Record flights across the English Channel. Self-reliance

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(1872-07-01 )

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- (Blériot) (1872 1936), French aircraft designer and pilot, one of the pioneers of aviation. From 1906 he built airplanes. He was the first to fly across the English Channel (1909). * * * BLERIO Louis BLERIO (Bleriot) Louis (July 1, 1872, Cambrai August 2, 1936, Paris), ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Blériot Louis Encyclopedia "Aviation"

Blériot Louis- L. Bleriot Bleriot Louis (Blériot) (1872-1936) - French aircraft designer, one of the pioneers of aviation. He graduated from the Central School of Civil Engineers in Paris. In 1906, together with G. Voisin, he founded aircraft workshops, which later became a firm ... ... Encyclopedia "Aviation"

- (1872 1936) French aircraft designer, one of the pioneers of aviation. He graduated from the Central School of Civil Engineers in Paris. In 1906, together with G. Voisin, he founded aircraft workshops, which later became the Bleriot Aeronaulique firm. AT… … Encyclopedia of technology

Louis Blériot, 1872 1936 Louis Blériot (fr. Louis Blériot, July 1, 1872, Cambrai August 2, 1936, Paris) French inventor, aviator and entrepreneur, founder of the Blériot Voisin aviation enterprises (together with Gabriel Voisin) and Blériot Aéronautique ... Wikipedia

Blériot, Louis- BLERIO (Bleriot) Louis (1872 1936), French aircraft designer and industrialist, one of the pioneers of aviation. In 1909, on his monoplane, Blériot XI was the first to fly across the English Channel, which was a demonstration of the practical possibilities of aviation. … Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Bleriot (Blériot) Louis (1.7.1872, Cambrai, ‒ 1.8.1936, Paris), French engineer, aircraft designer and pilot, one of the pioneers of aviation. From 1900 he began to build gliders and ornithopters, from 1906 - airplanes. In 1908 he flew on an airplane en route to ... Big soviet encyclopedia

- (Bleriot, Louis) (1872 1936), French pilot and aircraft designer, the first to fly across the English Channel in an airplane. Born July 1, 1872 in Cambrai. From 1900 he began to build gliders and orthopters, from 1906, after the advent of light aircraft engines, ... ... Collier Encyclopedia

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This 1993 article is posted on the site in honor of the 105th anniversary of Louis Blériot's flight across the English Channel.

Editorial Preface "Airplane Monthly»: In connection with the planned opening of the tunnel under the English Channel in April next year - to the beam For better or worse, G. W. JOHNSTON looks back and remembers another momentous event that forever linked Great Britain to the Continent: the first ever flight of a heavier-than-air craft across the Channel by Louis Blériot on July 25, 1909.

When, in July 1909, the fragile plane of Louis Blériot landed almost a couple of steps from Dover Castle, British Isles became inseparably connected with the Continent by means of flying aircraft with running engines.

After the news of Blériot's flight, Lord Northcliffe(Lord Northcliffe) stated:

"Britain is no longer an island."

one of the most famous photographs of the dawn of aviation: Louis Blériot (in a flight helmet and with a mustache) standing in front of his monoplane at the landing sites after a flight across the English Channel; Northfall Meadow, behind Dover Castle, July 25, 1909

This phrase, of course, was not an exercise in rhetoric - it was indeed a prophetic statement, which was further shown by the events of 1914-1918 and 1939-1940.

However, thoughts of war were far from the minds of the groups of people who gathered on the heights above the port of Dover on that quiet day in July 84 years ago. It was a time of celebration, a time of sincere and heartfelt congratulations, and, finally, a time to consider the future of this indecisive inexperienced youth - aviation.

If the English Channel could be crossed in 40 minutes, then what can people do with improved aircraft and with all the benefits of gradually accumulated experience?

It has been said that man's achievements are limited solely by the horizons of his own imagination. However, aviation pioneers were not dreamers - they were pragmatists. This was a necessary condition for survival in this new, unfamiliar and still unexplored environment, with all its dangers and whims.

