Editing Roland Garros (aviator) (section)

=== Aviation ===
[[File:Roland Garros (aviator) SDASM (cropped).jpg|alt=Roland Garros in open cockpit of aircraft, looking at viewer|thumb|Garros in an aircraft cockpit]]
During Garros's summer holiday in 1909, at [[Courcelles-Sapicourt|Sapicourt]] near [[Reims]], staying with a friend's uncle, he saw the [[Grande Semaine d'Aviation de la Champagne]] which ran from 22 to 29 August. After this, he knew he had to be an aviator.<ref name=Fleuryp44>Fleury, 2009, p. 44</ref>

He started his aviation career in 1909 flying a [[Santos-Dumont Demoiselle|Demoiselle]] (dragonfly) monoplane, an aircraft that flew well only if it had a small lightweight pilot. He gained Ae.C.F. licence no. 147 in July 1910. In 1911 Garros graduated to flying [[Blériot XI]] monoplanes and entered a number of European air races with this type of aircraft, including the [[1911 Paris to Madrid air race]] and the [[Circuit of Europe]] (Paris–London–Paris), in which he came second.<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1911/1911%20-%200640.html Judges' Report in European Circuit] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921055615/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1911/1911%20-%200640.html |date=21 September 2013 }} ''[[Flight International|Flight]]'' 22 July 1911</ref>

On 4 September 1911, he set an altitude record of {{cvt|3950|m}}. The following year, on 6 September 1912, after Austrian aviator Philipp von Blaschke had flown to {{cvt|4360|m}}, he regained the height record by flying to {{cvt|5610|m}}.<ref>{{cite news|title=Aviator Rises to 16,400 feet|url=http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1912-09-07/ed-1/seq-5/|access-date=18 October 2016|work=The Sun|date=7 September 1912|location=New York|page=5|archive-date=20 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220061326/http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030272/1912-09-07/ed-1/seq-5/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fai.org/fai-record-file/?recordId=15888|publisher=FAI|title=FAI Record ID#15888|access-date=20 September 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054730/http://www.fai.org/fai-record-file/?recordId=15888|archive-date=21 September 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fai.org/fai-record-file/?recordId=15889|publisher=FAI|title=FAI Record ID#15889|access-date=18 October 2016}}{{dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

By 1913 he was flying the faster [[Morane-Saulnier]] monoplanes, and on 23 September gained fame for making the first non-stop flight across the [[Mediterranean Sea]] from [[Fréjus]]-Saint Raphaël in the south of France to [[Bizerte]] in Tunisia<ref>{{cite magazine|date=27 September 1913 |title=Flying the Mediterranean |magazine=[[Flight International|Flight]]|volume=5|issue=39 |pages=1078 |url=https://ia903101.us.archive.org/17/items/sim_flight-international_1913-09-27_5_39/sim_flight-international_1913-09-27_5_39.pdf |access-date=10 November 2023}}</ref> in a [[Morane-Saulnier G]]. The flight commenced at 5:47&nbsp;am and lasted for nearly eight hours, during which time Garros resolved two engine malfunctions.<ref name="fft"/> The following year, Garros joined the [[French Army in World War I|French army]] at the outbreak of World War&nbsp;I.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780190658298/cast/garros/#_ftn4 |title=Garros, Roland |last1=Buchanan |first1=Clair |publisher=Oxford Academic Group |date= |website=Oxford University Press |access-date=24 March 2024 |archive-date=24 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324223335/https://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780190658298/cast/garros/#_ftn4 |url-status=live }}</ref>