Jean Louis Conneau (8 February 1880 Lodève, Hérault, France – 5 August 1937, Lodève), better known by the pseudonym André Beaumont, was a pioneer French aviator, French Navy lieutenant, and flying boat manufacturer.
Flying career Conneau used the pseudonym "Beaumont" because, as a serving member of the French armed forces, he was not permitted to use his own name. He earned his French pilot's license, No. 322, on 7 December 1910, and his military pilot's license, No. 4, on 18 December 1911.
Air races
In 1911 he won three of the toughest aeronautical tests: the 'Paris-Rome' race, the first Circuit d'Europe (Tour of Europe) (Paris-Liege-Spa-Utrecht-Brussels-Calais-London-Calais-Paris) on 7 July 1911, and the Daily Mail Circuit of Britain Race (England and Scotland) on 26 July 1911, flying a Blériot XI. He also participated in the ill-fated 1911 Paris to Madrid air race in May 1911.
In June 1911, during the Paris-Liege leg of the Circuit d'Europe, his support engineer and teammate Léon Lemartin was involved in a fatal accident on take-off.
Aircraft manufacture
In 1912 he became the technical director of Donnet-Lévèque, which manufactured flying boats. In 1913 he co-founded Franco-British Aviation (FBA) to build flying boats (French hydravions). It had its headquarters in London and a factory in Paris and supplied both the French and British armed services.
As a flying boat pilot, he commanded squadrons at Nice, Bizerte, Dunkirk, and Venice during World War I (1914–1918). He worked at Franco-British Aviation perfecting flying boats for the French Navy from 1915 until 1919.
Publications
Mes trois grandes courses, (My three major races) Hachette, Paris, 1912.
References
External links
The Great 1911 Air Race visits Whipton( Whipton, a stopping point for the contestants in the 1911 Circuit of Britain race)