Who was Louis Blériot, and what lies behind the often dry reference book claims that he flew across the English Channel on July 25, 1909, and became the first person to do so?

Louis Blériot

What do we know about the Blériot aircraft? Was it the story of a simple climb and an easy air ride across the English Channel on a warm summer day? And was this Blériot's only contribution to aviation?

To begin with, it should be said that Louis Blériot, a native of northern France, was an absolutely exceptional person. The fact that at the dawn of the development of aviation France for several years held leadership and dominance is largely due to his merit. Although Louis Blériot made a name for himself in engineering circles as a successful manufacturer of acetylene lamps for cars, on October 5, 1908 - at the time Lord Northcliffe announced in the Daily Mail the £1,000 prize for the first person to cross the English Channel in an airplane - in the world aviation, he was practically unknown.

Courageous, almost on the verge of recklessness, flight on a fragile airplane was combined with Bleriot with sober calculation and poise in business affairs. He quickly estimated that potential buyers would be interested not so much in the person who made the flight across the English Channel, but in the car that made this successful flight.

Louis Blériot posing while sitting on his plane

Louis Blériot immediately turned his attention to this goal. He had long had plans to create his own aircraft manufacturing company. He already had considerable experience in aircraft design and construction, possessed considerable technical talent, and worked for some time with Voisin, who himself became a legend in French aviation history.

Blériot is credited with the classic monoplane layout, which quickly gained recognition for its aerodynamic cleanliness and elegant design.

The Bleriot XI monoplane that was destined to go down in history was a small, lightweight machine. The aircraft was 26 ft 3 in (8 m) long and had a wingspan of 25 ft 8 in (7.82 m) and was constructed from ash and poplar wood, the structural members connected with piano wire. The connections were steel and aluminum. Aircraft developed top speed 40 mph (64 km/h).

these Bleriot XI schematics appeared in the July 31, 1909 issue of Flight magazine; the diagram was accompanied by a description of the aircraft

On the plane, Blériot's patented universal joint was equipped with the latest "steering lever" or "cloche" (bell) for that time, which could warp the wing for roll control - the ailerons were not installed - and for elevator control. The pedals were used to control the rudder.

An innovative feature of the Bleriot XI was the introduction of caster chassis wheels, which were spring-loaded with tensile rubber straps. In addition, Blériot placed a five-foot (1.5 m) inflatable rubber cylinder in the fuselage of the aircraft in case the aircraft left during the flight across the English Channel.

The engine proved to be Louis Blériot's biggest problem. Essentially, it had to be light, but at the same time it had to develop enough power and be provided with enough fuel, which in itself was overweight for a reasonable flight duration. In fact, it was necessary to find a very fragile balance of such contradictory requirements, and there was no room for miscalculation in this choice.

In the end, Blériot opted for a three-cylinder air-cooled Anzani engine. This motor was an enlarged version of the French-designed Anzani motorcycle engine; it weighed 132 lb (60 kg), had a bore and stroke of 105 mm and 120 mm, and developed a power range of 25 to 30 horsepower.

Keenly aware that time was running out, Blériot discovered after several attempts that the Anzani engine could run for a maximum of twenty minutes. This was only half the estimated time needed to make a safe flight across the English Channel.

Louis Blériot worked tirelessly to remove this seemingly insurmountable obstacle to the intended goal. By mid-July 1909, he was finally satisfied: Bleriot XI was able to complete a twenty-six-mile (41 km) flight from Etamps to Chevilly. The canal was only four miles (6 km) shorter: 22 miles (35 km) at its narrowest point.

It was obvious that nothing more could be done to improve the aircraft, and therefore Blériot was now fully prepared for the attempt to cross the Channel.

Then, as it seemed, Fate decided to deny Louis Blériot his right to a place in history: during one of the routine test flights, he crashed very seriously.

In the event of an engine failure, it was common procedure to climb onto the wing and then jump out as the car was gliding before an emergency landing. However, this method was not suitable in this case.

