The English Daily Mail newspaper, in 1908 offered a prize of 500 pounds for the first aviator to reach across the English Channel (Calais) and in 1909 took up this offer and doubled their number, 1,000 pounds, which made it Several pilots attempted this feat, then so was flying over the peninsula area, it was not easy to try on the open sea, since they were very frequent engine failures and it was more advisable to view a landing at any seeding and receive aid rather than a amerizaje do not know where.

Eager to participate in this event is necessary to make changes in his Blériot XI, replace your original engine for a 25 hp Anzini propelling propeller Chauvierre, this new engine was built with a tricylinder holes in the walls of their cylinders at their most under the motion of the piston thus obtained are not overheating and improved leakage, it was getting an engine that will ensure at least 45 minutes to fly smoothly, as they felt that at that time could win this competition .

On June 26, 1909, a test of his new airplane and set a new European record of staying in flight with 36 minutes and 55 seconds. Convinced skills gained his plane moved to the town of Calais and on July 25 of that year, 04.35 hours when they were perceived that the wind speed and direction were correct as the flight begins , the same route out of the boat harbor “Escopette” that would support but little time and is only exceeded in the air by the waves of the Atlantic under their feet. Perceived overheating engine but a lucky rain helps to keep up. When you reach the 36 minutes of his journey in sight the peaks of Dover (England) made a final rectification of its course and landed on a plateau where he received two of his fellow soldiers and a policeman English. The prize was hers, had flown to 64 km / h and an altitude of 76 meters.

This airplane also noting other feats, the September 23, 1910 the Peruvian pilot of French origin Jorge Chavez managed to cross the Alps for the first time on a flight that originated in Brig (Switzerland) and a destination in Domodossola (Italy).

This model came to make no less than 5600 copies which gave the air units of France, England and other countries. Following the crossing of Calais by Louis Blériot, England found their weak defense by air.

First to Fly

The significance of the achievement of the Wright originally going unnoticed for most of the news media publication or rejecting in some cases such as the Associated Press come weeks later as a brief mention in their reports but without major international comments.
His steps will be followed soon by other pioneers, but only at the end of the decade, the aircraft will make its final push to start building the first military aircraft.
Attempts to register the patent of his invention to the Patent Office of the U.S. Wright forced to invest increasing resources and legal, over the next three years. The potential military uses that are beginning to loom for aircraft and major economic interests at stake do not appear to be unrelated to the difficulties they face.
In 1905 the Wright show in Dayton, Ohio, with their Flyer III model for a reliable aircraft to fly for 38 minutes setting a new world record time in flight.
The fledgling interim aviation in France is the setting for other resonant progress, there is where Wilbur and Orville Wright get the recognition they are initially reluctant in their own country.

First man cross channel in jet

Yves Rossy, known as Fusionman, will jump from a plane more than 8,200ft (2,500m) above ground, then fire up jets on his homemade wing and soar across one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
The 49 year old is hoping to make the flight from Calais to Dover  just after 1pm BST after suffering a setback earlier this week when poor weather conditions postponed his attempt by a day.

Rossy, a former military pilot, aims to trace the route of French aviation pioneer Louis Bleriot, who became the first person to fly across the Channel in a plane 100 years ago.

Flying at speeds approaching 125mph, it is expected that the 22-mile televised flight across the Channel should take Rossy around 12 minutes to complete.

To achieve the feat, Rossy must overcome significant challenges, not least the container ships that will be passing through the sea.

In an interview earlier this week, he said: “If I calculate everything right, I will land in Dover. But if I get it wrong, I take a bath.”

Rossy – a pilot with Swiss International Air Lines -will review safety measures before take-off in Calais, especially important as his jet-propelled wing needs to be ignited while still inside the plane.

He has never flown for longer than 10 minutes. And his wing weight and measurements must be incredibly precise, with even the addition of a tiny camera possibly affecting how long he can stay in the air.

Over the past few months, he has been fine-tuning the wing’s design and performance and carried out several test flights in wind tunnels and the Swiss Alps.
His wing weighs about 55kg with fuel and includes four simple, kerosene-burning jet turbines to keep him airborne.

Created from a lightweight carbon composite, the wing has no steering devices, meaning Rossy will have to use his head and back to control the wing’s movement.

He will be outfitted with a special suit, helmet and parachute as part of the precautions to protect him from the jet turbines mounted just centimetres from him on the wing.

If the weather conditions turn out to be poor, another attempt at the crossing will take place tomorrow.

National Geographic Channel will broadcast the flight live around the world except France, Canada and Switzerland and will stream it live online at http://www.natgeotv.com/jetman

Over the years it has served me in much the same reliable way as our versatile present-day aircraft, although I am sure it is responsible for giving me more gray hairs than all the business planes in the alphabet, from Alpha to Zebra.

Louis Bleriot was in many ways as interesting as the airplane. The son of a successful fabric manufacturer, he became a wealthy man in his own right and financed his experiments in aviation by the invention of a successful automobile headlight. Before the advanced design (for its day) that carried Bleriot across the Channel, there were some eight other largely unsuccessful experimental craft, ranging from cellular winged gliders to canard aircraft, most of which crashed, burned, or scattered themselves over the landscape. Until the advent of the 1909 model, Louis Bleriot’s major claim to frame seemed to be his ability to survive any and all accidents.

