), The Historic New Orleans Collection (HNOC), Pictometry International (PI), and D.C. "Infrogmation" May (DCM). Unless otherwise noted, images are from the author's collection.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book is dedicated to Friends of City Park.

Contact Catherine Campanella