The fuel line broke, and a sudden rush of gasoline immediately ignited forced Louis Blériot to remain at the helm and attempt to make emergency landing. By then, the car had descended almost to ground level, and its fuselage was burning furiously. The landing that followed was a shocking sight of smoke, sparks and flames. Blériot's leg was badly burned, but while the mechanics ran to the damaged car, he managed to extricate himself from the wreckage.

The leg was bandaged tightly, and Louis Blériot, leaning on a crutch and limping in great pain, a few days later arrived on the French coast of the English Channel. His determination and courage seemed to be unshakable, but now it seemed that Blériot survived the crash landing only to endure the throes of utter disillusionment. His main rival Hubert Latham has already arrived.

Blériot's rival in cross-Channel flight Hubert Latham

Latham was of mixed ancestry (his father was English and his mother was French), making him a very popular contender. In connection with the established "Entente Cordiale" (cordial agreement), it seemed to many very appropriate that the Anglo-French would be the first to link two nations by means of an aircraft with running engines.

When Latham arrived in the nearby Calais town of Sangatte, he unpacked his aircraft and began assembling it in one of a group of abandoned barns that had been erected for the abandoned English Channel tunnel project.

His aircraft was the Antoinette IV monoplane, which was distinguished by its elegant and slender appearance. It was also necessary to pay attention not only to the aesthetic, but also to, perhaps, the more important practical part: the aircraft was equipped with a 50-horsepower engine, which was twice the power of the engine installed on the Bleriot XI.

With the advent of Blériot, Latham decided not to waste time, and on July 19, shortly after dawn, Antoinette was taken out of the hangar. A few minutes later Latham was already in the cockpit. Hubert Latham was so optimistic that he took a movie camera with him on the flight, intending to fully capture what he hoped was a successful historic flight.

monoplane Antoinette IV Hubert Latham being taken out of the hangar

Latham took off and, before heading to the side calm sea, completed several laps over Sangatt. Hubert Latham set up a compass and headed towards Dover.

After a few miles of flight, the engine began to have spark plug problems. First they began to spray, then skip work, and finally, much to the regret of the pilot, they completely stopped functioning.

Hubert Latham, on an Antoinette IV monoplane, tries to be the first to cross the English Channel. Unsuccessfully

Latham was already ready to land on the water, because there was simply no other alternative.

With great skill at a slight angle, he glided down over calm water, gradually losing height. After seven miles, Latham splashed down his car, climbed onto the wing, lit a cigarette, and waited for a French destroyer that was speeding towards him to perform a rescue operation.

Once ashore, Hubert Latham sent an urgent dispatch to Paris asking for a replacement Antoinette. The car arrived three days later disassembled; Latham set about assembling it as quickly as possible.

Louis Blériot had yet to make his move.

However, another rival was preparing for the flight, located near Boulogne - a few miles from Wissant. It was Comte de Lambert with his Wright biplane. From the start, neither Latham nor Blériot viewed de Lambert as a serious threat. One day, the Count was on a training flight and crashed shortly after takeoff. Immediately after the accident, the Earl declared that he would not attempt to cross the English Channel.

Blériot's car was already unpacked, assembled, and stood between the sand dunes at the "hangars" (les Baraques) about a mile from the location of Latham's Antoinette airplane.

On Saturday, July 24, both Latham and Blériot announced their readiness to fly across the English Channel. Soon the weather changed dramatically, and strong southwesterly winds blew along the canal.

It was clear to both pilots that the flight conditions were impossible, especially for light aircraft. Modified to cross the English Channel, the Bleriot XI weighed only 448 pounds (203 kg), pilot and fuel added another 212 pounds (96 kg).

Although weather did not change, Blériot felt that they could improve during the night. He insisted on being awakened early in the morning.

As Blériot had predicted, the wind suddenly stopped during the night. At Latham's camp, Blériot's intentions were only discovered after members of Blériot's team rolled the Bleriot XI onto the flat sands below the cliffs.

In the ghostly light of dawn, several people could be seen pushing the monoplane with its spoked wheels in the direction of the takeoff point. Louis Blériot stood in the cockpit and closely supervised the entire operation. In the end, he sat down and began to spend the last pre-flight checks. Blériot did not have a compass, and casually (or perhaps jokingly) he asked:

"By the way, where exactly is Dover?"

