Charles Louis Wachter
1910. April. The Antoinette School. — Wachter, who is now instructor with Kuller at the Antoinette School.
1910. On the opening day, Sunday last, the general enjoyment of the proceedings was overshadowed by the unfortunate fatal accident to M. Wachter, which occurred at the close of the day. He had been flying round the ground steadily for some time, and had covered about 60 kiloms. He was coming down from a height of about 900 ft. when, on reaching an altitude of 600 ft., the wings of his machine doubled up and the machine dropped like a stone to the ground, the unfortunate aviator being killed on the spot. He was related to Leon Levavasseur, the designer of the machine, with which he had been very successful. He it was who had the honour of opening the meeting this year,- for he was the first aviator to rise, about ten minutes past eleven. The weather conditions then were anything but good, yet he remained up for 43 minutes and completed nine circuits of the 5 kilom. course. Then a heavy rainstorm put an end to flying till the afternoon. Between two and four o'clock there were a large number of different machines — fourteen at one time — circling the ground at various heights, the best showing being made by the Antoinettes, which seemed to weather the gusty winds better. Another heavy shower, which lasted a quarter of an hour, came on, and sent most of the flyers back to their sheds, but Wachter kept on, and it is thought that the drenching his machine then got may have contributed to the subsequent mishap. Following the storm a rainbow stretched across the ground, and produced a pretty effect, with the number of flyers who immediately came out again. [1]
He died 4 July 1910 at Reims
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Flight Magazine of 10th July 1910