Henri Farman (26 May 1874[1] – 17 July 1958)[2][3] was a British-Frenchaviator and aircraft designer and manufacturer with his brotherMaurice Farman. Before dedicating himself to aviation he gained fame as a sportsman, specifically in cycling[4] and motor racing. Henri acquired French nationality in 1937.[3]
Henri Farman was born in Paris, France, and was baptised as Harry Edgar Mudford Farman. He was a son of Thomas Frederick Farman, the Paris correspondent of theLondon Standard.[5][1] His father was born in 1845 atLayer Marney, Essex, England.[6] His mother, Sophia Ann Louisa Mudford, was born inCanterbury, Kent, on 9 September 1841. She was baptised on 16 July 1844 at St Pancras Old Church in London, and was a daughter of the authorWilliam Mudford, who by the time of Sophia's baptism was living at Harrington Square.[7][8][6][9] Sophia and Thomas were married atSt George's Hanover Square Church London, on 31 August 1868.[8][10]
Henri trained as a painter at theÉcole des Beaux Arts, but soon became interested in the new mechanical inventions that were appearing at the end of the 19th century. He was able to pursue this interest as an amateur sportsman.[11][5]
He took part in cycle races from the age of fourteen, and started winning some races. Brother Maurice Farman also began cycle racing at the same age and started winning prizes.[12] Henri became a championship cyclist, and won the Paris - Clermont-Ferrand race on 6 June 1892.[13][14] On 6 October 1892 he won the French Championship, at the Vélodrome Buffalo in Paris, over a distance of 100 kilometres.[15]
On 25 June 1893, Henri went by bicycle from Paris to Madrid with the journalist, author, and French cyclist Edouard de Perrodil. Edouard had written an account of this journey, and a book was published by MM. C. Marpon and Flammarion, titledVélo ! Toro! Paris-Madrid bicyclette en 1893, which included drawings by Farman. They were received by the French Ambassador, among others upon reaching Madrid.[16][17]
He then took part in tandem races with his brotherMaurice Farman, forming a successful partnership.[18][5]On 31 January 1895, at theVélodrome d'Hiver, the Farman brothers broke the tandem bicycle record, covering 44.906 kilometres in an hour.[19]They announced their retirement from cycling in November 1896.[20]
At around the same time as his brother Maurice, Henri discoveredmotor racing. On 17 February 1901, he won the light car class (400 – 650 kg)Grand Prix du Palais d'Hiver, of theCircuit du sud-ouest. Maurice Farman won the heavy car class of the race.[21] On 29 May 1901, Henri took part in the Paris-Bordeaux race and finished in seventh place. This was an open-entry race held concurrently with the1901 Gordon Bennett Cup, and over the same course.[22] Fifth place was taken in the 1901 Paris to Berlin Race.[23] Henri won the heavy class section of the 1902 Paris - Vienna race.Marcel Renault came first in the general classification of this race.[24] He took third place in the 1903 Gordon Bennett Cup.
He had an accident during the elimination trials for the 1905 Gordon Bennett Cup, on 16 June, over the hilly Auvergne circuit. While on the last round of this circuit, descending the Clermont Ferrand hill, on one of the turns in that descent, his car skidded. Henri and his chauffeur were lifted from the car, and ended up on top of a tree. Many onlookers believed he had been killed. But Henri was unharmed, came down from the tree and smoked a cigarette. He believed his car had ended up at the bottom of a ravine after this accident, but was not certain about the final destination of it.[25][26]
Farman making the first cross-country flight accomplished with an aeroplane
Farman started practicing in 1907 with a homemade biplane glider on the sandhills ofLe Touquet, after first experimenting with model aeroplanes of different sizes.[27] He then decided he wanted a powered plane, and ordered aVoisin 1907 biplane on 1 June 1907.[28] He used this aircraft to set many official records for both distance and duration.
