Port-Aviation was an airfield in the commune of Viry-Châtillon in Seine-et-Oise (now in Essonne), France. It operated as a popular air racing and aviation exhibition venue and hosted civilian flight schools from its opening in 1909 until the start of in 1914, then as a training center for military pilots during the war. Situated on land prone to flooding, it closed in 1918. In its earliest years it was an internationally important aviation center. Although designed as an aviation event venue rather than as a true airport or aerodrome, Viry-Châtillon claims for it the title of "world's first organized aerodrome."Port-Aviation: Premier aérodrome organisé au monde, p. 3.
Although Port-Aviation was located entirely within Viry-Châtillon rather than on the territory of either Juvisy-sur-Orge or Savigny-sur-Orge, the press and post card publishers habitually – to the consternation of the civic leaders of Viry-Châtillon – referred to it as Juvisy Airfield (or variations such as Juvisy Aerodrome or simply Juvisy) or sometimes as Savigny Airfield because the Juvisy and Savigny-sur-Orge railroad stations served it; in fact, a sign at Juvisy station referred to Port-Aviation as "Juvisy Airfield."Port-Aviation: Premier aérodrome organisé au monde, pp. 11–12, 15. As a result, the airfield often is referred to as "Juvisy Airfield" by historians and the general public.
Port-Aviation was the site or origin of many record-breaking or otherwise historic flights and aerobatic feats, and a number of aviation firsts took place there, such as the first air race, the first flight with two passengers, and the first inverted airplane flight, as well as only the second aerobatic loop in history. The first airplane with a tubular fuselage, the first flying boat, and early parachutes were tested at Port-Aviation. Tragic firsts also occurred there: The first death of a pilot in a crash while at the controls of an airplane and the first death of a person on the ground killed by a falling airplane both took place at Port-Aviation.
After Port-Aviation closed, its land became a housing development. The housing district constructed on the site of the former airfield also is called Port-Aviation.
History Origins, construction, and design In the early 20th century, when aviation was regarded as a sport for daredevils, aviation pioneers made their early public flights in the Grand Paris (Greater Paris) region from Issy-les-Moulineaux, Vincennes, and the Château de Bagatelle. Spectators observed them both from grandstands and while swarming around the field in a circus atmosphere. In all cases, aviators had to borrow or rent venues designed or intended for other purposes; at Issy-les-Moulineaux and the Château de Bagatelle, the flights took place at racetracks not designed for aviation, and at Issy-les-Moulineaux and Vincennes flights took place on fields the French Army used for maneuvers and had to be scheduled so as not to interfere with military events.
Seeking a better venue to host aviation events in the Grand Paris region, the Société d’Encouragement à l’Aviation (Society for the Encouragement of Aviation) was formed on 30 July 1908 to establish the world's first true airfield, designed specifically for the use of aviators, as well as the world's first aviation school and first aviation competition. The Society formed the Compagnie de l'Aviation (Aviation Company) to operate the airfield and leased cultivated land from two families in the vicinity of the towns of Viry and Châtillon, about south of the center of Paris. Situated on a perfectly flat plain in a low valley and bisected by the Orge, the land was sheltered from the wind by nearby hills along the banks of the Seine.
The Society for the Encouragement of Aviation called upon the French government's chief architect, Guillaume Tronchet, to design and build what became Port-AviationPort-Aviation: Premier aérodrome organisé au monde, p. 11. and organize the facilities necessary for it to function properly as an aerodrome. Tronchet designed Port-Aviation not as a true airport or aerodrome, but rather as a racecourse for airplanes at a time when airplanes generally flew at an altitude of around in competitions and only recently had become reliably capable of making turns. Gabriel Voisin, an architect from Juvisy-sur-Orge, drew up and approved the airfield's race courses. Construction began on 15 October 1908.
Port-Aviation had a elliptical track encompassing a circular grass airfield and stands that could seat 7,000 spectators. When the airfield opened, it contained three marked race courses, of , , and either or ,Port-Aviation: Premier aérodrome organisé au monde, p. 9. according to different sources. A fourth course of was added in the autumn of 1909. A signals mast — sometimes considered the ancestor of the airport control tower — stood in the center of the airfield. The grounds included an officials' booth at the start line for races, airplane hangars, an airship hangar, 32 repair and construction sheds, an airplane exhibition and sales hall, a central telephone and telegraph office (with a direct line to London, another to Berlin, and ten to Paris), a post office, a two-story press building, an infirmary, a hotel and reception area for distinguished visitors, a restaurant and buffet, bars, tennis courts, a car park, and the Grand Etang (Great Pond), a body of water in the eastern corner of the property that could accommodate seaplanes.Port-Aviation: Premier aérodrome organisé au monde, pp. 11, 13–14. Structures throughout the venue were decorated with depictions of eagles, vultures, and other birds and birds of prey. The Orge, a tributary of the Seine, split into two branches at the airfield, one of which ran along Port-Aviation's northwestern perimeter and the other across the northwestern, northern, and northeastern portions of the airfield itself.
Port-Aviation was served by two nearby railroad stations. Juvisy station, located less than away in Juvisy-sur-Orge, served the general public. Distinguished visitors to Port-Aviation usually arrived at Savigny-sur-Orge station, which lay away in Savigny-sur-Orge.
