On this day on 1909 the French aviator Louis Bleriot became the first person to fly an aeroplane across the English Channel.

The flight took thirty six minutes and terminated in a pancake landing near Dover castle, partly because Bleriot had omitted to select a suitable landing site in advance. Bleriot successfully claimed the one thousand pound prize offered by the Daily Mail for his feat.

Aviation was a new and dangerous activity at the time and participants such as Bleriot and the Wright brothers had many life-threatening crashes. But thanks partly to their bravery, aviation grew and improved rapidly. When Lindbergh flew the Atlantic for the first time in 1927, Bleriot was there to welcome him at Le...

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