Jean Louis Conneau

Jean Louis Conneau, better known by the pseudonym André Beaumont, was a pioneer French aviator, French Navy lieutenant, and flying boat manufacturer.

Flying career

Conneau used the pseudonym "Beaumont" because, as a serving member of the French armed forces, he was not permitted to use his own name. He earned his French pilot's license, No. 322, on 7 December 1910, and his military pilot's license, No. 4, on 18 December 1911.

Air races

In 1911 he won three of the toughest aeronautical tests: the 'Paris-Rome' race, the first Circuit d'Europe on 7 July 1911, and the Daily Mail Daily Mail Circuit of [Britain Air Race|Circuit of Britain Race] on 26 July 1911, flying a Blériot XI. He also participated in the ill-fated 1911 [Paris to Madrid air race] in May 1911.
In June 1911, during the Paris-Liege leg of the Circuit d'Europe, his support engineer and teammate Léon Lemartin was involved in a fatal accident on take-off.

Aircraft manufacture

In 1912 he became the technical director of Donnet-Lévèque, which manufactured flying boats. In 1913 he co-founded Franco-British Aviation to build flying boats. It had its headquarters in London and a factory in Paris and supplied both the French and British armed services.
As a flying boat pilot, he commanded squadrons at Nice, Bizerte, Dunkirk, and Venice during World War I. He worked at Franco-British Aviation perfecting flying boats for the French Navy from 1915 until 1919.

Publications

Mes trois grandes courses, Hachette, Paris, 1912.