Bleriot was not only the originator of the monoplane design that is basic to every business aircraft manufacturer today, but he also originated streamlining of the fuselage; the engine placed forward, with the single tractor propeller; the rudder, elevator, and stabilizer placed on the aft part of the fuselage; and even a partially swiveling landing gear with a capability for crosswinds.

Bleriot XI

The basic Bleriot design was light and simple to maintain, as well as to easy to take apart or set up for flight. From the standpoint of the early exhibition pilots these were important factors, for the Bleriot could be made ready for flight in thirty minutes, as against six to eight hours for a Curtiss or Wright. Another factor was the advent of the 50-hp Gnome Rotary, which gave the Bleriot a tremendous edge because of its general reliability and low weight per horsepower.

The 1909 Bleriot, along with the rear-elevator Curtiss, were undoubtedly the two most widely copied aircraft prior to 1914. Literally hundreds of airplanes were built on farms and in backyards with nothing more to go on than photographs, the materials often being banana oil, mothers’ bed sheets, and slats form the fence. Because of the popularity of the Bleriot design and its very remarkable impact on the world (for it received as much publicity in its days as Linbergh’s flight twenty years later), many wealthy sportsmen bought them to use for business and pleasure. Adventurous barnstomers flew them all over known world, even as far as China and Tibet!

The Bleriot is a wire airplane, and without each wire being properly attached and safe-tied, it has about the strength of a fifteen cent grocery store kite. I carefully checked the flying cables, both at the bedsted (front fuselage frame) and at the wing, as well as the warp cables through the bottom walking beam and the wing, as well as the warp cables through the bottom walking beam and the wing, and above on the A frame. Then I checked the fuselage alignment by eye, including the landing gear sulky wheels and tires, tail surfaces, and control cables. With the aircraft ready for take-off, the engine idling nicely, and its lone instrument -the oil pressure gauge-showing fifty pounds, I grasped the spade-type grip and shoved the throttle forward. The tail was up in about 7 m ; the wind was steady twelve knots; temperature, 79 degrees; field elevation, 54 feet. I was airborne in about 55 m.

As I broke ground, a particularly nasty gust of wind dropped a wing, and for several seconds, full opposite stick rudder, and elevator were necessary to pick it up. I had forgotten what a job it was to always maintain the wings in a level attitude and the necessity of making only very flat skidding turns, mostly with rudder. In spite of a slow actual ground speed (about 44 to 48 mph), their is still no experience in my years of flying to equal the sick feeling you have when a wing goes down in gusty air and you head for the ground unable to pick up the wing in spite of full opposite control. A good deal of forward pressure is also required on the stick, for the Bleriots I have flown are all tail-heavy, and if one flies for more than ten minutes at a time, he has to keep shifting tired arms.

Flying with the camera ship required some prethought, for if the slipstream ever hit the Bleriot, it could go over on its back-which it did once with me. At the time I could only think of Adolph Pegoud, the Frenchman who made the world’s first loop in a Bleriot, and wonder why he didn’t suffer a coronary, for I am sure my heart missed a sizable number of beats.

After we finished taking the aerial photographs, I checked the Bleriot on stalls, which are deceptive, since it pays off with absolutely no warning, dropping a wing and forcing one to turn into the dropped wing to pick it up, the stall appears to be at about 25 to 27 mph. Beyond gentle turns, one is quite content to just fly along at about 40-odd mph and enjoy the air conditioned ride. There is no windshield for protection from the direct prop blast.

Landing can be either power on or power off. My choice is power off, with an extremely steep approach of about 30 percent nose down. One has only a very short flare-out, because there is no float with the inborn drag of a Bleriot. It lands smoothly and rolls to a stop on grass in about fifty feet. One must be very careful to land directly into the wind and pray for no sudden gusty crosswinds; the latter happened to me once; and one of the very weak main wheels collapsed under the side load. As the Bleriot ground to a stop, the windward wing rose into the air. I jumped out of the cockpit and grabbed the flying wires and promptly rose into the air with the wing. Only the additional weight of a startled airport attendant hanging on my feet brought both the Bleriot and me back to the ground again.

Louis Bleriot, with a typical French statement, once said before his famous Channel flight, “If I cannot walk, I’ll show the world I can fly.” But this pilot is not sure if he had to fly a Louis Bleriot very often, he might prefer to walk!

The first crossing of the English Channel by an aircraft.

Blériot had two rivals for the prize, both of whom failed to reach the goal. The first was Hubert Latham, a French national of English extraction. He was favored by both the United Kingdom and France to win. He had arrived first and attempted to fly across on 19 July of that year, but 10 km from the shore at Dover he developed engine trouble and was forced to make a sea landing. The other pilot, Charles de Lambert, was a Russian aristocrat with French ancestry, and one of Wilbur Wright’s students. However, Lambert was injured in a major crash during a test, forcing him to quit the competition. On July 25, 1909, the three rivals each arrived on the shores of Calais, France. Blériot had a badly burned foot when a gasoline line broke on his machine during one of his trial runs, although he did not withdraw.