103. Aeronaughtiness

The things that you discover whilst peacefully trawling through hundred-year-old newspapers to look up the theatre records. In the Parisian daily Le temps the theatre column is immediately followed by the sports news, and the first part of the sports column is, rather charmingly, taken up with ‘Aviation’. This is from 11 October 1911:

An American aviator, Mathilde Moisant, yesterday intended to execute several flights above the Nassau Aerodrome (Long Island), but she was prevented by the arrival of several representatives of the sheriff, who came to arrest her for breaking the laws concerning Sunday rest. Mme Moisant revved up her motor and, at the exact moment that the ‘functionaries’ set foot on the aerodrome she took off [or ‘showed them a clean pair of wings’ – ‘elle leur brûla la politesse’]. Furious, they jumped in their car and launched themselves in pursuit of the fugitive, whom they would never have captured had she not most unfortunately run out of petrol. After flying for about half an hour, the aviator had to land and allow herself to be stopped. The many onlookers who had accompanied the pursuit did not want to see Mme Moisant treated too severely, and they tried to have her released. A lively struggle ensued, but the Law had the best of it. The aviator, having been manhandled by the sheriff’s representatives, and despite her protestations, was led off to prison.

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