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    Gas Races Results Finalized

    It’s official — British adventurer David-Hempleman-Adams and co-pilot Jonathan Mason have won the 52nd Coupe Aeronautique Gordon Bennett.  It is the first time in the history of the race that a British team has claimed victory.  Austria’s Gerald Stuerzlinger and Helmut Meierhofer finished second, and Barbara Fricke and Peter Cuneo of the US finished third. [...]

    James Gordon Bennett Jr.

    James Gordon Bennett Jr. was born in New York in 1841. He was the founder and publisher of the New York Herald, which was to become the International Herald Tribune.James Gordon Bennett Jr

    Gordon Bennett has had a lifelong interest in sports and adventure, as well as speed. He was the founder of the "Coupe A�ronautique Gordon Bennett" and also sponsored competitions for airplanes, motorboats and an international automobile race, which subsequently became the "Grand Prix of France".

    But speed was not just a pastime for Bennett. As founder and publisher he constantly strove to use technical advances and other innovations to get news faster and more efficiently to his readers. He was the first to use the radio to receive news, and introduced the linotype and the half-tone print to Europe. He also sent Stanley to find the unfortunate Livingstone in Africa. He was also the first to introduce weather forecasts in his newspaper.

    James Gordon Bennett left his mark in many areas. Not the least of achievements was the "Coupe A�ronautique Gordon Bennett", which was the major event in gas ballooning for several decades.


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