The House of Auguste Maïcon

Auguste Maïcon, born in Villefranche-sur-Mer, France, held French pilot's license number 695. In 1915 he was one of the contenders competing for the world's first transatlantic flight, along with Glenn Curtiss and others, but the feat was interrupted by World War I. (The feat was finally accomplished over a period of 23 days, from May 8 to May 31, 1919, by a U.S. Navy crew flying a Curtiss NC-4 seaplane, crossing the Atlantic in stages, from the United States to Newfoundland, the Azores, Portugal and finally the United Kingdom.) Among his other achievements, Maïcon was instrumental in establishing the first passenger air service on the French Riviera.Maïcon also gained notoriety for a particular stunt that he repeated on numerous occasions: that of flying his plane under a bridge in Nice that spanned the Var River. The space under the bridge was only two meters taller and six meters wider than the plane itself.Maïcon died in relative obscurity in 1974. Today, the house where he was born appears to be a private residence.