Expedition Day 24
This 735 nm leg would be the most complex I have ever flown. The flight would require transiting the air space of five countries with radio hand-offs to a dozen controllers.
Flying over the English channel at 10,000 feet. The coast of Belgium is visible at the top of the photo.
While crossing the English channel from England to Belgium, my thoughts were on the 1944 "D-day" invasion. My flight was a milk run in comparison with the 12,000 aircraft that participated in the invasion on June 6, 1944. By that time, the Luftwaffe was a shadow it's former self. Allied aircraft still encountered fierce AA. Historical note on another, earlier flight across the English channel: 90 years ago, Louis Bleriot, a French engineer, was the first to fly an airplane across the English Channel, 21 miles from Calais in France to Dover, England. The London Daily Mail had put up a £1,000 prize for the first airplane flight across the Channel.
Just outside Calais in Bleriot Place, which means Bleriot Beach, there's a small stone monument in a residential neighborhood commemorating the events of July 25, 1909. Near this spot, Bleriot made a short test flight in the dark at 4:15 am.
He was flying a tiny frail monoplane with a three cylinder Anzani motorcycle engine that had a tendency to explode if it overheated - or after about 30 minutes, whichever came first. The flight across the channel would take about 40 minutes. It was a calculated risk. Bleriot was not the only person trying to cross the channel in late July 1909. The Daily Mail, a London newspaper, had a put up a thousand pound prize to the first person who could do it. To be official, the flight had to happen in daylight, and at 4:41 when the sun was officially over the horizon, Bleriot took off. He had no instruments. The weather was blustery and misty. Visibility was not good. A French destroyer was positioned half way across the channel to help guide him, but legend as it - he got lost. Bleriot cut his engine and came to Earth pretty hard, breaking his propeller and landing gear, and proving again that any landing you can walk away from is a good one.The bad weather worked to his advantage, though. A rain shower cooled his engine. He had his way to the English coast, spotted someone waving a flag to signal the landing spot near Dover Castle. Bleriot cut his engine and came to Earth pretty hard, breaking his propeller and landing gear, and proving again that any landing you can walk away from is a good one. Today the open grassy field where Bleriot landed is overgrown with dense shrubs. But as you walk through the thicket, suddenly you find yourself in a wonderful clearing, and you can stand where history happened. The outline of his plane has been set down and memorialized in marble. Like many small airplanes that made history, you are surprised at how small it is. Bleriot won the prize money and became the next great aviator to become world famous in an instant, but those were the days when flying records were made and broken quickly. Another article describing his flight. CREDIT: DAN PATTERSON, WYSO.org, Smithsonian
At 14,000 ft over Switzerland, the plane accumulated some light Ice fairly quickly on the wing and tail surfaces. I began my descent to warmer temperatures as soon as practical over Italian airspace.
PedroPat
7/4/2018 10:02:29 am
John
Brian Eisner
7/4/2018 11:35:22 am
Very interesting. Thanks John for the update on that Leg of the trip. 7/4/2018 11:02:12 pm
John, Comments are closed.
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