Rue Eugène Lefebvre

Eugène Lefebvre was an aviation pioneer, the first pilot in the world to die at the controls of a motorized aircraft.

Eugène Lefèbvre was a brilliant student at the communal school and then at the upper elementary school in his hometown;rieure de sa ville natale ce qui lui permet d'être admissible au concours d'entrée à l'Ecole des Arts et métiers de Châlons-sur-Marne, en 1895. This competition being open to several schools, Eugene Lefèvre opted for the Industrial Institute of the North (Central School of Lille) from which he graduated as an engineer in electrical engineering in 1898. He worked from 1898 to 1907 at the Societé du Froid industriel, rue de Turbigo, Paris, directed by Charles Lambert. He went abroad to install refrigerating machines (Algeria, Netherlands, Germany, Russia). Then, he went into business and set up a company in Paris selling automobiles and spare parts.

It was on his return from Russia that Eugène Lefèbvre became interested in aviation.

Eugène Lefèbvre's career as a mechanic and engineer was to become a member of the board of directors of a company that was founded in the early 1970s

Eugène Lefèbvre chose to join the Wright Brothers, two American bicycle manufacturers and airplane makers. The Compagnie gérale de Navigation aérienne was created, in France, in 1908, to manufacture Wright airplanes. The Wright Flyer was the first aircraft of the brand to participate in an air show. The Ariel Company, Paris, founded in 1909, was the first commercial airplane company ever created. It was a dealer for Wright airplanes. Its director was Michel Clemenceau, son of Georges Clemenceau. Eugène Lefèbvre made his first flights in Holland in July 1909.

He performed, at the end of August 1909, à Reims, during the first international airshow of the Grande Semaine d'aviation de la Champagne, an aerial demonstration that is considered the first acrobatic flight in the history of aviation. He was the first pilot in the world to die at the controls of a motorized plane, on September 7, 1909 on the Port-Aviation field (Essonne). The causes of the accident could not be determined.