"Dover and Boulogne but later also Ramsgate (Pegwell Bay) to Calais. The journey time Dover to Boulogne was roughly 35 minutes, with six trips per day at peak times. The fastest crossing of the English Channel by a commercial car-carrying hovercraft was 22 minutes, recorded by the ""Princess Anne"" MCH SR-N4 Mk3 on 14 September 1995, The first aircraft to cross the Channel was a balloon in 1785, piloted by Jean Pierre François Blanchard (France) and John Jeffries (US). Louis Blériot (France) piloted the first airplane to cross in 1909. The sport of Channel swimming traces its origins to the"
"Hubert Latham Arthur Charles Hubert Latham (10 January 1883 – 25 June 1912) was a French aviation pioneer. He was the first person to attempt to cross the English Channel in an aeroplane. Due to engine failure during his first of two attempts to cross the Channel, he became the first person to land an aeroplane on a body of water. In August 1909 at the ""Grande Semaine d'Aviation de la Champagne"" he set the world altitude record of in his Antoinette IV. In April 1910 he set the official World Airspeed Record of in his Antoinette VII. Latham was"
"January 1916. Eleanor Trehawke Davies Eleanor Josephine Trehawke Davies (1880 – 1915) was an English aviator and the first woman to fly across the English Channel and to have ""looped the loop"" in an aircraft. Davies was born in 1880 in St Pancras, London, the daughter of Frederick and Eleanor Davies. Davies who was known as ""Miss Trehawke Davies"" was never a pilot but known at the time as an ""air companion"" to a number of early aviators. In August 1911 she chartered Horatio Barber to fly her from Hendon to Brighton and back. The flight, hampered by cloud and"
"Eleanor Trehawke Davies Eleanor Josephine Trehawke Davies (1880 – 1915) was an English aviator and the first woman to fly across the English Channel and to have ""looped the loop"" in an aircraft. Davies was born in 1880 in St Pancras, London, the daughter of Frederick and Eleanor Davies. Davies who was known as ""Miss Trehawke Davies"" was never a pilot but known at the time as an ""air companion"" to a number of early aviators. In August 1911 she chartered Horatio Barber to fly her from Hendon to Brighton and back. The flight, hampered by cloud and high winds,"
"25, 1909, was the first person to fly across the English Channel. He flew from the beach at Sangatte to the White Cliffs of Dover, to claim the prize offered by the Daily Mail. The crossing took 37 minutes in his aeroplane, Blériot XI, built in collaboration with Raymond Saulnier. It was powered by a 3-cylinder engine. At the western end of the beach, a statue of the French aviator Hubert Latham overlooks the sea (). Latham was another pioneering cross-channel pilot whose earlier attempt on July 19 had failed. Sangatte also achieved notoriety as the location of a controversial"
"Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris, a number of examples have been preserved. Both the British and American restored-to-airworthiness examples, each now over a century old and believed to be the two oldest flyable aircraft anywhere on Earth, are usually only ""hopped"" for short distances due to their uniqueness. Blériot XI The Blériot XI is a French aircraft of the pioneer era of aviation. The first example was used by Louis Blériot to make the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft, on 25 July 1909. This is one of the most famous accomplishments of the"
"Bryan Allen (hang glider) Bryan Lewis Allen (born October 13, 1952) is an American self-taught hang glider pilot and bicyclist. He achieved fame when he piloted (and provided the human power for) the two aircraft that won the first two Kremer prizes for human-powered flight, the ""Gossamer Condor"" (1977; the first human-powered aircraft to fly and meet specified criteria) and ""Gossamer Albatross"" (1979; the first human-powered aircraft to cross the English Channel). He later set world distance and duration records in a small pedal-powered blimp named ""White Dwarf."" Allen graduated from Tulare Union High School in Tulare, California. He then"
"first crossing of the English Channel 20 years earlier. On 9 October 1930, Following the R101 Airship disaster in Beauvais, France, 41 Squadron pilots and ground crew formed a part of the Guard of Honour for the Lying-in-State of the 48 victims in the Palace of Westminster. Amongst the dead were the Secretary of State for Air, Brig. Gen. Lord Christopher Thomson PC CBE DSO, and the Director of Civil Aviation, Air Vice-Marshal Sir Sefton Brancker KCB AFC. Thousands filed past to pay their last respects. During the 1930s, displays, sports, competitions, tactical exercises and flying practice were a part"
