 Several
helicopter enthusiasts from the Union Française de l'Hélicoptère (the
French helicopter association) will commemorate the 100th anniversary of
the first flying helicopter with a group flight from Paris to Oshkosh for
EAA AirVenture 2007. "HeliVenture 2007" will depart Paris on
July 14 and fly more than 4,600 nautical miles to Oshkosh with a planned
arrival on opening day, July 23.
"It's a dream to be in Oshkosh at the
world's biggest aviation event," said Renaud Lataillade of the UFH.
"Everything is going well, everybody is preparing the last details,
and we're counting the days."
Their planned flight path will include
stops in the United Kingdom, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland,
Canada, and the U.S.-about 50 hours of flight time each way. Among the
confirmed aircraft are two Squirrel AS-350s, a Squirrel AS-355, a Robinson
R44, and an Augusta 109. Two fixed-wing aircraft, a Beech King Air and a
Socata TBM 850, will also accompany the flight.
This journey pays homage to French inventor
Paul Cornu, who in November 1907 flew the first rotary wing aircraft at
Lisieux, Calvados, France. The machine, which had two counter-rotating
rotors driven by a 24-hp Antoinette engine, lifted him about five feet in
the air for one minute.
Before flying to Oshkosh on opening day,
Lataillade said the group would arrive in Fond du Lac on July 21.
HeliVenture Planned Route
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