Henri
Pequet
Ready to
leave Allahabad aboard a Sommer airplane with a 50 hp Gnome engine,
February 18, 1911.
Henri Pequet was born on 1 Feb 1888 at Bracquemont,
France and died on 13 March
1974 at Vichy,
France
He started his aviation career as
a balloonist. He joined the
Voisin Company as an employee in 1908,
and subsequently
made
his first flight at Hamburg in 1909. Earned his French license
(#88) 10 June
1910.
On 18 Feb 1911,
he flew a
Sommer
airplane in the first
heavier than air airmail delivery
between Allahabad and Naini
in India.
"Henri
Pequet (born 1888) was a pilot in the first official airmail flight on
February 18,1911. The 23 year old Frenchman, in India for an air show,
delivered about 6,500 letters when he flew from Allahabad to Naini,
about 10 kilometers away. He flew a Sommer biplane with about fifty
horsepower (37 kJf), and made the journey in thirteen minutes. The
letters were marked "First Aerial Post, V.P. Exhibition Allahabad
1911."