Vintage 1911 Aviation Medal Watch Fob French Moran Saulnier Monoplane.

Description

This was in a cigar box from a World War 1 veteran. Not sure if it is a medal or watch fob. Very small for watch fob, maybe an aviation race medal missing its ribbon? Has a cathedral and square building in design of medal, with a river or ocean scene. At first I thought it might be Pisa Italy, or Paris France.
Morane-Saulnier's first product was the Morane-Borel monoplane, a development of a monoplane design produced by the Morane company (sometimes called Type A) in partnership with Gabriel Borel). Using a wing-warping mechanism for control, this was the type in which Jules Védrines won the Paris-Madrid race on May 26, 1911.
An estimated crowd of 300,000 spectators[3] gathered in the predawn hours of Sunday, 21 May 1911. The competitors were to take off at five-minute intervals starting at 5.00, but flying started at around 3.45, when Jules Védrines and Andre Frey made short trial flights.
The first competitor to take off, at 5:10, was Andre Beaumont, followed by Roland Garros and Eugène Gilbert. Frey took off at 5:35, made a circuit of the field, and landed; after some adjustments, he tried again at 6:00, but damaged a wheel and had to delay his attempt for repairs. The next competitor was not ready, and the following, Garnier, only made a short flight. He was followed by Jules Védrines, who immediately after take off attempted to land, since his aircraft was not handling properly. The crowd had begun to get out of control around six, spilling out of the enclosures onto the flying field, and although no one other than the aviators, their assistants, and race officials were meant to enter the flying area, a party of government ministers had also left their grandstand. In an effort to avoid the spectators, he crashed, escaping injury, but severely damaging his aircraft. At 6:22, Le Lasseur de Ranssay departed and at 6:30 Andre Train was called to the starting line.
In Train's own words:
" As soon as I left the ground, I perceived that the motor was not working well. I was about to land, after making a turn to one side, when I saw a detachment of cuirassiers crossing the flying track. I then tried to make a short curve to avoid them, and to land in the opposite direction, but my motor at that moment failed more and more, and I was unable to undertake the curve. I raised the machine, so as to get over the troops and to land beyond them. At that very moment, a group of persons, who had been hidden from my view by the cuirassiers, scattered before me in every direction. I tried to do the impossible, risking the life of my passenger to prolong my flight, and to get beyond the last persons of the group. I was about to come to land, when the apparatus, which had been raised almost vertically, dropped heavily to the ground. I got out from under the machine, with my passenger, believing that I had avoided any accident. It was only then that I learned the terrible misfortune."
Prime Minister of France Ernest Monis was left unconscious, with a broken leg. Monis's son, and tycoon and aviation patron Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe, were both injured. The French Minister of War, Henri Maurice Berteaux, lost an arm and sustained a fatal head wound.[5]
The crash caused a panic in the crowd, causing more injuries and the suspension of all further activity. With the approval of the injured Monis, the event continued the next day, but only two more flyers departed, Védrines and Andre Frey.
Competitors Edit
Socialist aviator Jules Védrines, winner of the race
Jules Védrines, flying a Morane-Borel monoplane, was the winner of the race, and the only competitor to finish. After a total time of 37 and a half hours (12 hours and 18 minutes in the air), he took the 30,000-franc prize and was awarded the Cross of the Order of Alfonso XII by Spanish King Alfonso,[6] despite being in such a foul mood at landing that doctors were called to assess his mental health.[7]
Jean Louis Conneau (flying as "Andre Beaumont") had landed his Bleriot XI at Loches, a little further than halfway to the first destination, for engine maintenance, then crashed there on takeoff.
André Frey, in a Morane-Saulnier, went no farther than Etampes before damaging his craft.
Scheduled competitors who withdrew after the fatal crash included Charles Terres Weymann. Belgian John Verrept yielded his aircraft to Védrines.
Eugene Gilbert, flying a Bleriot XI: While over the Pyrenees en route to Madrid, Gilbert was attacked by a large eagle, which he warded off using a revolver.
