French Voisin Biplane after being invited there by Taylor’s Aerial League, hoping to raise awareness of manned flight in Australia.
Attempts to take off by Houdini on March 17 were not successful, but on March 18, 1910, he made three successful flights . Houdini recorded in his diary “never in any fear and never in any danger; it is a wonderful thing” describing his flights.
Houdini became fascinated with aviation in 1909, he bought a French Voisin biplane for $5000 and hired a full-time mechanic, Antonio Brassac. The aircraft had been built especially for Houdini. It weighed 1,350 pounds and the 8 foot propeller was behind the pilot.
On March 18th his first attempts to take off were unsuccessful due to mechanical problems with the controls. Then, early on the morning of March 18, 1910, Houdini finally succeeded in making three flights. The last of these flights was the longest and covered a distance of two miles and achieving a height of 100 feet in 3 ½ minutes. This was why it was recorded as a "fully controlled flight" as opposed to an earlier attempt by Englishman Colin Defries, who claimed he flew a Wright Model A aircraft about 115 yards at Sydney's Victoria Racecourse on December 9, 1909.
In an interview after his flight, Houdini said, “When I went up for the first time I thought for a minute that I was in a tree, then I knew I was flying. The funny thing was that as soon as I was aloft, all the tension and strain left me. As soon as I was up all my muscles relaxed, and I sat back, feeling a sense of ease. Freedom and exhilaration, that’s what it is.”
After this Australia tour was finished with flight exhibitions at Rosenill racetrack near Sydney, Houdini put the Voisin into storage in England. Although he announced he would use it to fly from city to city during his next tour, Houdini never flew again. Houdini sold the plane in 1913, but exactly what happened to Houdini’s historic Voisin has long been a mystery.
Now that's magic!
Here are some links to Great Information on Houdini and his Flying:
Houdini_Lives
http://www.harryhoudini.com.au/
http://www.aarg.com.au/Aviation-EarlyAustralian.htm
http://member.melbpc.org.au/~mulvany/mulv2.html
http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/houdini_bio.html
http://www.apl.org/history/houdini/biography.html
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