Jump to content

Jean Marie Le Bris

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Rodw (talk | contribs) at 13:22, 5 October 2022 (Disambiguating links to French (link changed to French people) using DisamAssist.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Jean Marie Le Bris
Portrait of Jean Marie Le Bris c.1965 by Henri Schneider
Born(1817-03-25)25 March 1817
Concarneau, Brittany, France
Died17 February 1872(1872-02-17) (aged 54)
Douarnenez, Brittany, France
CitizenshipFrench
Known forDesign and construction of glider aircraft, development of flight control systems, first to successfully fly on board of an heavier-than-the-air glider aircraft.
Scientific career
FieldsAviation, aeronautics, aeronautical engineering

Jean Marie Le Bris (March 25, 1817, Concarneau – February 17, 1872, Douarnenez), sometimes spelled Jean-Marie Le Bris and also known as Yann Vari Ar Briz in Breton language, was a French aviator, born in Concarneau, Brittany, who built two glider aircraft and performed at least one flight in late 1856.

Life at sea

A sailor and sea captain, Le Bris sailed around the world observing the flight of the albatross. Although he sailed around the world, his true ambition was to fly. During his trips, especially the navigation of the Cape Horn in 1839, he observed sea birds and captured an albatross to analyze the interaction between the wings and the air.[1]

First glider aircraft: the Winged Boat

Sketches of the 1857 Patent No. 31166 by Jean Marie Le Bris

Le Bris built two different gliders. The first one, sometimes nicknamed La barque ailée ("The winged boat"), will be the source of its patent No. 31166 of March 9, 1857 on an "aerial car".[2] In late 1856, Jean Marie Le Bris flew briefly with this aircraft on the beach of Sainte-Anne-la-Palud (Plonévez-Porzay, Brittany), nearby Tréfeuntec in the Douarnenez Bay. The aircraft was placed on and tethered to a cart towed by a horse.[3] He thus flew higher than his point of departure, a first for heavier-than-air flying machines, reportedly to a height of 100 m (330 ft), for a distance of 200 m (660 ft). During an unsuccessful second trial in March 1857, the glider was launched from the top of the Tréboul mill and crashed. The plane was damaged beyond repair and Jean Marie Le Bris broke a leg.

Second glider aircraft: the Albatross

Jean Marie Le Bris and his second flying machine, the Albatross, photographed by Pépin fils, 1868

In 1868, with the support of the Imperial French Navy, he built a second flying machine, called L'Albatros, which was tried in Brest at the artillery polygon of Saint Pierre Quilbignon. According to De La Landelle, the aircraft made a few flights, including a 200-m long glide, before being damaged beyond repair after a crash.[4] Compared to its first glider, it was a very different machine. The wings could not move, but the glider was equipped with a mechanical flight control system that could warp the wings along their entire span. The tail was maneuverable as well. Also, this second plane was structurally different than the first one.[5]

His flying machine became the first aircraft to be photographed, in 1868 by Pépin fils, photographer based in Siam street, Brest.[6] Two originals of these pictures are preserved by the Musée Carnavalet in Paris (Ref. 1992 CAR0961A) and the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace in Le Bourget, France.

The first well-documented glider was built by George Cayley and flown by an employee in 1853. Also in Great Britain, Stringfellow had built small unmanned gliders in 1848. However Le Bris invented more effective flight controls, which could act on the incidence of wings and which were patented in March 1857.

Le Bris died in his home of Douarnenez in 1872.

Replica of the first Le Bris' glider at the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace at Paris-Le Bourget Airport

Aviation education and preservation

Dedications

  • The high school (collège) of Douarnenez and the aviation club of Quimper are named after the aviator.
  • A stele was dedicated in the village of Tréfeuntec, Plonévez-Porzay where the Jean Marie Le Bris street ends right before the mouth of the stream Lapic.
  • Jean Marie Le Bris is buried in the Douarnenez-Ploaré Cemetery, rue Laennec, Brittany in Section B, Stone No. 2.

In arts

  • Jean Marie Le Bris is one of the main characters of the 1878 novel Les grandes amours by Guillaume Joseph Gabriel de La Landelle. The book was written by the author as a fiction inspired by the life and work of Le Bris.
  • The play The Albatross (An Albatroz is the original title in Breton) was created based on Le Bris' story by storyteller Lukaz Nedeleg and accordeonist Youen Bodros. It was produced by the performing art group Strollad La Obra in both French and Breton, and was played for the first time in June 2021 in Landerneau, Brittany.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Icare No. 192, 2005. pp.19-20
  2. ^ Brevet d'invention No. 31166 délivré au Sieur Le Bris (Jean) à Douarnenez (Finistère)
  3. ^ Icare No. 192, 2005. pp.24-28 & 100-102
  4. ^ Icare No. 192, 2005. pp.33-34
  5. ^ Icare No. 192, 2005. pp.109-119
  6. ^ Icare No. 192, 2005. p.47

Bibliography

  • Chanute, Octave Progress in Flying Machines. The American Engineer and Railroad Journal. 47 Cedar Street, New York, 1894, 1899
  • De La Landelle, Gabriel. Les grandes amours. Dentu, Paris, 1878
  • Gibbs-Smith, C.H. Aviation: An Historical Survey. London, NMSI, 2008. ISBN 1 900747 52 9
  • Opdycke, Leonard E. French Aeroplanes Before the Great War Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 1999. ISBN 0 7643 0752 5
  • Peslin, Charles-Yves. Jean Marie Le Bris. Marin breton précurseur de l'aviation. Journal Les Ailes, Société d'éditions aéronautiques. Paris, 1944
  • Lacan, Guy et. al. Jean-Marie Le Bris: précurseur de l'aéronautique. Icare No. 192. Roissy-en-France, 2005. ISSN 0018-8786
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jean_Marie_Le_Bris&oldid=1114233778"