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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0430.PDF
JOI.Y 17, 1909. KNIGHTS OF THE CHANNEL. MR. LATHAM'S enterprise in connection with cross-Channel flight very naturally recalls to mind the similar enthusiasm of others who have made the cross-Channel aerial passage by means of balloons, and if a brief resume of such journeys is made, the very significant fact is noted, that nearly all of them started from England instead of from France. The reason for this is sufficiently elementary. It is merely due to the fact that the prevailing wind has a southerly trend, and balloons being at the mercy of the air-currents must travel where the wind listeth, and not necessarily where the pilot wants to go. The fact that Mr. Latham is attempting to cross the Channel from the French shore, therefore, receives an added importance from this fact, since it opens up a new way into England which the elements have hitherto guarded as it were almost with a closed door. Looking back over the past history of cross-Channel journeys by air, it may be said that the only passages which have been made from the Continent to our shores have, with the exception of the balloons in the Gordon-Bennett race of 1906, been of an almost accidental nature, and there is no doubt whatever that they have been extremely hazardous, for England after all is only an island, and one moreover which could be quite easily missed in the dark. One of the earliest of the attempts very nearly resulted fatally, when M. Duruof, who persisted in undertaking the journey in spite of the prohibition of the Mayor of Calais, was subsequently rescued at sea near Denmark. During the Franco-German War one of the numerous balloons sent up from Calais during the siege crossed the Channel and was observed drifting out to sea at the north of Scotland. Its mail bag was picked up by a boat, but no news was ever heard oi the occupants. Another balloon, the " Jacquard," also failed to make a suc- cessful landing. Even M. Lhoste, who succeeded in " trailing" across with a submerged steering device attached to his rope, subsequently came to grief. Probably one of the most successful northerly crossings from the Continent was that made two years ago by Messrs. Koch and Wegener, who travelled from Bitterfeld in Germany and landed in Leicestershire, nearly 600 miles away. The most important occasion on which balloons have visited these shores from France was that of the Gordon-Bennett race of 1906, when seven balloons made a successful crossing. It was one of those rare occasions which favourably coincided with the event, so that when comparing the northward and southward balloons, these seven should be reckoned as a unit flight. From England to the Continent the cross-Channel passage has been made with frequency and success by Notable Channel Crossings by Balloon. From England to the Continent. Date. Pilot and Passengers. I- Name ofBalloon. Start. Landing. 5 1 3 o Q - 1784, Feb. 22jNo occupant 1785, Jan. 7iBlanchard, Dr. Jeffries 1836, Nov. 7Green, Holland, Monk Mason 1875, Aug. 25 Capt. Webb 1882, June ioCapt. Burnaby ... 1897, Ocl. 13 Marton 1898, Dec. 20; P. Spencer, L. Swinburn 1899, Sep. i5!Patnck Alexander ... «u 1900, Sep. iij. Faure 1905, Feb. 131 j. Faure, H. Latham ... ... ... 1905, April 7J. Faure, de Kergarion, K. Gasnier ... 1905, Aug. 3l|Frank Butler 1905, Nov. 25JA. Vonviller, J. Faare 1906, Feb. 3 !C. Pollock, Martin Dale 1906, Feb. 20F. Butler, P. Spencer, Mrs. Griffith Brewer... 1906, June 27 De Corvin 1906, Nov. 27:L. Bucknall, P. Spencer 1907, Feb. 21 C. Pollock, Hon. Mrs. Assheton Harbord ... 1907, Feb. 24 Griffith Brewer, Hon. Mrs. Assheton Harbord 1907, Oct. i2:Gaudron, Tanner, Turner 1908, Jan. 31C. Pollock, Hon. Mrs. Assheton Harbord ... 1908, Feb. 8 Griffith Brewer, Capt. Grubb Natation B :Eclipse ... B Ally Sloper B B F F JAero Club II F - B Vera ... I, FiElfe ... B i Valkyrie B Vera ... F Meteor ... B jVivienne IV B iValkyrie B !Lotus ... B [Mammoth B Valkyrie B Lotus ... [Kent ... [Dover ... i London ! Dover ... ILondon !Dover ... j London Dover ... London Folkestone London 1883, July 3 Morlau, de Conta 1883, Sep. 9 Lhoste 1884, Aug. 7 Lhoste 1886, July 29 Lhoste, Mangot 1901, Sep. 21 J. Latruffe 1903, Sep. 26de la Vaulx, Voyer, d'Oultremont 1906, Sep. 3oLahm, Hersey :Vonviller, Cranette Rolls, Capper de la Vaulx, d'Oultremont Balsan Carot Kindelan, de la Horga ... Huntingdon, C. F. Pollock 1907, April 10 Wegener, Koch ... 1907, Nov. I Wegener, Bohm, Sauerwein ... 1908, Sep. 17J. Faure, Franck, Otter From the Continent to England. BeF FF FF AI BF FS BG G F Cherbourg Dunkerque St. Cloud Paris ... V. de Boulogne JL'Hirondelle . Le Torpilleur . La Patne Le Djinn United States . Elge i 'Britannia ...! IWalhalla -...I ; V. deChateaurouxjMontaner ... iZephyr ... Ziegler ... ... Leipsic i „ ;Bale , iAero Club II ...Paris . Contrai, Belgium Boulogne Warneton (Belgian Frontier) iGuines Foret (near Calais) ... jWeilberg (Nassau) ... Calais Dieppe Dunkerque ... : French coast IGravelines jEtaples Aubervilliers... i Pont de l'Ardres (near Calais) Deborande (Calvados) St. Quentin ... [Yvetot JBoulogne iDieppe JNevig-les-D61es (Juree) Stavelot (Belgium) ... ... Marquise (Pas de Calais) ... Lake Wener (Switzerland)... Houdiemont (Meuse) Etaples .: «.. ..... Bromley .. Hythe New Rornney Tottenham ... Southampton Hull Yorkshire milesj h. m. •— 3 o 31 1 2 20 370 J18 o 25 |2I 45 214 — 170 190 395 218 6 30 3 30 7 io- 8 30 16 o 10 10 730:19 o 26 o 6 o (Norfolk JSingleton Chichester Milton Leicester ILondon Kent ... 364 402 369 387298 i 199 ! 6 16 40 22 5 22 o [26 18 J19 o 10 35 11 45 19 o 19 o — 80 Nationality: A = American. B = British. Be = Belgian. F = French. G = German. I = Italian. S = Swiss. 432
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