"Anka Lambreva Anka Vassileva Lambreva () (22 February 1895 – 18 February 1976) was a Bulgarian nurse, teacher and adventurer. She became the first Bulgarian woman to fly across the English Channel and circumnavigate the world. Anka was born in Karlovo, Bulgaria in a poor family of five children. Her father was unable to support her however she managed to graduate a high school in Plovdiv while working as a maid. For a year and a half she studied medicine and worked as a clerk in an insurance company in Sofia to support herself, but both her parents dies and"
"1785, when Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries crossed the English Channel in a hot air balloon. It took more than a century for the first heavier-than-air object to repeat this process: Louis Blériot crossed the English Channel on July 25, 1909, winning a ""Daily Mail"" prize of £1,000. Aviation technology developed during World War I, with aviation between the World Wars seeing the development of international commercial flights. There was a combination of aircraft types which included airships and airplanes. The first airline to operate international flights was Chalk's Ocean Airways, established 1917, which operated scheduled seaplane services from Florida"
"Blériot XI The Blériot XI is a French aircraft of the pioneer era of aviation. The first example was used by Louis Blériot to make the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft, on 25 July 1909. This is one of the most famous accomplishments of the pioneer era of aviation, and not only won Blériot a lasting place in history but also assured the future of his aircraft manufacturing business. The event caused a major reappraisal of the importance of aviation; the English newspaper ""The Daily Express"" led its story of the flight with the headline"
"an altitude of , landing at Saint-Inglevert after a flight of one and a half hours to the surprise of the airfield manager. The first double crossing of the Channel in a glider was made by Austrian Robert Kronfeld on 20 June. In a glider called ""Wien"", he took off from Saint-Inglevert by means of an aero-tow to an altitude of , and landed at the former RAF Swingfield airfield near Dover, Kent. From Swingfield, another aero-tow to an altitude of enabled him to return to Saint-Inglevert. Kronfeld received a £1,000 prize from the ""Daily Mail"" for his flights, which"
"a letter he dropped from the balloon during his historic flight, considered the oldest piece of airmail in existence. He fled to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1776 and later to England 1779, and was employed by the Crown during this time. In 1785, Jeffries and Jean-Pierre Blanchard crossed the English Channel in a balloon, becoming the first human beings to cross the Channel by air. Jeffries lived in England from 1779 to 1790. Despite being named in the Massachusetts Banishment Act, he returned to private practice in Boston, staying there until his death in 1819. His son John Jeffries II"
"the French military trials two years later, wrote the following about Hubert Latham in his final book, published in 1956: A statue erected by the French to Latham's memory overlooks the English Channel near the Dover Patrol Monument, on top of Cap Blanc Nez between Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer. According to Henry Villard in his 2002 book - ""Contact! The Story of the Early Aviators"" : As the D939 route passes through Maillebois it is named 'rue Hubert Latham'.() Hubert Latham Arthur Charles Hubert Latham (10 January 1883 – 25 June 1912) was a French aviation pioneer. He was the first"
"English Channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft and set up his headquarters in the unused shed. In Britain, the earliest aircraft hangars were known as aeroplane sheds and the oldest survivors of these are at Larkhill, Wiltshire. These were built in 1910 for the Bristol School of Flying and are now Grade II* Listed buildings. British aviation pioneer Alliott Verdon Roe built one of the first aeroplane sheds in 1907 at Brooklands, Surrey and full-size replicas of this and the 1908 Roe biplane are on display at Brooklands Museum. As aviation became established in Britain before World War I, standard designs"
"Harriet Quimby Harriet Quimby (May 11, 1875 – July 1, 1912) was an early American aviator and a movie screenwriter. In 1911, she was awarded a U.S. pilot's certificate by the Aero Club of America, becoming the first woman to gain a pilot's license in the United States. In 1912, she became the first woman to fly across the English Channel. Although Quimby lived only to the age of 37, she influenced the role of women in aviation. She was born on May 11, 1875 in Arcadia Township, Manistee County, Michigan. After her family moved to San Francisco, California, in"
"In 1929 she left New Zealand and headed back to Bulgaria passing through Tasmania, Tahiti, Fiji, Samoa, Canada, United States, England, France and Germany. Anka Lambreva Anka Vassileva Lambreva () (22 February 1895 – 18 February 1976) was a Bulgarian nurse, teacher and adventurer. She became the first Bulgarian woman to fly across the English Channel and circumnavigate the world. Anka was born in Karlovo, Bulgaria in a poor family of five children. Her father was unable to support her however she managed to graduate a high school in Plovdiv while working as a maid. For a year and a"
