Josef Henri Charles Christiaens (occasionally

anglicized Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

as Joseph, 16 June 1882 – 25 February 1919), was a Belgian

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

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 ...

, and

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

Biography

Christiaens was born in

Saint-Josse-ten-Noode Saint-Josse-ten-Noode ( French, ) or Sint-Joost-ten-Node ( Dutch, ), often simply called Saint-Josse in French or Sint-Joost in Dutch, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part o ...

on 16 June 1882 to a prosperous Belgian family. On 13 August 1905 he participated in the ''Coupe de Liedekerke et Williame'' race held near

Dinant Dinant () is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Namur Province, province of Namur, Belgium. On the shores of river Meuse, in the Ardennes, it lies south-east of Brussels, south ...

, Belgium. The race spanned 102.740 km, but Christiaens failed to complete the race. He also failed to qualify for the ''Il Coupe de Normandie'' with his Vivinus 6 racecar on 29 August 1909. The Vivinus later gave Christiaens his first victory, winning the 2nd ''Coupe de Liedekerke et Williame'' in

Ostend Ostend ( ; ; ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerke, Raversijde, Stene and Zandvoorde, and the city of Ostend proper – the la ...

, Belgium on 13 September 1909. He went on to take a string of victories in Europe and in the U.S. On 9 September 1916 Christiaens and his English

Sunbeam A sunbeam, in meteorological optics, is a lightbeam, beam of sunlight that appears to radiate from the position of the Sun. Shining through openings in clouds or between other objects such as mountains and buildings, these beams of light scatter ...

racecar, entered in the Harvest Auto Racing Classic held at the

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and and formerly the home of the U ...

, composing of three races held at 20, 50 and 100-mile distances.

Johnny Aitken John Donald Aitken (May 3, 1885 – October 15, 1918) was an American racing driver from Indianapolis, who was active in the years prior to World War I. Aitken competed in the Indianapolis 500 three times. He started the race twice, in 1911 and 1 ...

, in a

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French automobile brand owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was established in 1810, making it the oldest car company in the world. On 20 November 1858, Émile Peugeot applie ...

, came in first in all three distances. Christiaens' Sunbeam failed to start the race due to a broken crankshaft. When

Henri Farman Henri Farman (26 May 1874 – 17 July 1958) was a British-French aviator and aircraft designer and manufacturer with his brother Maurice Farman. Before dedicating himself to aviation he gained fame as a sportsman, specifically in cycling and mo ...

flew the

Voisin Voisin (French for "neighbour") may refer to: Companies *Avions Voisin, the French automobile company :* Voisin Laboratoire, a car manufactured by Avions Voisin * Voisin (aircraft), the French aircraft manufacturer * Voisin, a Lyon-based chocol ...

-designed biplane and took Ernest Archdeacon for a 1241-metre flight at

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

, Belgium on 30 May 1908, Christiaens was immediately captivated and inspired by the spirit of flying. In March 1910 Christiaens met Géo Chavez at Camp de Châlons, France and learnt to fly on a Farman plane from him. By 12 April in the same year, he was registered with licence N°7, becoming one of the first 11 pilots registered at the ''Aéro-Club de Belgique'' (Aero Club of Belgium). On 14 March 1911, Christiaens received much enthusiasm and assistance from the British Colonial Government in Singapore. A squad of

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

soldiers were dispatched to assemble and test the

Bristol Boxkite The Boxkite (officially the Bristol Biplane) was the first aircraft produced by the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company (later known as the Bristol Aeroplane Company). A pusher biplane based on the successful Farman III, it was one of the ...

. On 16 March 1911 Christiaens made history in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

as the first man to fly an airplane on the island. Christiaens died in a road accident while performing a test drive on a Sunbeam racecar near Moorfield Works on 25 February 1919 in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

, England. Shortly after leaving the Works, his car crashed into a wall along Upper Villiers Street trying to avoid a horse-cart coming out of Fowler Street.This is not the case, he swerved and hit a cast iron stench pipe: the works photograph shows the car, with a large u shaped impact in the centre of the chassis. His passenger, Sunbeam mechanic Frank Bill was handicapped from that accident and given a job "for life" by the Sunbeam Company. It is Frank in the one picture wearing the flat cap, not Joseph. This mistake has been copied by numerous people on various websites. I can prove this to be the case, as I have copies of the works photographs {JohnHarrol
Sunbeam, Talbot, Darracq – Wolverhampton History & Heritage Society

Motorsports career results

Indianapolis 500 results

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1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as the First World War, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip ...

, 9 , , 7 , , 91.210 , , 9 , , 6 , , 200 , , 9 , , Running , - !

1916 Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Empire, British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that has been stored ...

, 14 , , 14 , , 86.080 , , 16 , , 4 , , 120 , , 0 , , Running , - , colspan="6", Totals , , 320 , , 9 , , , {, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" , - !Starts , 2 , - !Poles , 0 , - !Front Row , 0 , - !Wins , 0 , - !Top 5 , 1 , - !Top 10 , 2 , - !Retired , 0

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christiaens, Josef 1882 births 1919 deaths Aviation pioneers Belgian aviators 20th-century Belgian engineers Belgian racing drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers Racing drivers who died while racing Sport deaths in England People from Saint-Josse-ten-Noode