Someone pointed vaguely at an invisible point across the English Channel.

The large, curved propeller turned, and the engine started up with an immediate sneeze. Soon after it aircraft started picking up speed.

Blériot quickly gained height above the sands, and then turned towards the sea. The official take-off time was recorded as 04:41, although Blériot and various newspapers later gave completely different figures.

Onlookers, including skeptics from Latham's team, watched as the monoplane completely disappeared into the morning mist over the English Channel.

Some distance out to sea, Blériot was able to recognize the French destroyer Escopette, which he knew was heading for Dover with his wife on board. He watched the course of the destroyer and slightly corrected the direction of his flight.

It could hardly be called improved navigation, but in the absence of a compass it was some improvement after the sand dunes at the hangars.

Blériot continued flying, but visibility was limited to a few miles at low altitude. The destroyer remained behind the tail of the vehicle and soon disappeared from sight.

"I was amazed"

Louis Blériot said later.

“I didn't see anything at all. It was a strange situation: complete loneliness and lack of landmarks in the middle of the Channel.

Blériot's car was observed with great interest from the destroyer Escopet. Later, at Dover, Captain 2nd Rank Piozhy (Capitaine de frégate Pioger) told newspaper correspondents:

“Before we got to the middle of the canal, he flew high over our heads; during its flight we rejoiced. After a few minutes, he disappeared from our field of vision, although we were moving at maximum speed all the time.

Blériot subsequently estimated his speed at about 45 mph (72 km/h).

a drawing by M. Blériot depicting his flight across the English Channel. In the Daily Mail, this very interesting "drawing" drawn by M. Blériot on Sunday, was published on Monday. In the explanation of the picture: “Inscription: Louis Blériot, arrived in England at 5:12, left France at 4:35. Cal. in the lower right corner means Kale. The black dot is the departure point, the black line is the flight line. A significant "Rien" (nothing) and a question mark indicate the point at which the pilot was completely disoriented for 10 minutes. "Vent" - wind, "Fal" - cliff (falaise). "Dou" - Dover - and a perpendicular line along the coast. Note that the line of flight is to the east of Dover and that Mr Bleriot's diagram shows the distance he had to travel west before finding a landing site at Northfall Meadow. - "Flight", July 31, 1909

A little later, all alone over a completely empty sea, Blériot looked at his watch. Twenty minutes had passed since takeoff, and he was in the middle of the journey. Twenty minutes was also the limit of the Anzani's engine, after which it began to show signs of overheating.

According to legend - although no source of those years confirms this story - the Anzani engine, which had overheated at that moment, was cooled by fine rain sent down by providence. Thirty minutes after takeoff, Blériot began to notice a constantly thickening line on the horizon. The cliffs of Dover lay only a few miles ahead.

Louis Blériot knew that if the engine worked reliably for the next few minutes, then success would be in his hands.

Flying up to the coast, Blériot realized that a strong wind had knocked him off course and that the monoplane was drifting east, towards St. Margaret's Bay and Deal. He turned towards the port and watched with admiration the approach of the cliffs of Dover, which seemed to hasten to meet him.

Blériot agreed in advance with compatriot journalists about the expansion of the French tricolor on a suitable landing site on top of a cliff. However, the wind blew with even greater force, and there was no question of any exact landing. Blériot was approaching the coastal area, where the wind blew from the sea and directly over the rocks.

The inevitable air currents forced the plane to change direction and turn up its nose. Blériot soared over the rock, barely touching it, and immediately found that the machine had become almost uncontrollable.

He instantly decided to land on the first suitable platform that came across. Directly in front of him was a suitable green area, located directly under the walls of Dover Castle. Blériot piloted his small monoplane, about to land, but unfortunately the grassy area turned out to be a slope camouflaged by greenery. Because of this, the monoplane fell to the ground with such force that it collapsed the landing gear and shattered the propeller.

Greatly shocked, but nevertheless triumphant, Louis Blériot got out of the car and began to examine the damage.

