Triumphant Failure At Sangatte: Challenging the English Channel in a Monoplane

By Stephen H. King | Aviation History  | one comment  |  Print This Post  |  Email This Post

While another, better-known Frenchman had garnered the Daily Mail prize, Latham emerged from that competition imbued with star appeal. In the months that followed, he competed in aviation meets in Europe as well as the United States, set several world records and thrilled audiences everywhere. But he never again challenged the Channel.

Two years later, Latham announced that he was tired of competitive flying. He left on a hunting trip to Africa in December 1911. According to some accounts, he may have been suffering from tuberculosis. In June 1912, he died, reportedly killed by an enraged buffalo that he had wounded.

Latham was once again in the news two years after his death. An article appeared in the newspaper Journal du Havre, stating that the commandant of a French colonial army garrison in present-day Chad had believed, after examining Latham’s body and the scene, that there was strong evidence of foul play, and speculated that Latham might have been murdered by one or more of his bearers. As the commander had not been able to prove his suspicions at the time, he soon terminated his investigation. Why that information took almost two years to surface in the press is unknown.

Sadly, the world quickly forgot the Antoinette pilot. While Blériot’s planes and flying exploits are remembered around the world today, few have ever heard of Hubert Latham, who faced two highly publicized failures with Gallic aplomb, and managed to transform embarrassing washouts into star status.

Stephen H. King is a retired U.S. foreign service officer whose wife is a distant cousin of Hubert Latham’s. He based his historical novel Wind-killer on the last three years of Latham’s life. For additional reading, try King’s nonfiction The Passion That Left the Ground. See www.lathamlevavasseur.com.

This article by Stephen H. King was originally published in the November 2007 issue of Aviation History Magazine. For more great articles, subscribe to Aviation History magazine today!

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Tags: Aviation History, Flight Technology, Historical Figures

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