Jean Marie Le Bris (25 March 1817,

Concarneau Concarneau (, meaning "Bay of Cornouaille") is a Communes of France, commune in the Finistère Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in Northwestern France. Concarneau is bordered to the west by the Baie ...

– 17 February 1872,

Douarnenez Douarnenez (, ; meaning ''douar'' (land) ''an enez'' (the island) or land of the island), is a commune in the French department of Finistère, region of Brittany, northwestern France. It is located at the mouth of the Pouldavid River, an estua ...

) was a French

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they a ...

, born in

Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...

who built two glider aircraft and performed at least one flight on board of his first machine in late 1856. His name () is sometimes spelled Jean-Marie Le Bris, and he is also known as Yann Vari Ar Briz () in

Breton language Breton (, , ; or in Morbihan) is a Southwestern Brittonic language of the Celtic languages, Celtic language group spoken in Brittany, part of modern-day France. It is the only Celtic language still widely in use on the European mainland, albei ...

Early life

Jean Marie Le Bris was born in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

on 25 March 1817 at 5AM local time. He was the third child of Michel Marie Le Bris, boat captain, and Perrine Rosalie Le Bris née Riou. Jean Marie Le Bris married Jeanne Louise Alexandrine Kerisit in Pont-Croix on 18 February 1844. After Jeanne Louise passed away in March 1854, he remarried with Ernestine Esprit Hervé on 20 November 1854.

Life at sea

A sailor and sea captain, Le Bris sailed around the world observing the flight of the

albatross Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Paci ...

. Although he sailed around the world, his true ambition was to fly. During his trips, especially the navigation of the

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in 1839, he observed sea birds and captured an albatross to investigate the flight mechanics of birds and to understand the interaction between the wings and the air.

First glider aircraft: the Winged Boat

Le Bris built two different gliders. The first one, sometimes nicknamed ''La barque ailée'' ("The Winged Boat"), is the subject of his patent No. 31166 of 9 March 1857 on an "aerial car". In late 1856, Jean Marie Le Bris flew briefly with this aircraft on the beach of Sainte-Anne-la-Palud ( Plonévez-Porzay,

), nearby Tréfeuntec in the Douarnenez Bay. The aircraft was placed on and tethered to a cart towed by a horse. He thus flew higher than his point of departure, a first for heavier-than-air flying machines, reportedly to a height of 100 m (330 ft), for a distance of 200 m (660 ft). During an unsuccessful second trial in March 1857, the glider was launched from the top of the Tréboul mill and crashed. The plane was damaged beyond repair and Jean Marie Le Bris broke a leg.

Second glider aircraft: the Albatross

In 1868, with the support of the Imperial

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

, he built a second flying machine, called ''L'Albatros'', which was tried in Brest at the artillery polygon of Saint Pierre Quilbignon. According to De La Landelle, the aircraft made a few flights, including a 200-m long glide, before being damaged beyond repair after a crash. Compared to its first glider, it was a very different machine. The wings could not move, but the glider was equipped with a mechanical flight control system that could warp the wings along their entire span. The tail was maneuverable as well. Also, this second plane was structurally different than the first one. The Albatross became the first aircraft to be photographed, in 1868 by Benjamin Charles Pépin (also known as Pépin fils), photographer based in Siam street, Brest. Two originals of these pictures are preserved by the

Musée Carnavalet The Musée Carnavalet () in Paris is dedicated to the History of Paris, history of the city. The museum occupies two neighboring mansions: the Hôtel Carnavalet and the former Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint Fargeau. On the advice of Baron Haussmann, ...

in Paris (Inventory Number PH1828) and the

Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace The Musée de l'air et de l'espace (, ) is a French aerospace museum, located at the south-eastern edge of Paris–Le Bourget Airport, north of Paris, and in the Communes of France, commune of Le Bourget. It was inaugurated in 1919 after a propo ...

in Le Bourget, France. The first well-documented glider was built by

George Cayley Sir George Cayley, 6th Baronet (27 December 1773 – 15 December 1857) was an English engineer, inventor, and aviator. He is one of the most important people in the history of aeronautics. Many consider him to be the first true scientific ...

and flown by an employee in 1853. Also in Great Britain, Stringfellow had built small unmanned gliders in 1848. However Le Bris invented more effective flight controls, which could act on the incidence of wings and which were patented in March 1857.

Late life

In March 1868, Jean Marie Le Bris learned of the death of his son, during his military service, onboard of the frigate ''La Magicienne'' sailing nearby

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. Shortly after, he decided to assert his right to retire and get his pension. During the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

of 1870, Le Bris volunteered to fight against the Prussian Army. He ended at

Camp Conlie Camp Conlie was one of eleven military camps established by the Republican Government of National Defense under Léon Gambetta during the Franco-Prussian war. It became notable because of events which have led to its being described as a "concentr ...

and, realizing the fate of the Army of Brittany, got transferred as a

franc-tireur (; ) were irregular military formations deployed by France during the early stages of the Franco-Prussian War (1870–71). The term was revived and used by partisans to name two major French Resistance movements set up to fight against Nazi G ...