A few minutes later a constable and a French journalist ran to Blériot and his plane. They were quickly followed a large number of of people.

another shot of the Bleriot XI; its undercarriage and propeller are damaged while landing on the Northfall Meadow immediately after overflying the English Channel

Dozens of soldiers from Fort Burgoyne, where the Kent Territorial Cyclist Battalion was stationed, joined a group of interested observers. They gathered around the monoplane, guessing, wondering, and, after quickly realizing everything, realizing what they had just witnessed.

Blériot (center) with his monoplane crossing the English Channel. The wing consoles of the aircraft are folded and stacked on special frames along the sides of the fuselage. To the left of Louis Blériot is his wife, who followed him across the canal on the French destroyer Escopet.

Blériot's flight was the main topic of conversation in Dover that day, and at the local parish church the organist played "Oh for the wings of a dove" to the delight and amusement of the congregation.

two shots of a Bleriot XI aircraft crossing the English Channel and on display after the flight, apparently in London's Selfridges department store on Oxford Street

After official registration and the recognition that followed, Blériot returned to France, where he was warmly welcomed by his compatriots. Orders poured in for the Bleriot XI monoplane, and Bleriot succeeded in realizing his ambitions by creating his own aircraft company: his technical ability, indomitable spirit and unwavering determination fully paid off.

medal cast in honor of L. Blériot's flight across the English Channel

Louis Blériot received an engineering education at the Parisian l "École Centrale in 1895 and founded his own production of lanterns.

In 1900, he built the Blériot I ornithopter, which never took off, and in 1907, the first airplane.

A 1909 commemorative poster issued on the occasion of Blériot's historic flight across the English Channel

In the summer of 1908, Blériot witnessed Wilbur Wright's French tour and was struck by the quality of the American's piloting, which he considered head and shoulders above his French contemporaries. Another eyewitness to Wright's flights, the Englishman Lord Northcliffe, owner of the Daily Mail, saw the event as an occasion for self-promotion, and announced a prize of a thousand pounds to the first person to cross the English Channel in an airplane. Wright, then bound by contracts in Europe, seemed the most capable of the applicants, but in the spring of 1909 he chose to return to his own business in the States and dropped out of the race for the Northcliffe prize. On July 19, 1909, the inexperienced Frenchman Hubert Latham took off, but his engine stalled halfway; splashed down Latham was rescued by French sailors.

July 25, 1909 at 4:35 am Blériot took to the air. In the middle of the journey, due to strong winds, the plane deviated from the course to the north, to the open sea, but Blériot noticed in time that something was wrong with the courses of the ships at sea and turned west, towards Dover. 37 minutes later, after covering 23 miles, Blériot landed safely on English soil.

Blériot's victory at that time was perceived, among other things, as the victory of the monoplane, popular among French aviators, over the biplane of the British and Americans. In a month, Blériot collected a hundred orders for the production of his monoplane; each glider (without motor) cost buyers US$850. In September 1910, at an air show in Reims that attracted up to half a million spectators, Blériot defeated Glenn Curtis, setting a speed record of 77 km/h.

The plane on which Blériot crossed the English Channel was his eleventh creation; unlike the Wrights, who spent years perfecting the same basic design, Blériot tried a wide variety of designs; his biplanes were unsuccessful, only the Blériot XI, designed by Raymond Saulnier, went into production. The car first took to the air on January 23, 1909.

In 1911, the Blériot XI, flown by Earl Ovington, became the first US mail carrier. On September 21, 1913, Adolphe Pegu, Blériot's factory tester, made a dead loop on the Blériot XI. The crude design of the Blériot-Saulnier monoplane was unstable in the air and dangerous during landings, which eventually led to a ban on its operation in the armies of France and Great Britain in 1912. Nevertheless, it was on the basis of the Blériot XI design that the Fokker Eindecker, the first and successful example of a specially designed fighter, was launched in 1915.

