The Kendrick gazette. [volume] (Kendrick, Idaho) 1892-1968, 1909-08-06
BLER|OT'S GREATFEAl
French Aeronaut's Own Story Of
Flight Over English Channel.
DROPPED cRUTCHEs TO DO 1T.

Daring Aviator Lost His Way In the
Air-Ten Minutes Out of Sight Of
Land, With No Guide but Machines
Observation-Disclosures Swift Tor
pedo Boat and Landed Safely.
N. Louis Bleriot, one of the pioneers
in French aviation, who recently cross
ed the English channel in his small
monoplane from Les Baraques, near
Calais, France, to the North Foreland
meadow near Dover, England, in a lit
tie over thirty minutes, winning the
London Daily Mails prize of $1,000, de-
scribes his remarkable fight as fol
lows:
Il rose at $50 Sunday morning.
July %, and, finding that the condi-
tons were favorable, ordered the tor
pedo boat destroyer Escopette, which
had been placed at my disposal by the
French government, to start. Then l
went to the garage at S%angatte and
found that the motor worked well. At
4 Il. M. l took my seat in the %aeroplane
and made Il trial fight around Calais
OF ONE fifteen kilometers (over nine
miles,, descending at the spot chosen
fer the start across the channel.
Here l waited for the sun to come
out, the conditions of the Daily Mail
prize requiring that fly between sun
rise and sunset. At 4:30 daylight had
come, but ii was impossible to see the
coast. A light breeze from the south
west was blowing the air clear. how
ever. and everything was prepared.
u was. dressed in a khaki jacket
lined with wool for warmth over my
tweed clothes and beneath my en-
gineer's suit Of blue cotton oyerails.
A close fitting cap was fastened over
my head and ears. Ihad neither eaten
nor drunk anything since l rose. Ny
thoughts were only upon the fight and
my determination to accomplish it this
morning.
Flight Begun at ASS.
cat 49, all's reddy. My friend lie
Blance gives the signal, and in an in
slant I am in the air, my engine maxi
ing 1900 revolutions, almost its high
est speed, in order that ! may get
quickly over the telegraph wires along
the edge Of the cliff. AS soon as l am
over the cliff | reduce speed. There is
now no need to force the engine. l be.
gin my fight, steady and sure, toward
the coast of England. | have no APP
p~rehenSions, no sensation-pas Gu tout
hot at all.
The Escopette has seen me. She
Sc 1riripm ohnoI ot full cpao1 Che
makes perhaps forty-two kilometers
(twenty-siX niles an hour. What mat
ters it? l am making at least sixty
eight kilometers (over forty-two miles,.
Rapidly | overtake her, travelling at a
height of eighty meters GEO feet. Be-
low me is the surface Of the sea, dis
'turbed by the wind, which is now
freshening. The motion of the waves
beneath me is not pleasant. l drive on.
Lost For Ten Minutes.
Ten minutes are gone. 1 have
passed the destroyer, and l turn my
head to see whether l am proceeding
in the right direction. l am amazed.
There is nothing to be seen, neither
the torpedo boat destroyer nor France
nor England. am alone; | can see
nothing at all. For ten minutes l am
lost. 1t is a strange position to be in,
alone. guided without a compass in
the air over the middle OF the chan
mel. I touch nothing. Ny hands and
feet rest lightly on the levers. l let the
|aeroplnne take its own course. l care
not whittier it goes.
Sees E~ngland'a Cliffs.
For ten minutes l continue, neither
rising nor falling nor turning, and
then, twenty minutes after l have left
the French coast, | see green cliffs
and Dover castle and away to the
west the spot where | had intended to
land.
What can l do? 1t is evident the
wind has taken me out of my course.
/ am almost at st. Margaret's bay,
going in the direction Of Goodwin
sands.
Now it is time to attend to the
steering. / press a lever with my foot
and turn easily toward the west, re-
versing the direction in which l am
travelling. Now l am in difficulties,
for the wind here by the cliffs is much
stronger and my speed is reduced as
i fight against it, yet my beautiful
aeroplane responds still steadily.
Il fly westward, chopping across the
harbor, and reach Shakespeare cliff
l see IN opening in the cliff. AL
though I am confident | can continue
for an hour and a half. that l might
indeed, return to Calais. | cannot re
sist the opportunity to make a land
ing upon this green spot.
Safe on Ensland's Shore.
Once more I turn my ~aeroplant
and, describing a half circle. l enter
the opening and find myself agair
over dry land. Avoiding the rec
buildings on my right, | attempt
landing, but the wind catches me ant
whirls me around two or three times
At once ! stop my motor, and instant
iy my machine falls straight upon thu
ground from a height Of twenty meter