1862-1909 (French Pilot's Licence No. 5 bis)
Louis Ferdinand Ferber was born in Lyon, France on February
8th, 1862. He studied at the École Polytechnique and became an
artillery officer, eventually becoming professor at the artillery
school at Fontainebleu. In 1898 he became interested in gliding and
built his own gliders, corresponding on the subject with the Wright
brothers. In 1905 he started experimenting with powered gliders and
built several rather unsuccessful planes of his own design.
In 1906 he took a three-year leave from the army and started working at
Société Antoinette, where he built his final powered airplane, No. 9,
which flew in July 1908, piloted by Georges Legagneux. In 1909 he
bought a Voisin and entered a couple of the earliest air race meetings.
He flew under the pseudonym "F de Rue" in order not to
compromise his military career. The name was taken after the Swiss
village of Rue, where the family owned an estate.
His main input into aviation was perhaps not his flying or his
technical exploits, but his early understanding of the importance of
the work of the Wright brothers and his fervent support of aviation. He
was one of the founders of the Ligue Nationale Aérienne.
Ferber was killed on 22 September 1909, when he was hit by the engine
of his Voisin when it nosed over after running into a ditch after a
landing outside Boulogne-sur-Mer. He was the world's second pilot
to lose his life in an airplane accident.
When the first French "Brevets de Pilote" where granted in
1910, Ferber posthumously received No. 5 bis, based on the alphabetic
order between the first fourteen holders.
"F. de Rue" participated in the following air race
meetings:
- Port-Aviation 30 May - 3 June 1909
- Port-Aviation 13 June 1909
- Douai 1909
- Vichy 1909
- Reims 1909