John Moisant

John Beavis Moisant ( born April 25, 1868 in Kankakee, Illinois, † December 31, 1910 in New Orleans) was an American aviation pioneer. He designed and built the first all-metal aircraft in 1909 and was the first one flew over the English Channel with a passenger.

John Moisant was a wealthy plantation owner in El Salvador and was interested in aviation. After he had attended the 1909 air show in Reims, he took flying lessons with Louis Blériot, bought a machine from Blériot flew flight and won the race. He designed and built his own airplane, the first aircraft with an all-metal frame. On August 23, 1910, he crossed the English Channel with a passenger, his mechanic Albert Fileux and a cat. Together with his brother Alfred and his sister Matilde he founded in 1910 in New York, the aerobatic troupe show Moisant International Aviation Ltd.. , Which caused a stir in the U.S.. In his Bleriot monoplane he flew in the Belmont Air Show at Belmont Park, New York on 22 October in only 39 Minutes 16 kilometers. On December 30, he took with his Blériot monoplane part in a 5 - mile race against a Packard automobile and lost by a hair. The next day, when he took a practice flight for the Michelin Cup with $ 4,000 prize money, got his airplane in turbulence. When attempting an emergency landing, he was not wearing a seatbelt, thrown off the plane. He broke his neck and died.

He was initially buried in the Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, later he was reburied in the Portal of Folded Wings Shrine of Aviation. The airport of New Orleans was originally called Moisant Field, before it was renamed Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. The IATA code MSY Moisant Stock Yard still reminiscent of the aviation pioneer.