Blériot XI built 1914-1918

In 1914, Blériot and his firm, Blériot Aéronautique, bought out the assets of SPAD, a large aviation company that produced more than 10,000 aircraft during the First World War. After the end of the war, Blériot opened his own motorcycle production, which did not have much success. Production of the only 500 cc model was discontinued in 1923.

Blériot Aéronautique, successor to SPAD and Blériot-SPAD, continued to build aircraft during the interwar period, among them

Blériot 115, 135, 155, 165 - experimental four-engine passenger planes 1923-1926
Blériot 127 - 1926 production twin-engine bomber
Blériot 125 - experimental twin-engine, twin-fuselage passenger aircraft of 1931
Blériot 5190 – 1933 experimental transatlantic flying boat

Louis Blériot

In the summer of 1909, the British daily newspaper Daily Mail announced a prize that would be paid to the first person to cross the English Channel by air, and there were many contenders for success. Like a real gentleman, Louis Blériot lost the championship to Hubert Latham, who was ahead of him at registration. However, Latham's attempt failed.

July 25, 1909 Louis Blériot
makes the first flight
across the English Channel with a watch
Zenith on the wrist

On July 25, 1909, at 4:15 am, the wind finally died down in Calais. It seemed that the moment had come for trying to achieve the impossible. Impossible, because at the beginning of the 20th century, a flight over a distance of 40 kilometers, separating the French port of Calais from the English port of Dover, seemed something utopian. However, for Louis Blériot, who was the first in history to overcome this path in 37 minutes, nothing was impossible. Armed with a Zenith watch, he took to the air at the controls of a Blériot XI, a fragile aircraft with a body made of wood and wings made of lacquered canvas.

Pilot's wristwatch owned by Louis Blériot

Overcoming his own fear, strong winds, temperature fluctuations, shaking, noise and gravity, the French aviator flew over the sea. After several tens of minutes, which seemed to him an eternity, he saw the cliffs of Dover and the green shores of England. From now on, the English Channel will no longer seem like an insurmountable boundless space, and the one that was previously called the "king of disasters" will become the undisputed "father of aeronautics."

I AM VERY HAPPY WITH MY WATCH
THE ZENITH I USUALLY USE
AND I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEM TO EVERYONE
WHO CARES ABOUT ACCURACY

Three years after this momentous event, Louis Blériot said: "I am very pleased with my Zenith watch, which I usually use, and I strongly recommend it to anyone who cares about accuracy." During the era of rapid development of aviation at the beginning of the 20th century, Zenith became one of the first brands to start producing on-board instruments, in particular, altimeters and wristwatches. There is no doubt that the meeting of these two visionaries was preordained.

“It's done! The English Channel has been conquered!” shouted newspaper sellers on the streets of Paris in the summer of 1909. Indeed, an event occurred that many were waiting for, and still it was hard to believe that it had finally come true. For the first time on an airplane, or, as they said then, an airplane, it was possible to fly across the strait separating England and France. The hero of the day was the French aviator Louis Blériot.

DAILY MAIL PRIZE

Planes were not flying very confidently at that time, their engines could fail at any moment. However, the wings of aviation grew stronger every day. In 1908, the well-known English newspaper The Daily Mail announced a prize of 25,000 francs for an airplane flight across the English Channel. And although the width of this strait is only about 30 kilometers, it was a serious obstacle for the aviation of that time.

It was clear that such a flight was far from easy, that it was at the limit of the capabilities of "mechanical birds". But with a good combination of circumstances, with great luck, it could have happened.

Only the most courageous and skillful aviators could decide to take part in the race across the strait. The first among them was the Frenchman Hubert Latham. He was rightly called the "king of the air." A former sports car driver, a man willing to take any risk, he longed for dangerous adventures.

There were legends about the composure and equanimity of Latham, who never parted with a cigar even in flight. He was the first to dare to fly without holding the helm, and at night, to shoot in flight with a gun. In June 1909, he managed to stay in the air without landing for more than an hour. It was a record.

LOSER LATAM

And now Latham announced his intention to fly across the English Channel. He even made a bet that he would fly from France to England in the very near future. But, as luck would have it, rainy and windy weather began. The flight had to be postponed several times.

