100 Years Ago Today...

[Stealth Hunter]

Louis Bleriot made aviation (hell- WORLD) history when he flew his XI monoplane across the English Channel. It was the farthest recorded flight for the time, and made him an international superstar.

Here's a site dedicated to the matter:

http://www.bleriot.org/

[Pwnerator]

It seems that just daring to do things mattered more in those times of aviation than anything else.

[Jimbuna]

Looking at the route he took I wonder if the winds had of been stronger might he have ended up back in France or Belgium or Holland

[Letum]

I saw the replica flying a Duxford a few weeks back.
Rather him than me.

[SteamWake]

Originally Posted by Letum

I saw the replica flying a Duxford a few weeks back.
Rather him than me.

Ill have to agree the Bleriot Flyer has got to be one of the most unlikely looking contraptions I have ever seen.

and the controls ... twisting the wing ? Im thinking the aileron was one fo the most signifigant advances in aviation.

[Platapus]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

and the controls ... twisting the wing ? Im thinking the aileron was one fo the most signifigant advances in aviation.

The concept of warping is gaining interest in future airplane designs

http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?storyID=123009980

http://www.physorg.com/news3414.html

The concept is so old it is new again.

[Sailor Steve]

Yep, an amazing feat. I have read different versions of the first article connected to that site, though.

An aviation enthusiast who had traveled to France to see Wright fly, Lord Northcliffe, proprietor of the widely read newspaper the Daily Mail and one of the most powerful men in England, offered a prize of 1,000 pounds ($5,000) for the first flight across the English Channel. Northcliffe tried to interest Wright in the exploit, privately guaranteeing him a $7,500 bonus on top of the public prize and half the net receipts from the exhibition of the Flyer in London. Wright was briefly tempted, but he demurred because of Orville's fear that the Flyer's engine was not reliable enough to make the Channel crossing and his own belief that "exceptional feats" were ill suited to the image of inventor that he was determined to cultivate for himself and his brother.

A different version I read some time ago talked about the first fatal air crash, at Fort Myer, Virginia, in which the other Wright Model 'A' had a wire come loose and tangle itself with the propellor, causing the crash that put Orville Wright in the hospital and killed Thomas Selfridge, veteran of Alexander Graham Bell's Aerial Experiment Association and friend of Glenn Curtiss. Orville wrote to Wilbur in France, begging him not to attempt the Channel crossing until he could be there to act as mechanic for the flight. And so Bleriot beat them to it.

Another interesting fact about Louis Bleriot: After the disgrace of Armand Deperdussin, Bleriot led the group that bought Deperdussin's S.P.A.D. corporation, thus becoming the manufacturer of that famous World War 1 aircraft.

And another: Bleriot was one of the crowd onhand in 1927 to greet Charles Lindberg when he landed in Paris after the first solo trans-Atlantic flight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Bl%C3%A9riot