Perhaps everyone knows the humorous expression "flew like plywood over Paris", but only a few know that it is not so humorous and is connected with a specific historical event. At the center of it was a certain Auguste Fanier - a man who had never really existed, a fictional character, if I may say so.
But the prototype was his character is very real, and none other than the President of France Arman Fallier, who paid much attention only to the nascent aviation industry and aeronautics in general.
The birth of the myth of the French loser aviator
This whole story is very confusing and full of contradictions from beginning to end. But its essence boils down to the fact that Auguste Fannier, supposedly a well-known French balloonist, crashed during a test flight on an aircraft designed by him himself and died in doing so.
This event dates back to 1908, and as if a loser aviator, making its fateful flight, crashed into the Eiffel Tower, and this happened in front of thousands of amazed residents of the French capital. But all this is fiction, there was no plane crash in Paris in 1908, and Auguste Fannier Aviator himself simply never existed.
When and by whom the catch phrase was first said
Another story related to this myth dates back to the same time, that is, to the beginning of the 20th century, but it was no longer in Paris, but in Moscow. The phrase that has become winged, both literally and figuratively, is ascribed to a very real, unlike Fanier, ardent fighter against tsarism Martov, who was in the Menshevik party cell and was involved in journalism.
Around 1911, in the Iskra newspaper, Martov published a note with fierce criticism of the existing regime, in which there were such words: “... the power of Tsar Nicholas flies as confidently to crash and death as Mr. Pannier’s plywood airplane!” But here there is a discrepancy. Of course, Martov could come up with the name Auguste Fannier, but he could not write about it - the Iskra was closed after the revolutionary events of 1905!
The real roots of the birth of myth
In 1909, many French newspapers printed a caricature image of the then President of the Republic, Arman Falley, seated on an airplane diving down. This was due to the enthusiasm of Fallier just emerging aircraft and his constant attempts to introduce and develop it in France. For this, caustic criticism constantly rained on the president, and he himself was considered a madman.
The fact is that only 7 years have passed since the Wright brothers first flew on their glider, and at that time very few people believed in airplanes, they saw the future for airships. And Auguste Fanier - a French aviator (made-up) - became the prototype of Arman Fallier - the president.
So where did the “plywood” come from over Paris?
Based on the foregoing, it becomes clear who this mythical Auguste Fannier is actually, but this does not explain anything about plywood, although many consider it a pun: Plywood is plywood. But in reality, everything is much simpler: this expression was taken from French newspapers of the beginning of the 20th century, which for a long time and meticulously talked about the flight over Paris of a luxurious airship-handsome named Fallier ("Flanner").
These articles migrated from French newspapers to Russian, before the 1917 revolution in Russia they were vividly interested in everything that was happening in France, in particular in its capital. And Russians are known for their tendency to distort words taken from other languages, so the “Flanner”, flying over Paris, has become more familiar plywood for our language.
So, at first glance, a simple winged expression has a whole story that originated a long time ago. This once again proves that a person by nature loves to change everything so that it looks more beautiful. But as a result of this, in our dialect there is a well-known expression "flew like plywood over Paris."