ROBERT JACKSON '00 PRESENTS MEMORIAL TO FRANCE
While a score of airplanes maneuvered overhead, there was dedicated on May 8, at the Le Bourget flying field near Paris, a monument to the memory of the flights by Nungesser Coli and Lindbergh a monument of remarkable artistic distinction, presented to the Frehch Republic by Robert Jackson '00 of Concord, N. H.
The dedication ceremonies were simple but dignified and were held on the first anniversary of the start of Nungesser's ill-fated attempt. On the pedestal of the monument is the inscription, "A I'honneur de ceux qui tenterent,at de celui qui accomplit. Nungesser-Coli; Lindbergh; 1927." A gathering of about a thousand people witnessed the presentation ceremony, at which the principal address was made by the American ambassador, Hon. Myron T. Herrick. Several eminent French authorities connected with aviation also participated. Mr. Jackson's daughter unveiled the statue.
This sculpture is the work of a French artist, Georges Michel, now deceased. It represents the Conquest of the Air a nude female figure in marble poised on a pedestal some twenty feet in height, and apparently about to launch herself confidently into space. A marble drapery floats airily behind. The style of the statue suggests the best Greek period, and in its lightness and grace recalls the famous bronze Mercury of Gian di Bologna, familiar to every visitor of the Bargello museum in Florence.
Mr. Jackson, long an amateur both of art and of aeronautics, became possessed of this statue a few years ago while on a visit to Paris, being greatly impressed by its beauty and desiring to assist the widow of the sculptor, who was anxious to realize on her husband's accumulated works. Having no special plan for disposing of his purchase, Mr. Jackson left the marble in storage in France until the epoch-making events of 1927 suggested the utilization of it as a lasting memorial "To those who tried, and to him who succeeded." The monument is placed just inside the entrance to Le Bourget, the great northern airservice terminal of Paris, some five or six miles from the heart of the city.
