July 29 In Swedish History
1909: in the neighborhood of Gärdet in Stockholm, Frenchman Georges Legagneux performs the first airplane flight in Sweden. Legagneux (1882-1914) had just led a group performing airshows in Klampenborg, Denmark when the Svenska motorklubben (the Swedish motor club) heard about him, and decided to hire him for an airshow in Sweden.

Legagneux and Folmer Hansen (a Danish airplane pioneer) arrived by train to Stockholm on Friday, July 23 1909, with their airplane, Voisin-Farman biplane, packed in three big boxes. The airplane was then put together the following Monday, when motor tests were performed. Then on Sunday, July 29, the first unofficial test flights was conducted without an audience on Lindarängen. Legagneux got lost during the fourth test flight, and first thought of landing on Gärdet, but changed his mind and landed at Kaknäs, where the plane hit an iron post. The airplane was then pulled back by hand to the starting point and with the help of carpenters from Ekstrands Snickerifabrik, the wood details on it were repaired.

The official flights were performed on August 2 the same year. Sadly Legagneux died in an airplane crash at Saumur shortly before WW1.

Photo: Sven-Erik Jönsson och SFF Arkiv, Bibliothèque nationale de France