Léon Morane
1910:Robert and Léon Morane before takeoff in two-seat Bleriot XI. Both were nearly killed when the machine crashed shortly after. The brothers decided to start their own company afterward.
Morane-Saulnier's first commercially successful design was the Morane-Saulnier G, a wire-braced shoulder-wing monoplane with wing warping. This led to the development of a series of aircraft and was very successful in racing and setting records. The Type G was a 2-seater, and was reduced slightly in size to produce the Morane-Saulnier H, a single-seater, and was given a faired fuselage to produce the Morane-Saulnier N single-seat fighter. The Morane-Saulnier H was modified so that its wings were mounted parasol fashion, above the fuselage to afford the observer a better view, creating the Morane-Saulnier L. The L was then fitted with a faired fuselage as on the N and ailerons to make the Morane-Saulnier LA, which was then completely redesigned (though looking very similar) to make the Morane-Saulnier P which would be the basis for a whole family of aircraft developed in the '20s. The Type N was developed into the larger and more powerful Morane-Saulnier I and the very similar Morane-Saulnier V, but these were not successful, being too powerful and having inadequate controls. The V was then redesigned to create the Morane-Saulnier AC which substituted ailerons for wing warping and had a strut-braced wing. The AC was not particularly successful, in part because of poor field of view a shoulder-mounted wing produced, so the Morane-Saulnier AI was developed, in which the wing was raised above the fuselage. The AI lost out in the competition to the SPAD XIII but was built in limited numbers in case there was a problem with the SPAD; as it turned out it was the AI that suffered structural problems.
In parallel to the L the Morane-Saulnier BB was developed for the RFC, which was a Type P built as a biplane. Because the type 'BB' when pronounced in French sounds like Bebe (or baby), this became the type's nickname. Most of these types had no fixed fin, or horizontal stabilizer, with the result that they were not only very sensitive on the controls, but also could not even be flown hands off. One early pilot noted that if one left the aircraft to its own devices it would end up going upside down in the opposite direction. Despite this, many were used as trainers, including a great many that had their wings stripped so they couldn't fly, creating what was known as a Penguin.
The Type L has the distinction of being the first fighter aircraft used during World War I when one was fitted with a machine gun firing through the propeller, which was fitted with metal plates to deflect any bullets that struck it. This was flown with success by Roland Garros, who would later be considered to be the first French Ace. A similar system was fitted to the Type N pending the arrival of other machine guns, which made the system workable. While flying his modified Type L, Garros crashed on the German side of the lines and the wreckage was examined by Fokker just prior to Fokker producing a similar system.
After the war, Morane-Saulnier produced a number of designs for training and general aviation, but with the threat of war in the late thirties it once again turned to military aircraft. During the late 1920s and early 1930s, it produced a number of parasol wing fighters including the M.S.230 and M.S.315, but all were of limited performance and were relegated to training duties. Morane-Saulnier had much more success with its dramatically modernized M.S.406, which was the French Air Force's most numerous fighter at the start of the war. Unfortunately, the 406 was advanced only for its introduction in 1935 and suffered terribly against the more modern Messerschmitt Bf 109s it faced in 1940.
During World War II, Morane-Saulnier was operated under German control and built a number of German types including the Fieseler Storch, known after the war as the Morane-Saulnier MS.500 Criquet. Morane-Saulnier also produced a number of trainer and civilian aircraft models, the best known of which was the successful "Rallye" series of four-seat STOL semi-aerobatic tourers (see picture above).
Morane-Saulnier was purchased by Potez on January 7, 1962 and became SEEMS, the Societe d'Exploitation des Etablissements Morane-Saulnier. In 1966 its civilian models were spun off to form SOCATA, the Societe de Construction d'Avions de Tourisme et d'Affaires, which was eventually purchased by Aérospatiale.
Development of gun synchronisation
The company and Saulnier himself had a significant role in the development of the concept of synchronising machine gun fire through an aircraft's propeller
Early 20th Century Circa 1910 Aviation Medal French Moran Saulnier Monoplane?. Condition is "Used". Shipped with USPS First Class.