ACROSS THE CHANNEL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 August 1939, Page 6

ACROSS THE CHANNEL

FLIGHT IN SEVEN MINUTES.

BLERIOT'S FORMER ACHIEVEMENT

RECALLED.

When Fiona, one of the Frobisher aeroplanes which fly directly between London and Paris left Le Bourget at 8.45 on tlie mdrniiig of July 25, she followed a course which took her directly over Calais and Dover. This was the tribute of Imperial Airways to the achievement of Louis Bleriot who, on July 25, flew from the sand dunes at Les Baraqus, about three miles from Calais, to a -field immediately behind Dover Castle.

Bleriot’s historic flight—from the take-off at Les Baraqus to the landing behind Dover Castle —took him about seventy minutes. Fiona, commanded by Captain B. H. Youell, took seven minutes.

M. Bleriot strove against unexpected winds. He was unable to fly a straight course. For about ten minutes, when he could not see the coasts of France or England, he was lost. He even lost sight of the Escopette, the French torpedo destroyer which was racing towards Dover at a speed of about twenty-one knots. Bleriot believed that his top,speed was about 42A miles an hour. Fiona crossed the Channel at a speed of ISO miles an hour. She flew low. But Bleriot's monoplane never rose above 250 feet.

Bleriot’s countrymen were in the throes of a ministerial crisis. The Paris newspapers published the names of the new Cabinet on tlie day that they announced that Bleriot had conquered the Channel. The Parisians were far more interested in the latter announcement. On the thirtieth anniversary of Bleriot's flight bombers of the Royal Air Force flew over Paris. Some of them passed Fiona when she was making her commemorative flight to Croydon.