Cross-Channel Aviation Pioneers: Blanchard and Blériot, Vikings and Viscounts

by Bruce Hales-Dutton

Overview

The stories of the daredevils who attempted to fly over the English Channel—a history filled with triumphs, tragedies, and colorful characters.

On July 25, 1909, a dapper, mustachioed Frenchman flying a flimsy, diaphanous airplane changed the status of a great nation. “England is no longer an island,” declared the Daily Mail. Lord Northcliffe, the newspaper’s proprietor, had put up the £1,000 prize for the first flight of the English Channel by the pilot of an airplane.

In securing the prize for one of aviation’s most celebrated firsts, Louis Blériot had beaten his Anglo-French rival Hubert Latham. Six days earlier, Latham had become the first airman to make a forced landing on water when the engine of his elegant Antoinette monoplane failed while he attempted the crossing.

This book explores the triumphs, tragedies, and many milestones in cross-channel flight, beginning back in July 1785 when John-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries made the first crossing, by balloon. Other flyers quickly followed Blériot so that Pierre Prier made the first non-stop London-Paris flight in April 1911 and Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly the Channel a year later—though her historic accomplishment was overshadowed by the Titanic catastrophe.

The book also charts other events in cross-Channel aviation such as the midair collision between the UK and France that led to a rudimentary system of air traffic control; the first cat to make the flight; the popular car ferry services of the 1950s and 1960s; and the coming of the jets—providing a colorful history of the era before the debut of the famed Channel Tunnel.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526775603
Publisher:	Pen & Sword Books Limited
Publication date:	04/01/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	219
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Newspaper and magazine journalist, government press officer and aviation industry public relations specialist, BRUCE HALES-DUTTON’s professional career has encompassed all of these. He has worked for the government department responsible for the aviation industry, a major international airports group and a highly-respected supplier of air traffic control services as well as Britain’s aviation industry regulator. During this time, he has written text for articles, news releases, brochures and leaflets, scripts for video programmes and speeches. He now concentrates on writing books and articles about his two great loves, aviation and motor racing. Bruce is a member of the Royal Aeronautical Society and a volunteer steward at Brooklands Museum. He was born in Kent and continues to live there.

Table of Contents

Introduction vi

Prologue viii

Chapter 1 The Beautiful Voyage 1

Chapter 2 Unfaithful Wings 14

Chapter 3 'Which Way is Dover?' 29

Chapter 4 After Bleriot 44

Chapter 5 Triumph and Tragedy 56

Chapter 6 Lunch in Paris, Tea in London 71

Chapter 7 Exploiting the Practical Possibilities 79

Chapter 8 On Silver Wings 94

Chapter 9 The Flight of the Dragon 108

Chapter 10 Air Bridge 121

Chapter 11 A New Era in Air Travel 136

Chapter 12 The Great Race 153

Chapter 13 A Lot Less Bower 168

Chapter 14 The Radio Queen and other Tales 184

Chapter 15 Pollution-Free 191

Chronology 204

Bibliography 207

Index 209