Eugène Lefebvre

Eugène Lefebvre (4 October 1878 – 7 September 1909) was a French aviation pioneer. the first person to die while piloting a powered airplane, and the second person to be killed in a powered airplane crash.

Biography

The chief pilot for the French Wright Company, Lefebvre was a participant in the first international air race, the Grande Semaine d'Aviation at Reims in 1909, piloting a Wright Flyer. He, Louis Blériot and Hubert Latham were selected as France's representatives during the contest for the Gordon Bennett Trophy on 22 August, after poor weather made the morning's planned qualifying run impossible. He was subsequently fined $4 by the judges for displaying excessive "recklessness and daring." In doing so, he became the first person to die while piloting a powered airplane, and the second person to be killed in an airplane crash.

Legacy Lefebvre is a distant relative of the later film actress Capucine (1928-1990).