Flies Under Victory Arch -- August 7, 2019

New York Tribune, 31-August-1919

100 years ago today, on 07-August-1919, French pilot Charles Godefroy flew a Nieuport fighter under the Arc de Triomphe. Aviators were angry that were ordered to march in rather than fly over the Victory Parade on Bastille Day. Jean Navarre was planning to buzz the parade and fly through the Arc de Triomphe, but he was killed a few days before the parade:
http://cablecarguy.blogspot.com/2019/07/jean-navarre-falls-to-death-close-to.html

After Charles Godefroy flew through the Arc, he received a warning from the police and his family made him promise to stop flying.

This article is from the 12-August-1919 Greeneville Daily Sun.

Flies Under

Victory Arch

PARIS, Aug. 12. -- Lieut. Godefroy, a French aviator, yesterday performed the feat of passing under the Arc de Triomphe in an airplane flight.

The airman had been training several months in preparation for the feat. His practice work was done at Villacoublay, where a frame of an arch the same dimensions as the Arc de Triomphe had been erected for the purpose.

Godefroy flew a machine with a wing spread of 8 yards, which left him a margin of about 7 yards to get through the arch. He cleared the opening cleanly, gliding through with his motor stopped. After clearing the arch he flew over the Champs Elysee.

Jean Navarre, one of the most daring of French flyers, had planned to fly under the Arc de Triomphe in a monoplane in connection with the victory celebration, but the police considered it would be dangerous to spectators. Four days before the parade, however, Navarre was killed at Villacoublay.