"John Moisant John Bevins Moisant (April 25, 1868 – December 31, 1910), known as the ""King of Aviators,"" was an American aviator, aeronautical engineer, flight instructor, businessman, and revolutionary. As a pilot, he was the first to conduct passenger flights over a city (Paris), as well as across the English Channel, from Paris to London. He also co-founded a prominent flying circus, the Moisant International Aviators. Moisant funded his aviation career with proceeds from business ventures in El Salvador, where he had led two failed revolutions and coup attempts against President Figueroa in 1907 and 1909. Only months after becoming"
"in October 1927. A cairn erected to his memory exists near Gaspé. It records that de Lesseps was the second man to fly the English Channel by airplane. He was a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, held the Croix de Guerre and the United States Distinguished Service Cross. Jacques de Lesseps Jacques Benjamin de Lesseps was a French aviator born in Paris on 5 July 1883, killed in an air accident presumably on 18 October 1927 along with his flight engineer Theodor Chichenko. He was the son of French diplomat Ferdinand de Lesseps. In 1910 he married Grace Mackenzie,"
"of Fame. The Clarence D. Chamberlin House is on the National Register of Historic Places. Clarence Chamberlin Clarence Duncan Chamberlin (November 11, 1893 – October 31, 1976) was an American pioneer of aviation, being the second man to pilot a fixed-wing aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean, from New York to the European mainland, while carrying the first transatlantic passenger. Clarence Duncan Chamberlin was born on November 11, 1893, in the small town of Denison, Iowa, to Elzie Clarence and Jessie Duncan Chamberlin. Elzie, or ""EC"" as he was known around Denison, was the local jeweler and the owner of the"
"Cecil Grace Cecil Stanley Grace (1880 – 22 December 1910) was a pioneer aviator who went missing on a flight across the English Channel in 1910. Grace was born in Chile, the son of John William Grace of New York. His uncle was W. R. Grace, a former mayor of New York City. Grace was naturalised as a British citizen in October 1910. In 1909 members of the Aero Club of Great Britain established a flying ground at Eastchurch on the Isle of Sheppey. Grace was one of this early group of pioneering aviators, and in 1910 he was awarded"
"in 1923 for the longest time to make the crossing successfully. Henry Sullivan (swimmer) Henry Sullivan (born c. 1893) was an American marathon swimmer who is best known for becoming the third person and the first American to swim across the English Channel, beginning his swim on the afternoon of August 5, 1923, from Dover, England and finishing 27 hours and 25 minutes later on the evening of August 6 at Calais, France. The son of a businessman from Lowell, Massachusetts, Sullivan had been swimming since he was eight years old. He first attempted to make the crossing in 1913,"
"flight across the English Channel with crew member Don Piccard in a balloon later named the “Channel Champ.” In 1976, Yost set 13 aviation world’s records for distance traveled and amount of time aloft in his attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean —solo— by balloon. He designed and built his balloon, the “Silver Fox,"" himself, partly in his home garage. It featured a gondola that was shaped like a boat in the event that he would be forced down at sea — which is precisely what occurred. Although he had traveled far in excess of the distance needed to reach"
"1883. They moved to England and raised four children, including Rhodes-Moorhouse who went to Harrow School and (briefly) Trinity Hall, Cambridge which he left in 1909. Rhodes-Moorhouse took private flying lessons and gained his pilot's certificate in that year. Besides designing aircraft he competed in aviation races and was the first to cross the English Channel, from Douai to Ashford, Kent, with two passengers, his wife and a London ""Evening News"" journalist, in a biplane. He changed his surname to Rhodes-Moorhouse in 1912, shortly before he married, as required by the will of his grandfather. His wife, Linda Beatrice Morrit,"
"(1796-1876) was an ophthalmic surgeon and co-founded the Massachusetts Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary. John Jeffries John Jeffries (5 February 1745 – 16 September 1819) was a Boston physician, scientist, and a military surgeon with the British Army in Nova Scotia and New York during the American Revolution. He is best known for accompanying Jean-Pierre Blanchard on his 1785 balloon flight across the English Channel. Born in Boston, Jeffries graduated from Harvard College and obtained his medical degree at the University of Aberdeen. Dr. Jeffries played a large role in the trial for the Boston Massacre as a witness for"
