Maurice Bellonte

Maurice Bellonte (Méru, Oise, 25 October 1896 – Paris, 14 January 1983) was a French aviator who set flight distance records.^[1]

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Associated with Dieudonné Costes, in 1930 he performed the first westbound crossing of the North Atlantic from Paris to New York, on board the Breguet XIX Point d'interrogation.

Biography

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Perspective

The son of a young lady named Petit and a cutlery worker, Bellonte developed an interest in technology at an early age. In 1910, he began an apprenticeship at Anzani, a small engine manufacturer that had built the engine for the Blériot XI, the first aircraft to cross the English Channel in 1909. In 1913, he was employed as a fitter at Hispano-Suiza. In 1916, at the age of twenty, he graduated as a mechanical engineer. He served in the air force during the First World War. In 1918, he served as a gunner.

After the Armistice, he completed his military service in Morocco, where he learned the basics of flying. Demobilised, he returned to his job at Hispano, then joined the Franco-Colombian company that manufactured hydrofoils. He worked as a mechanic, then as a navigator on the first airlines after the end of the Great War. An interview with Maurice Bellonte by Daniel Costelle in a historical documentary gives an idea of the conditions in which a simple commercial flight from Paris to London was carried out aboard a Farman Goliath in 1923.^[2]

In 1923, he met pilot Dieudonné Costes on the Paris-London route. After a failed attempt at a non-stop flight from Paris to New York in 1929, they both broke the distance record with a flight from Paris to Tsitsikhar (Manchuria) covering 7,925 km. This flight proved that the Breguet XIX, powered by a 650 hp Hispano-Suiza engine, could cross the North Atlantic in unfavourable conditions (with headwinds) from east to west. The first Paris-New York flight was finally successful on 1st and 2nd September 1930, after a flight lasting 37 hours and 14 minutes. He was then awarded the gold medal for aeronautics.

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Biography

References

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