Jean Marie Le Bris

Jean Marie Le Bris (25 March 1817, Concarneau – 17 February 1872, Douarnenez) was a French aviator, born in Concarneau, Brittany who built two glider aircraft and performed at least one flight on board of his first machine in late 1856. His name (ʒɑ̃ maʁi lə bʁis) is sometimes spelled Jean-Marie Le Bris, and he is also known as Yann Vari Ar Briz (jɑ̃n vari ar briz\s) in Breton language. Jean Marie Le Bris was born in Concarneau, Brittany, France on 25 March 1817 at 5AM local time. He was the third child of Michel Marie Le Bris, boat captain, and Perrine Rosalie Le Bris née Riou. Jean Marie Le Bris married Jeanne Louise Alexandrine Kerisit in Pont-Croix on 18 February 1844. After Jeanne Louise passed away in March 1854, he remarried with Ernestine Esprit Hervé on 20 November 1854. A sailor and sea captain, Le Bris sailed around the world observing the flight of the albatross. Although he sailed around the world, his true ambition was to fly. During his trips, especially the navigation of the Cape Horn in 1839, he observed sea birds and captured an albatross to investigate the flight mechanics of birds and to understand the interaction between the wings and the air. Le Bris built two different gliders. The first one, sometimes nicknamed La barque ailée ("The Winged Boat"), is the subject of his patent No. 31166 of 9 March 1857 on an "aerial car". In late 1856, Jean Marie Le Bris flew briefly with this aircraft on the beach of Sainte-Anne-la-Palud (Plonévez-Porzay, Brittany), nearby Tréfeuntec in the Douarnenez Bay. The aircraft was placed on and tethered to a cart towed by a horse. He thus flew higher than his point of departure, a first for heavier-than-air flying machines, reportedly to a height of 100 m (330 ft), for a distance of 200 m (660 ft). During an unsuccessful second trial in March 1857, the glider was launched from the top of the Tréboul mill and crashed. The plane was damaged beyond repair and Jean Marie Le Bris broke a leg.