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This single-item collection consists of a copy of the Aéro-Club de France Annuaire 1909 (1909 Annual) issued by the Aéro-Club de France (Aero Club of France) while based at 63, Champs-Élysées, Paris, France. This French language publication includes information on ACF rules and regulations, members, and facilities, as well as aeronautical prizes, affiliated French societies, and helpful information for the balloonists who constituted the bulk of the ACF's membership at this point in time.
The Aéro-Club de France (Aero Club of France) was founded in 1898 "to encourage aerial locomotion." Its founders included Ernest Archdeacon, Jules Verne, André Michelin, Albert de Dion, Alberto Santos-Dumont, Henry Deutsch de la Meurthe, and Henry de La Vaulx. The club was one of the founding members of the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI, International Aeronautical Federation) in 1905. The Aéro-Club established many of the regulations for French aviation and adjudged record flights. The club's medal has been awarded for aeronautical achievements from 1900 to the present day.
NASM.XXXX.1099
Aero Club of France
1909
Unknown, found in collection, 2011, NASM.XXXX.1099
0.05 Cubic feet (1 folder, Soft cover handbook, front cover missing, 6.5 x 5 inches)
National Air and Space Museum Archives
This extremely fragile Aéro-Club de France (ACF, Aero Club of France) publication is missing its front cover and most of its binding, but internal evidence indicates that it is an Aéro-Club de France Annuaire 1909 (the 1909 annual), issued when the Club was based at 63, Champs-Élysées, Paris, France. The French language publication, which measures 6.5 x 5 inches, includes sections on the ACF's statutes, rules, and regulations (including admission to the club, dues, and the issuance of pilot's licenses); images of the ACF medal and insignia; colors used to identify club members and individual balloonists; details of specific aeronautical prizes and competitions (including the Gordon Bennett and Deutch de la Meurthe aeronautical cups); affiliated French aeronautical societies; and lists of the ACF officers, commission members, and pilots. Also included is information on the ACF's facilities in Paris at the Parc d'Aérostation at Saint-Cloud (gas prices for balloon inflation, precision instrument rental, orientation table) and rules for use of the military parade ground at Issy-les-Moulineux (Parc d'Aviation). The annual also features helpful information for balloonists such as advice on customs regulations and landings in foreign countries, how to obtain an ACF certificate for a balloon ascension, and a table of suggested fees to be paid to the owners of farmland whose crops have been destroyed by a balloon landing. Also included are lists of balloons operated by French and foreign ACF members, by name, with details on the size and composition of each balloon. The publication concludes with six pages of advertisements for various related businesses (rubberized fabrics, patent services, inflation pumps, magnetos, stereoscopic and panoramic cameras, and Dutheil & Chalmers engines).
The annual is in original order. The front cover is missing, as well as any additional pages of advertisements which may have originally preceded page number one.
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Aéro-Club de France Annual (1909), Acc. NASM.XXXX.1099, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Aeronautics
Aeronautical sports
Air pilots
Airports
Balloons -- France
Collection descriptions
Archival materials