1908–1909
The first flights took place at Port-Aviation in November 1908 after the Ligue National Aérienne (National Aviation League) opened a flying school there on 1 November operating two Voisin airplanes;Port-Aviation: Premier aérodrome organisé au monde, p. 20. its instructor was Ferdinand Ferber and Igor Sikorsky enrolled at the school for flying lessons. Due to construction delays and unpredictable weather, Port-Aviation's official opening was delayed from 5 DecemberPort-Aviation: Premier aérodrome organisé au monde, p. 16. to 10 December 1908, then to 10 January 1909, and then again to 1 April 1909.Port-Aviation: Premier aérodrome organisé au monde, p. 16. Meanwhile, tobacco, pharmacy, candy, and shoeshine kiosks, ladies' hairdresser shops, barbershops, shops selling aerial toys and post cards, and bars opened along the road leading into the main entrance of Port-Aviation.Port-Aviation: Premier aérodrome organisé au monde, pp. 12–13. On 1 April, Archbishop of Paris Léon-Adolphe Amette blessed the airfield and two airplanes in a ceremony at Port-Aviation, but a hard rain again prevented flying and forced another postponement.Port-Aviation: Premier aérodrome organisé au monde, pp. 16–17.
Port-Aviation finally opened on 23 May 1909, when 30,000 spectators arrived to see the world's first heavier-than-air air race, the Prix de Lagatinerie.Port-Aviation: Premier aérodrome organisé au monde, p. 17. Nine pilots entered the competition, which required entrants to complete ten laps around two pylons positioned apart in the fastest time or, if no one completed ten laps, to travel the greatest distance. Only four pilots — Léon Delagrange, Ferdinand Ferber (under the pseudonym "F. de Rue"), Alfred de Pischof, and Henri Rougier — actually showed up for the race. On a very hot day, the crowd — told flying would begin at 2:00 p.m. but entertained only by a two-hour kite competition that began at 2:30 p.m. — dwindled during a 3-hour 45-minute delay due to unfavorable winds. At 4:15 p.m., Delagrange rolled out his Voisin biplane to give spectators something to see, and frustrated members of the crowd poured onto the airfield and surrounded him. He flew a lap of the field at 5:15 p.m. to entertain them. At 5:45 p.m. those who remained finally saw the beginning of the race. Only Rougier and Delagrange managed to take off, and neither of them completed ten laps. However, Delagrange had the last and longest flight, finishing at around 7:20 p.m. after covering slightly more than five laps at an altitude ranging from 5 metres (16.5 feet) on his first lap to on later laps, and was declared the winner. He had flown in 10 minutes 18 seconds, and the crowd raised him in triumph after he landed. His average speed was calculated as , but this was based on the distance between the two pylons multiplied by the number of laps he flew between them, not the actual distance he flew, which was considerably farther and would have resulted in the calculation of a higher average speed.The May–June 1909 'Port Aviation' meetings – the world's first air races () by Anders Bruun, retrieved 6 June 2021.
Port-Aviation subsequently drew ever-increasing and enthusiastic weekend crowds as it hosted a series of minor flying events, and a festive atmosphere prevailed. Crowds were so large that the railway operator serving the nearby rail stations, the Compagnie d'Orléans (Orleans Company), found itself incapable of handling them — a problem which arose on 23 May and continued during the season — leading to passengers waiting for hours for a train and sometimes rioting in the stations and on the trains themselves. On the airfield, Delagrange, Ferber (again as "de Rue"), and Rougier raced again on 30 May 1909, competing to have the fastest lap around the same two-pylon course on which they had competed on 23 May; Delagrange, who made three flights during the day, reached an altitude of on one three-lap flight and in an earlier two-lap flight reached a height of and posted the winning single-lap time of 1 minute 40.6 seconds, while Ferber came in second at 1 minute 41.6 seconds. From 31 May through 3 June 1909, Port-Aviation hosted the Prix Stern, a four-day competition in which pilots attempted to post the best time for one lap around a square course of one kilometre (0.62 mi) with four pylons set apart; the two fastest laps both took place on the first day, when Delagrange flew at and posted a time of 1 minute 18.6 seconds at an average speed calculated at and Ferber (as "de Rue") finished a lap in 1 minute 24.0 seconds, flying at an altitude of .
On 12 June 1909, three people flew in an airplane for the first time in history, as Louis Blériot lifted off from Port-Aviation in a monoplane, carrying Alberto Santos-Dumont and Heraclio Fournier as passengers.Richard Ferris, How To Fly or The Conquest of the Air: The Story of Man's Endeavours to Fly and of the Inventions by Which He Has Succeeded (Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1910), p422 Charles de Lambert made a flight of 12 minutes 53 seconds in a Wright Model A biplane on 13 June 1909, and Paul Tissandier experimented unsuccessfully with a Wright biplane on 3 July 1909.Port-Aviation: Premier aérodrome organisé au monde, p. 18.
At a charitable event for victims of an earthquake in Midi-Pyrénées that drew 10,000 spectators to Port-Aviation on 4 July 1909, Alfred Boulanger ascended to in a hot air balloon and Louis Blériot circled the runway 24 times in 50 minutes 8 seconds to test the fuel endurance of his Blériot XI monoplane, which he used three weeks later to make the first airplane flight across the English Channel. Tissandier had a more successful outing on 14 July 1909 than he had on 3 July, covering two-and-a-half laps of the field, a distance of about , at an altitude of .