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Aviation History
1909
1909 - 0459.PDF
JULY 31, 1909. The final proceeding was to present the Daily Mail prize of ^1,000 in two ^500 note which were contained in a letter-case enclosed in a handsome silver cup. In his speech Lord Northcliffe paid very proper tribute to M. Bleriot's achievement, and incidently took the opportunity of drawing attention to Lieut. Shackleton's presence among the guests, saying how pleasant it was that they were thus able to entertain at one and the same time such typical heroes of the respective countries. Accord- ing to Lord Northcliffe, almost all good things had, like M. Bleriot, first " come out of France," for so many of the leading modern inventions had been due to the work of Frenchmen. In making the actual presentation, Lord Northcliffe concluded his remarks with a short speech of congratulation in French. M. Bleriot, in reply, spoke a few sentences characteristic of his modest personality, in which he attempted to belittle his successful effort. But in that, needless to say, his words carried no conviction to the enthusiastic assembly. The Wireless Story. Although less exhaustive in its detail as compared with the wireless messages exchanged between Sangatte and Dover on the occasion of Mr. Latham's attempt, the following brief record is of historic interest:— _ , . Calais, by Marconi Wireless, via Dover. 4.36.—Bleriot has started; look out for him. We saw him at 4.35. He started from Les Baraques. 4.40.—He is nearly half way across. 4 47.—He has outdistanced the boat. 4.50.—He is out of sight of French coast. 4.56.-—Destroyers are now out of sight and far behind. 4.59.—Bleriot flew with perfect steadiness till out of.our sight, not very high above the water. 5 a.m.—Let us know as soon as you see him. From the Dover side, unfortunately, the wireless operators entirely failed to locate Bleriot during his flight, although the torpedo boat was first sighted by them at 5.6 a.m., and its movements recorded every few minutes. Not until 5.31 a.m. had the rumour of Bleriot's landing at 5.20 a.m. reached them, to be finally confirmed by wireless to Calais at 5.52 a.m. Celebrating the Occasion. • Other more or less important and pleasing functions which have marked the greatness of M. Bleriot's feat have included a civic reception at Dover- on Monday morning, when the hero of the hour was on his way to be lionised in London, a dinner given in his honour that evening by the well-known Bleriot Lamp Company of London, a reception by the management at the Empire Theatre later the same evening when animated pictures were shown typical of the aerial trip across the Channel, and, by no means least, the dinner given by the Aero Club at the Ritz Hotel on Tuesday, when their Gold Medal was presented. Also it is significant to observe that a move- ment is already on foot to erect a commemoration column at Dover on the spot where M. Bleriot alighted. M. Bleriot in Paris. When M. Bleriot and his wife arrived in Paris on Wednesday afternoon, they were greeted by a surging crowd of people who simply swamped the extra force of police which had been detailed to keep the road clear. As soon as the train steamed into the station the crowd surrounded the carriage in which M. Bleriot and his party were, and they had great difficulty in fighting their way to the spot where M. Barthou and the deputation of the members of the Aero Club of France were waiting to M. Bleriot on board his monoplane, and M. Anzani, thedesigner and constructor ol the motor used by M. Bleriot. receive them. All along the four miles which separates the North Station from the Aero Club house, the streets were lined with cheering people, and every vantage point had its occupant who waved a flag or a handkerchief. On arrival at the Aero Club, the guests were welcomed by the President, Comte de la Vaulx, who presented M. Bleriot with the Club's special Gold Medal. Later in the day, M. Bleriot was presented by his workmen with an objet d'art, entitled Le Cri de la Victoire, executed by M. D. Grisand. Bleriot Monoplane Fabric and Fittings. It is of interest to notice that the material of which the planes of M. Bleriot's monoplanes were made was Continental aeroplane sheeting, which is used on many of the most successful flying machines of to-day. Another point of interest is that the Bowden wire mechanism was used by M. Bleriot for the control of the Anzani motor on his flyer. Faked Cross-Channel Photos. In ihe interests of historic accuracy it is very im- portant to publish a warning against many of the ex- tremely clever but totally imaginative photographs of M. Bleriot's cross-Channel flight that have appeared in various papers during the week. For our own part we have exercised the greatest .care in accepting any of the dozens of photographs that have been offered to us, and have studiously rejected all those which are obviously "fakes." In days to come, those looking back upon the present records may well be misled by some of the photographs in question, and even their absence from our own columns may fail to afford the necessary clue. As a matter of fact, no known photographs were obtained of M. Bleriot's flight while he was still in mid-air, in any case, subsequent to the time that he passed above the French torpedo boat. 461
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