Finally, early on the morning of July 19, 1909, Latham decided to take off. He raised his Antoinette airplane to a height of 70 meters and sent it across the strait towards English city Dover. At first everything went well. Most of the way over the sea was covered, there were only a few kilometers to the target, when suddenly the engine began to intermittently, and then completely stalled. There was no other choice but to land on the water. Latham was saved by an approaching warship. The stubborn aviator immediately announced that in a week he would again try to make a flight across the English Channel.

He, in fact, had to hurry, because another Frenchman, Louis Blériot, an experienced pilot and aircraft designer, the creator of the wonderful Blériot XI aircraft, decided to join the fight for the prize of the Daily Mail newspaper.

On the eve of the flight, he arrived with his wife and friends in the suburbs of Calais, a port on the shore of the strait. Before dawn, July 25, he was awakened. It was cool, and fog was creeping over the earth.

"WHERE DOES IT GET ME?"

At 4:41, Blériot started the engine of the airplane. The motor ran steadily. And it gave hope for success. But Blériot was in no hurry to take off. Waiting for the sunrise.

“I got up only when the sun appeared above the horizon,” the aviator recalled. “I’m passing the dunes and heading straight for the sea. The black smoke of the destroyer Escopet assigned to accompany me obscures the sun. However, very soon my escort is left behind. It seemed to me that I was flying too slowly, lost in the expanse of the sea. I kept my eyes on the gas gauge and felt joy when I saw a gray stripe on the horizon. It was the English coast. I'm heading for the whitening mountain. Only, damn it, I can't see Dover! Where did it take me?"

Luckily, he spotted a few downstairs sea vessels obviously going to Dover, followed them and made no mistake. A few minutes later, the long-awaited Dover Castle appeared.

“I am overwhelmed with great joy,” said Blériot. “I see a man frantically waving a flag. At the risk of crashing, I turn off the ignition of the engine and flop heavily on the field. Now what will God give! The landing gear of an airplane cracks and breaks. Nothing! But I flew safely across the English Channel.

LEGION OF HONOR

The entire air journey took 33 minutes. People are gathering around the plane, the police have arrived. The pilot is congratulated on his victory. He is confused and not knowing in English, repeats the same phrase: “Good morning, thank you!”

“Paris is literally intoxicated today with this new victory for aviation,” a correspondent of a Moscow newspaper reported. For his feat, Louis Blériot was awarded the highest award - the Order of the Legion of Honor. Many congratulatory telegrams came to him.

In England, at the place where the Blériot XI made a historic landing, a peculiar monument was laid out in the form of a silhouette of the famous airplane. Blériot received hundreds of orders for his aircraft, and in his flight school under Paris rushed disciples from different countries, including from Russia.

After Blériot, the English Channel was flown repeatedly. The second to do so, in May 1910, was French aviator Jacques Lesseps. Exactly one week later, the English pilot Rolls made a non-stop flight from England to France and back. In the spring of 1911, the French aviator Prieur crossed the English Channel, flying from London to Paris. And in April 1912, a woman, the English pilot Harriet Quimby, flew over the strait for the first time.

NAME IN HISTORY

Over time, when the reliability of aircraft has increased significantly, flights across the English Channel have ceased to be something special, heroic. On the contrary, they turned into privates, about whom it is not interesting to talk about.

Louis Blériot worked in aviation until the end of his days. He witnessed how, 18 years after his air flight across the strait, another pilot, Charles Lindbergh, made a solo non-stop flight across Atlantic Ocean. And Blériot was able to congratulate the brave American on this outstanding victory.

The Blériot factory continued to build aircraft, producing many winged machines, on which world records were set more than once. But by the mid-30s of the last century, Blerio's affairs began to decline. In 1936, a delegation of our engineers visited his factory. Among them was A.S. Yakovlev, a well-known aircraft designer. He recalled: "The plant experienced financial difficulties and was dying a slow death." It was not long before the death of an outstanding aviation pioneer. He died of a serious illness on August 1, 1936 at the age of 63, but his name will forever remain on the pages of aviation history.

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