A TBM 700 in the footsteps of Roland Garros

On September 23, 1913, Roland Garros made a name for himself by making the first solo flight across the Mediterranean Sea from Fréjus to Bizerte and from one continent to another at an average speed of 100 km/h in a Morane-Saulnier H type aircraft. This feat, over a distance of more than 394 Nm including 270 Nm over water, was a turning point for aviation, foreshadowing possibilities that were to become realities during the First World War.

EADS Socata, a subsidiary of the EADS group and heir to the Morane-Saulnier tradition, decided to commemorate this event and the memory of Roland Garros. Showcasing the top-end of its current training and business aircraft range, the TBM 700C, a 6-seater designed to provide companies and armed forces with a short-hop capability throughout the Mediterranean basin, it will recreate this historic flight.

The plane was symbolically christened the "Spirit of Roland Garros" tomorrow at the Le Bourget airport by Jean-Pierre Lefèvre-Garros, the nephew and biographer of the famous aviator.

The "Spirit of Roland Garros" was flown on the anniversary date, by Christian Briand, chief test pilot of EADS Socata from Cannes-Mandelieu to Bizerte after a symbolic overflight of the former air and sea base of Fréjus-Saint-Raphaël, from where Roland Garros took off, 90 years earlier. He landed A celebration with the Tunisian Air Force Commander-in-second was part of the many festivities that underscore this French-Tunisian air achievement.

Roland Garros (born in Saint Denis, Réunion, on October 6, 1888) was the son of a lawyer, who made his career in the French civil service. The young man came to metropolitan France in 1898 and was a pupil at the Stanislas College in Cannes and then the Masséna high school, where he took his baccalaureate. After graduating from H.E.C., he joined the Grégoire automobile company as an agent.

A fine sportsman, he naturally proved to be an excellent aviator, and took part in numerous aircraft races, flying his own planes. In 1912 he became the official test pilot of the manufacturer, Morane-Saulnier, and broke the world altitude record.

He then flew solo across the Mediterranean Sea for the first time on September 23, 1913, from Fréjus to Bizerte, over a distance of 394 Nm including 270 Nm over water over water, in 7 hours 53 minutes.

During the First World War, he served in the MS 23 squadron. At this time, he also continued work on Raymond Saulnier’s design for a rustic device to allow for firing through the disc swept by an aircraft's propeller; a steel plate, attached to each blade, deflected any rounds that might hit it. Thanks to this mechanism, tested in the M26 squadron on an L type Morane-Saulnier Parasol, the advantage of firing through the propeller was demonstrated, when three enemy planes were shot down between April 1 and 18, 1915.

Hit by anti-aircraft fire, Roland Garros had to make an emergency landing on the afternoon of April 18, 1915. Taken prisoner, he escaped through Holland and took up service again in the French army.

Having returned to his unit in the spring of 1918, he shot down yet another enemy plane on October 2, but was killed in action on October 5, near Vouziers (Ardennes), where he is buried.

EADS Socata
Aéroport de Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrénées
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