. He took part in the combats in Western France: the

battle of Le Mans The Battle of Le Mans was a German victory during the Franco-Prussian War that ended French resistance in western France. Background After capturing the armies of the Second French Empire, French Empire at Battle of Sedan, Sedan and Siege of M ...

, and the subsequent fights in

Sarthe Sarthe () is a department of the French region of Pays de la Loire, and the province of Maine, situated in the '' Grand-Ouest'' of the country. It is named after the river Sarthe, which flows from east of Le Mans to just north of Angers. It ha ...

and

Mayenne Mayenne ( ) is a landlocked department in northwest France named after the river Mayenne. Mayenne is part of the administrative region of Pays de la Loire and is surrounded by the departments of Manche, Orne, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, and Il ...

. After the

armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from t ...

, Le Bris was demobilized and he went back home in Douarnenez. In 1871, Jean Marie Le Bris was appointed law enforcement officer (''agent de police'') by the mayor of Douarnenez. On 7 September 1871 Le Bris and fellow policeman Yves Corentin Larhant intervened at a ball to stop a fight between two guests. Le Bris was injured in the process. According to his daughter Julie, he never recovered from this aggression, with his physical health declining over time. Le Bris died in his home of

, on 17 February 1872.

In popular culture

Aviation education and preservation

* The

in Le Bourget, France hosts a replica of the Winged Boat (''Barque ailée'') in the Air Pioneers Hall. * The Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center, part of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park in Dayton, OH, mentions the work of Jean Marie Le Bris in its exhibition on aviation pioneers.

Dedications

* The school-city (''cité scolaire'' that brings together a ''collège'' and a ''lycée'') of

and the aviation club of Quimper are named after the aviator. * A stele was dedicated in the village of Tréfeuntec, Plonévez-Porzay where the Jean Marie Le Bris street ends right before the mouth of the stream Lapic. * Jean Marie Le Bris is buried in the Douarnenez-Ploaré Cemetery, rue Laennec,

in Section B, Stone No. 2.

In arts

* Jean Marie Le Bris is one of the main characters of the 1878 novel ''Les grandes amours'' by Guillaume Joseph Gabriel de La Landelle. The book was written by the author as a fiction inspired by the life and work of Le Bris. * The

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

band Seven Reizh released two albums inspired by the life of Jean Marie Le Bris: ''La barque ailée'' in 2015, and ''L'Albatros'' in 2018. They are based on the novel ''La barque ailée et l’albatros'' of Gérard Le Dortz. * The play The Albatross (''An Albatroz'' is the original title in Breton) was created based on Le Bris' story by storyteller Lukaz Nedeleg and accordionist Youen Bodros. It was produced by the performing art group Strollad La Obra in both French and Breton, and was played for the first time in June 2021 in Landerneau,

.À Landerneau,l’histoire de Jean-Marie Le Bris, pionnier de l’aviation, au Family le 1er juin
Le Télégramme of May 21, 2021. Accessed on May 24, 2021.

Notes

Bibliography

* Chanute, Octave ''Progress in Flying Machines''. The American Engineer and Railroad Journal. 47 Cedar Street, New York, 1894, 1899 * De La Landelle, Gabriel. ''Les grandes amours''. Dentu, Paris, 1878 * Decoop, Gaston. ''Un grand précurseur breton 1817/1872 : Jean-Marie Le Bris''. Icare, 1968 * Gibbs-Smith, C.H. ''Aviation: An Historical Survey''. London, NMSI, 2008. * Opdycke, Leonard E. ''French Aeroplanes Before the Great War'' Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 1999. * Peslin, Charles-Yves. ''Jean Marie Le Bris. Marin breton précurseur de l'aviation''. Journal Les Ailes, Société d'éditions aéronautiques. Paris, 1944 * Lacan, Guy et al. ''Jean-Marie Le Bris: précurseur de l'aéronautique''. Icare No. 192. Roissy-en-France, 2005.

External links

Biography
on flyingmachines.org.
Machine reconstruction with design analysis, website of the Jean-Marie Le Bris Association''Un pionnier de l'aviation : Jean-Marie Le Bris''
an article by Florian Le Roy in the newspaper L'Ouest-Éclair of June 8, 1944. {{DEFAULTSORT:Le Bris, Jean-Marie 1817 births 1872 deaths 19th-century French inventors French aviation pioneers Brittany French glider pilots People from Brittany People from Concarneau