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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0457.PDF
JULY 31, 1909. issue. Bleriot had crossed the Channel, had won the Daily Mail prize, and was none the worse for it, nor in all probability would his machine have been damaged had he been familiar with the site on which he was forced to alight. Heard Afar Off. One of the most interesting minor points associated with M. Bleriot's cross-Channel flight, is the manner in which at Dover he was heard afar off by the very few people who happened to be about at the time. The whirring of the motor (doubtless chiefly due to the open exhaust) was quite distinctly audible, according to more than one eye-witness, even while the flyer itself was a mere speck in the distance. The night watchman on the Promenade Pier, in relating his account of the proceedings to the Daily Telegraph, says: " I suddenly saw a peculiar object away to the eastward, moving very rapidly across the sky. As it came closer I could hear the whirring of the motor, and I judged that it was one of the flying men who had made a start and had prac- 1759 tically got across." The chief officer of the Coastguard Station similarly relates that he could hear " a continual buzzing when the machine was several miles away." Looked Like a Bird. Next to the noise of the engine it was the high speed and bird-like appearance of the flyer which principally attracted the attention of those few who were privileged to witness its arrival in England. " The speed was almost incredible," said the chief officer of the Coast- guard Station, and certainly the sight of a monoplane coming out of the distance through the air at forty miles an hour or so might be well calculated to appeal to the imagination even of one who's life duty it is to watch all that goes on in the Channel. M. Bleriot's Last Flight. According to several reports M. Bleriot has definitely stated that he will give up flying after he has taken part in the Rheims races. Cherchez la femme of course, but who shall grudge Madame Bleriot her voice in the matter, now that her husband has done so much. AN HISTORICAL EVENT.—M. Bleriot and his monoplane flyer at the spot where he landed in the Northfallmeadow, behind Dover Castle, on Sunday morning, 5.20 a.m. (English time 5.14 a.m.), July 25th, 1909, after flying the Channel, having left the French coast at Baraques at 4.40 a.m. (French time) the same morning. The constable on theright is P.C. Stanford, who is believed to be the only person who actually saw M. Bleriot alight on British soil. M. Bleriot himself is easily identified in front in his overalls and aviator's cap. 459
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