"make the attempt if the favourable conditions still held. Levavasseur and the rest of Latham's team, however, slept the night through and failed to notice the opportunity, a lapse which was rigorously criticised by Latham’s supporters. Blériot took off precisely at dawn (4.41am) to make the first successful crossing of the English Channel by aeroplane. Harry Harper, the ""Daily Mail"" reporter who was witness to the event, wrote that Levavasseur woke up just in time to see Blériot's aeroplane leaving the French coast and he rushed to wake Latham and his crew to see if it could be possible to"
"Claude Grahame-White Claude Grahame-White (21 August 1879 – 19 August 1959) was an English pioneer of aviation, and the first to make a night flight, during the ""Daily Mail""-sponsored 1910 London to Manchester air race. Grahame-White was born in Bursledon, Hampshire in England on 21 August 1879, and educated at Bedford Grammar School. He learned to drive in 1895, was apprenticed as an engineer and later started his own motor engineering company. Grahame-White's interest in aviation was sparked by Louis Blériot's crossing of the English Channel in 1909. This prompted him to go to France, where he attended the Reims"
"Claude Grahame-White Claude Grahame-White (21 August 1879 – 19 August 1959) was an English pioneer of aviation, and the first to make a night flight, during the ""Daily Mail""-sponsored 1910 London to Manchester air race. Grahame-White was born in Bursledon, Hampshire in England on 21 August 1879, and educated at Bedford Grammar School. He learned to drive in 1895, was apprenticed as an engineer and later started his own motor engineering company. Grahame-White's interest in aviation was sparked by Louis Blériot's crossing of the English Channel in 1909. This prompted him to go to France, where he attended the Reims"
"and with similar honours from Turkey, Brazil and Sweden. Charles Manby Charles Manby, FRS (4 February 1804 – 31 July 1884) was Secretary of the Institution of Civil Engineers from November 1839 to 1856, and engineer of the first iron steamer to cross the English Channel. Fluent in French, he installed gas piping into Paris and advised on the construction of the Suez Canal. Manby was born in Cowes on the Isle of Wight to Aaron and Juliana Manby, née Fewster. Aaron Manby was a successful engineer building bridges, ships and engines. As a child Charles attended a Roman Catholic"
"Edward Temme Edward Harry Temme (16 September 1904 – 26 June 1977) was an English swimmer and insurance clerk. Temme was the first man to swim across the English Channel both ways, from France to England on 5 August 1927 and from England to France on 18 August 1934. He was also a water polo player who competed in the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam and the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Temme was born in Stratford Road, Plaistow, Essex (now part of east London). He was a member of the British water polo team that finished fourth at the"
"her. <br> <br> Gertrude Ederle Gertrude Caroline Ederle (October 23, 1905 – November 30, 2003) was an American competition swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in five events. On August 6, 1926, she became the first woman to swim across the English Channel. Among other nicknames, the press sometimes called her ""Queen of the Waves."" Gertrude Ederle was born on October 23, 1905 in Manhattan, New York City. She was the third of six children and the daughter of German immigrants, Gertrude Anna Haberstroh and Henry Ederle. According to a biography of Ederle, ""America's Girl"", her father ran a"
"Clarence Chamberlin Clarence Duncan Chamberlin (November 11, 1893 – October 31, 1976) was an American pioneer of aviation, being the second man to pilot a fixed-wing aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean, from New York to the European mainland, while carrying the first transatlantic passenger. Clarence Duncan Chamberlin was born on November 11, 1893, in the small town of Denison, Iowa, to Elzie Clarence and Jessie Duncan Chamberlin. Elzie, or ""EC"" as he was known around Denison, was the local jeweler and the owner of the first automobile in Denison. This automobile was notorious throughout Crawford County for the racket it"
"Seb Clover Sebastian Clover, more commonly known as Seb Clover (born 15 January 1987), is a former English record-breaking sailor and paramedic. Clover is a former young adventurer from Cowes on the Isle of Wight in England, who, at the age of 15 years and 362 days, became the former youngest person in the world to successfully sail across the Atlantic Ocean single-handedly (in late 2002 – early 2003), until another young Briton, Michael Perham, surpassed his record in 2007. Clover also allegedly crossed the English Channel single-handedly at the former age of 11, which directly resulted in his mother"