# Louis Blériot's first flight across the Channel recreated 100 years on



## v2 (Jul 24, 2009)

It was 100 years ago that Frenchman Louis Blériot became the first man to fly across the Channel. 

more: Louis Blériot's first flight across the Channel recreated 100 years on - Telegraph


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## wheelsup_cavu (Jul 24, 2009)

Cool link V2.
 It took 37 minutes to fly the 22 miles across the channel 100 years ago.
I hope there is a lot of pictures of the memorial flight posted later.


Wheels


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## vikingBerserker (Jul 24, 2009)

It's amazing that 100 years ago this was an incredible feat whereas today we have spacecraft traveling beyond Pluto.

Great post v2!


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## FalkeEins (Jul 25, 2009)

..there will be at least three attempts to replicate the feat today..the first one already came across this morning at dawn and took longer than the original flight 100 years ago (its pretty windy here today!)


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## v2 (Jul 25, 2009)

A French pilot on Saturday recreated the first-ever flight across the English Channel in a monoplane like the one that Louis Bleriot flew in 1909, complete with a wooden propeller, bicycle wheels and an engine about as powerful as a lawnmower. 

more: CTV.ca | Pilot marks 100th anniversary of English Channel flight


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## wheelsup_cavu (Jul 25, 2009)

Great story V2.


Wheels


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## Célérité (Jul 25, 2009)

Just one photo of the comemorial flight. A good challenge.


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## siznaudin (Jul 26, 2009)

Anyone know what engine the re-enactment flight aircraft had in it?
The original 1909 job was a 3 cylinder Anzani "fan" (describes the configuration) engine.

Thanks.


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## RabidAlien (Jul 26, 2009)

Amazing how far technology has come in the last 100 years. Makes me sit back and wonder what feats of ours they'll be recreating 100 years from now.


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## trackend (Jul 26, 2009)

siznaudin said:


> Anyone know what engine the re-enactment flight aircraft had in it?
> The original 1909 job was a 3 cylinder Anzani "fan" (describes the configuration) engine.
> 
> Thanks.



I know this guy Mikael Carlson who was at Duxford FL and I have met him a couple of times elsewhere uses an original three potter Anzani rotary engine that he rebuilt himself.
Read this Attempt to recreate Louis Bleriot's Channel crossing grounded - Telegraph 

I find this is a typical French way of doing things Mikael is an expert with the Bleriot's wing warping system (part of his display is to put both hands above his head and wave to the crowd) and has more hours flying Bleriots than anyone around but because he's a Swede the French pulled a fast one on him .


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## FalkeEins (Jul 26, 2009)

to be fair the original flight was made at dawn, so the French were doing no more than replicate that - for some reason the Swede had elected to wait until early evening - probably to coincide with the fireworks and the crowds..


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## siznaudin (Jul 27, 2009)

trackend said:


> I know this guy Mikael Carlson who was at Duxford FL and I have met him a couple of times elsewhere uses an original three potter Anzani rotary engine that he rebuilt himself.
> Read this Attempt to recreate Louis Bleriot's Channel crossing grounded - Telegraph



Thanks for that - it's a 3 cylinder radial he's got there rather than the "fan" configuration, but quite probably it's no more powerful. There was a Bleriot replica built in Tasmania which used the same 3 cyl Anzani radial type engine. They had real problems in trying to control it in the air, however.

As an aside, I wonder if there was a convenient rain shower through which the reenactment 'plane could fly, in order to emulate Bleriot's effort when his engine was overheating?


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## vikingBerserker (Jul 27, 2009)

I haveto give the man props for using an engine almost 100 years old.


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## Gnomey (Jul 28, 2009)

Fantastic to see it repeated, really was an amazing feat. Remarkable to consider where we are now in relation to a century ago.


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## siznaudin (Jul 30, 2009)

Gnomey said:


> Fantastic to see it repeated, really was an amazing feat. Remarkable to consider where we are now in relation to a century ago.



Yep, and here we are looking at Peak Oil: in such a short time, too........



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## Pong (Aug 7, 2009)

That's an awesome feat. Great post V2. We've really gone a long way from going only a 100 kilometers an hour to twice the speed of sound.


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