Circuit de l'Est

The Circuit de l'Est ("Eastern Circuit") was a six-stage air race organized by the newspaper Le Matin, which took place in August 1910. General Ferdinand Foch, who had followed the race attentively, declared a few weeks later to the Le Matin delegate, Robert de Beauplanduring the French Army's first aerial maneuvers in Picardy : "All that, you see, is sport: but for the army, the air force, it's zero".