Brescia exhibition
Prize money totalling 100,000 lire ; few successful flights ; went badly, troops called to control angry crowd[1]
Mario Calderara flew at this meet, as did Louis Blériot, Alessandro Anzani, and Glenn Curtiss.[2]
First air show (to feature airplanes, perhaps)) in Italy:
As we have seen, it is more than probable that the Brescia air show—the first in Italy and, after Rheims, the second in Europe—was organized because international automobile races, the undisputed glory of the city so far, were also being planned for Milan and Bologna, and the citizens of Brescia wanted something to be proud of, without the competition of their neighbors.[3]
Overview of committees and key people:
For the organizing committee—or rather its two branches, an elite of officers, civil servants, politicians, industrialists, sports functionaries, and a few notables from abroad assembled. The prefects of Brescia and Milan were listed on the august seventeen-member honorary committee, together with the army commanders of the Brescia region, the presidents of the competing Italian Aeronautics and Aviation Societies, and the director general of the Italian Automobile Touring Club, as well as the publisher of Milan's famous newspaper Corriere della Sera. There was also the Compte de La Vaulx, founding father of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, who was to arrive in his dirigible Zodiac III, and Cortlandt Field Bishop, president of the American Aero Club, who attended the events faithfully. Among the thirty-four members of the general committee, aristocrats, investors, industrialists, and engineers were highly visible, among them Gerolamo Orefici, Brescia's popular mayor; Conte Orazio Oldofredi, scion of Brescia's oldest feudal family going back to the thirteenth century, and the engineer Evaristo Stefini, who was to plan and build the aerodrome. These committees were, of course, far too unwieldy to organize matters efficiently, and they delegated their powers to an executive and a sports committee (of ten and eleven members respectively) and two groups of commissari sportivi, one each for airplanes and dirigibles to verify technical conditions and to supervise the competitions. 'Cavaliere Mercanti and Conte Oldofredi were impossible to avoid, and Orefici long concerned with the well-being of his city, was everywhere.[4]
References
- ↑ Chronicle of Aviation, p74
- ↑ "The Brescia Meeting. Well-known Aviators in the Italian Flying Week." The Aero Vol. 1, 14 September 1909, p. 272.
- ↑ Demetz, 2002, Brescia, p. 43.
- ↑ Demetz, 2002, Brescia, pp. 44–45.
| Event names | Brescia air show, Circuito Aereo di Brescia |
|---|---|
| Event type | exhibition |
| Country | IT |
| Locations | Brescia |
| Start date | 1909-09-08 |
| Number of days | 13 |
| Tech focus | Airplane |
| Participants |
Publications referring to Brescia exhibition
- Publication 2784, 1909, Le circuit aérien de Brescia du 15 août au 15 septembre 1909 (Simple title: The air circuit of Brescia from August 15 to September 15, 1909, Journal: La Conq. l'Air)
- Publication 4050, 1909, Epreuves & Prix. Calendrier épreuves aéronautiques pour 1909, la coupe Henry Deutsch de la Meurthe, la coupe Michelin, le circuit aérien de Brescia (Simple title: Events & Awards. Calendar of aeronautical events for 1909, the Henry Deutsch cup of the Meurthe, the Michelin cup, the air circuit of Brescia, Journal: L'Aérophile)
- Castagneris, 1909, Aviazione in Italia. Il circuito di Brescia (Simple title: Aviation in Italy. The Brescia circuit, Journal: Riv. Tech. Aer. Boll. Soc. Aer. Ital.)
- Publication B2p1492e06, 1909, Lo 'Zodiac' a Brescia (Simple title: The 'Zodiac' in Brescia, Journal: Riv. Tech. Aer.Riv. Tech. Aer. Biol. Soc. Aer. Ital.)
- Publication B2p0207e22, 1909, Brescia results (Simple title: Brescia results, Journal: Aeronautics)