On 26 October 1907, atIssy-les-Moulineaux, France, he made flights, among others,[29] of 363, 403, and 771 metres in the plane. He also started to turn the plane in the air on this date.[30] The distance of 771 metres was completed in 52 seconds. It was the longest flight in the world that year, and won Farman the Ernest Archdeacon Cup.[31] He made a complete circular flight of 1,030 metres, in 1 minute 14 seconds on 10 November 1907 at Issy. This was the first time that a European aeroplane had completed a full circle. And the first time that an aeroplane, other than a Wright brothers one, had stayed in the air for longer than a minute.[28][29]
TheVoisin-Farman I was also the first biplane in Europe to fly a circular circuit of 1 kilometre, over a predetermined course, on 13 January 1908.[28][32] This again occurred atIssy-les-Moulineaux, France, and won Farman the 50,000 franc Grand Prix d'Aviation offered byHenri Deutsch de la Meurthe.[33][34] And on 21 March 1908, at the same place, he made a flight of 2.004 kilometres.[30]
On 30 October 1908, Farman went on to make the first cross-country flight in Europe. Farman flew from his hangars atCamp de Châlons,Bouy,[5][29][35] toReims, landing at the cavalry ground. It was a distance of 27 kilometres.[5][30][36][37]
By early 1909, Farman fell out withGabriel Voisin because Voisin had sold an aircraft that had been built to Farman's specifications toJ.T.C. Moore-Brabazon. This aircraft was named theBird of Passage by Brabazon. Farman then started manufacturing aircraft to his own design. The first of these, theFarman III, first flew in April 1909. It was an immediate success and widely imitated.[38]
In 1909, he opened a flying school atChâlons-sur-Marne at whichGeorge Bertram Cockburn was the first pupil.[39] In this same year he made further record breaking flights. One of 180 kilometres in just over 3 hours, atReims on 27 August. And one of 232 kilometres in 4 hours 17 minutes and 53 seconds,[40] atMourmelon-le-Grand on 3 November. In October 1909 he appeared at theBlackpool Aviation Week, Britain's firstair show, at which he won over £2000 in prizes.[41]
In partnership with his two brothersMaurice andRichard (Dick), he built a highly successful and innovative aircraft manufacturing plant. Their 1914 model was used extensively for artillery observation and reconnaissance during World War I. TheFarman Aircraft company'sGoliath was the first long-distance passengerairliner, beginning regular Paris-London (Croydon Airport) flights on 8 February 1919.
^ab"Chapter Three: Awakening in France."Contact! The Story Of The Early Aviators. p. 38. Unabridged republication of the revised edition ofContact! The Story Of The Early Birds, The Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 1987, Dover Publications 2002, New York. Accessed via Google books. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
^"A Pioneer of Aviation Dies: M. Henry Farman."Illustrated London News, 26 July 1958, p. 10. The British Newspaper Archive: Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited in partnership with the British Library. Retrieved 23 October 2020.(Subscription required.)
^abcde"Aviators at Rheims. Personal Sketches: M. Henri Farman."London Evening Standard, 24 August 1909, p. 8. The British Newspaper Archive: Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited in partnership with the British Library. Retrieved 23 October 2020.(Subscription required.)
^ab"England and Wales Census, 1871", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VF8G-DFL : 27 September 2019), Thomas Farman in entry for Frederick Mudford, 1871. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
^"England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NYY9-XZQ : 24 March 2020), Sophia Ann Louisa Mudford, 1844. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
^"Marriages: Farman – Mudford."Chelmsford Chronicle, 11 September 1868, p. 8. The British Newspaper Archive: Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited in partnership with the British Library. Retrieved 23 October 2020.(Subscription required.)
^"Henry Farman" Grace's Guide To British Industrial History. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
^"Farman: 1904." FromMotoring Annual and Motorist’s Year Book 1904, via Grace's Guide To British Industrial History. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
^"Sporting and Cricket Notes."St James's Gazette, 7 June 1892, p. 7. The British Newspaper Archive: Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited in partnership with the British Library. Retrieved 23 October 2020.(Subscription required.)
^"Cycling in France."London Evening Standard, 8 October 1892, p. 3. The British Newspaper Archive: Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited in partnership with the British Library. Retrieved 23 October 2020.(Subscription required.)
^"Cycling - A Ride from France to Spain."Dublin Evening Telegraph, 22 June 1893, p. 3. The British Newspaper Archive: Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited in partnership with the British Library. Retrieved 24 October 2020.(Subscription required.)
^"Paris by Day."Daily Telegraph & Courier (London), 4 November 1893, p. 3. The British Newspaper Archive: Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited in partnership with the British Library. Retrieved 24 October 2020.(Subscription required.)
^"Cycling. Bicycle Record."Western Morning News, 1 February 1895, p. 7. The British Newspaper Archive: Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited in partnership with the British Library. Retrieved 26 October 2020.(Subscription required.)
^"A Retiring Franco-AngloRider."Sporting Life, 11 November 1896, p. 7.The British Newspaper Archive: Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited in partnership with the British Library. Retrieved 26 October 2020.(Subscription required.)
^"The Brothers Farman Take Two Firsts."Sporting Life, 20 February 1901, p. 8. The British Newspaper Archive: Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited in partnership with the British Library. Retrieved 23 October 2020.(Subscription required.)
^"The Farman Brothers: Maurice and Henry." FromTen Years of Motors and Motor Racing,E.P.Dutton and Company, New York, Charles Jarrott, 1906, pp214-215. Accessed via The Motor Miscellany. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
^"Chapter Three: Awakening in France."Contact! The Story Of The Early Aviators.p. 39. Unabridged republication of the revised edition ofContact! The Story Of The Early Birds, copyright the Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 1987, Dover Publications 2002, New York. Accessed via Google books. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
^abc"Voisin-Farman I."Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., Tom D. Crouch, 27 January 2010. Retrieved 11 August 2020.
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