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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0456.PDF
JULY 31, 1909. No one foresaw then that this was to be the epoch- making machine with which he should fly 25 miles across country on July 17th and 31 miles across the sea on July 25th. True, the dimensions of the span are somewhat larger as the result of alterations which followed various preliminary experiments, but that it is still to all intents and purposes the same compact machine must have been apparent to all who took the unique opportunity of seeing it at Dover or during the past few days in London at the Selfridge showrooms. By his two great flights across country and across the Channel M. Bleriot has set the seal of success upon the monoplane principle. His achievements are another huge step in the "coming of the monoplane," about which we had occasion to speak at some length in our issue of June 12th, when Mr. Latham had been making some record flights with a machine of the same class. It is an advance, but it does not alter the problem ; the monoplane is still by way of being the racer of the air. M. Bleriot took roughly 40 minutes to cross the Channel, his speed being in the region of 45 miles an hour average, and according to his own account was nearer 50 miles an hour shortly after the start. That is a speed which only a limited number of pilots can be expected to feel safe at in their early experiments. Safety lies in speed, there is much reason to believe, but that is a different kind of safety, and is hardly in the reckoning if the pilot himself is not at home in the air under such conditions. M. Bleriot is now /?/'•/ a master of the —~ upper element, but he worked hard for his degree; on no occasion has his knowledge and skill stood him in better stead than during his Channel flight, for there he met with difficulties which must surely have brought a less ex- perienced pilot to sad grief. Even at the start there was, according to M. Bleriot's own estimate, a 10-knot wind ; while, offM. Bleriot's sketch of his cross-Channel flight.-In the Daily Mail "* > 7 ' " the above very interesting "chart" Dover, the breeze was sketch by M. Bleriot on Sunday, double this velocity, was published on Monday. The and the cliff currents • explanation of the drawing is:—The particularly strong, lettering: "Louis Bleriot, arrived in V -, Cbannf^] trip England at 5.12, left France at 4.35." lr] mid-v-tiannei the "Cal," in the bottom right-hand wind had dropped, corner, means Calais. The black dot but d-t the moment is the point of departure, and the line of landing it was the line of flight. The significant blfJwing ivi all direc. Kien' and the mark of mterroga- . b tion indicate the point at which the t'»Ons. aviator was for 10 mins. completely —,. A . lost. " Vent " = wind, and "Fal." The Story of the Flight. It was almost with- out warning, but nevertheless with a send-off on the falaise or cliff. " Dou." = Douvre s,Dover—and the perpendicular line the lie of the coast. Note how theline of flight is well to the e,:»st of Dover and how M. Bleriot's chartillustrates the distance he had to beat westward against the wir>.d before ^ , , rfinding a place to land in the North- French shore from an fall meadow. enthusiastic crowd, f that M. Bleriot flew across the Straits of Dover from Les Baraques, near Calais, to Northfall Meadow at Dover on Sunday. July 25th, thereby incidentally winning the Daily Mail £\,ooo prize. Taking the week-end a<< a whole, it has been one of the windiest periods of a particularly unsettled summer, and the previous day had in particular seemed hopeless for any cross-Channel flight. Half a gale had indeed been blowing and a heavy sea running only a few hours before, and h^nce it is hardly to be wondered at th it the feat was as totally unexpected as it was. When this greatest of all great events in the annals ot modern history was taking place the worlJ and his wife were mostly abed, especially this side of the Channel. But M. Bleriot had got up at haKpast two in the morning, not feeling very well, had taken a short motor run just to blow the cobwebs away, and that was why he was able to snatch the one brief fine moment that presented itself between the daytime storms of Saturday and Sunday. Seeing that the fates were propitious, he then lost little time in bringing out the flyer, and in spite of his injured foot he quickly carried out a practice flight over the sand-hills between Les Baraques and Sangatte. A little earlier, too, he ha<J notified his intention to start to the destroyer " Escop'tte," which was consequently at that time standing out to sea, with Madame Bleriot and others already aboard—all anxiously on the look-out for him. Finding everything working properly with his machine, he speedily effected a fresh start, this time flying straight av ay over the cliffs and heading towards England. That was j»t about twenty minutes to five (French time) and it was about twenty minutes past five (also French tim«0 that he landed at Djver. Accounts differ as to the exact moment of departure and descent, and as a matter of fact it is doubtful if any reliable timing was made s;.nce M. Bleriot started without a watch as well as without a compass. The distance of the flight was about 31 miles, and hence the speed was in the region of 45 miles an hour. During the crossing he flew at an altitude of 150 ft. to 300 ft., and thus kept much nearer the water than Mr. Latham did on his attempt. M. Bleriot's monoplane quickly outstripped the torpedo- boat destroyer " Escopette," with which the French Government replaced the " Harpon," that was on duty during Mr. Latham's attempt. In mid-Channel M. Bleriot p. lost sight of land and of his escort for a very uncomfort- / ably long period—estimated by him to have been ten I minutes—and was entirely without means of ascertaining j his proper direction. In the circumstances he did the only thing possible, which was to keep straight on, and fortune favouring him, he sighted the English shore off Deal while heading for St. Margaret's Bay. Turning along the coast M. Bleriot flew towards Dover, and put in at a gap in the cliffs where a representative of Le Matin, M. Fontaine, was signalling to him with a tricolour flag. The site on which the landing was accomplished was the Northfall Meadow. Although the arrival was noticed from afar by several, and M. Fontaine was on the chosen part of the cliff at Dover, yet even he failed to see the real landing, and P.C. Stanford was the only eye-witness of this great historic event, the landing on British soil of the first flyer to cross the Channel. The actual contact with terra-firma was rather abrupt; in fact, not only was the propeller broken, but that part of the framework which carries the engine was also damaged. Mishaps of this sort, however, are absolutely negligible by comparison with the success of the main 458
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