CHANNEL
CROSSING
‘It’ll be
fine, cherie,’ Louis Blériot assured his wife, ‘I’ll be there
before you.’
Praying fervently he was right,
Alice boarded the destroyer Escopette to sail to England and await his
arrival. From its deck she watched the flimsy plane run down the slope, holding
her breath until it had wobbled into the sky and set off across La Manche.
Thirty-six
minutes later Louis landed with a thump near Dover Castle, to be met by a
correspondent from the Daily Mail, who telephoned his paper with the
news that their £1000 prize had been won, not by the American brothers
but by a Frenchman.
..............................................................................................
I took the above photograph at Tenerife Airport in 2013, the Centenary of the date the Frenchman Louis Bleriot flew his tiny plane into Tenerife. This was a replica, of course, but simply walking round it and seeing the bicycle wheels on its undercarriage gave me the shudders - fancy having the courage to cross the sea in that!
The image below shows the slightly damaged plane after its somewhat rough landing on a field chosen at the last minute - Bleriot had been expected to land on Dover beach, so it took his wife a little while to reach him!
Dear Liz,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I went back in my old files and found this prompt. Wonderful story to go with it. It's interesting to know the stories behind the airplane that we take for granted these days.
Happy to have lured you back to the FFFold. ;)
Shalom,
Rochelle
Thanks Rochelle. I was absent because I was visiting Canada, where my youngest child, Dan, lives with his Canadian wife and two small children. Due to various circumstances I hadn't seen them for six years!
DeleteIt'll never work, mark my words
ReplyDeleteThere will have been thousands who agreed with you at the time. I would probably have been among them after seeing this flimsy construction!
DeleteI had forgotten everything about Bleriot. Thanks for making the story alive again.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about him until I saw this plane and read the caption.
DeleteSorry, that was me.
ReplyDeleteHappens to me a lot too!
DeleteGreat story and great prompt. Thanks for the explanation of where it came from. It really is scary imagining crossing the sea in that!
ReplyDeleteIt was fascinating being àble to wàlk round the plàne that close - really brought it home how perilous it must have been.
DeleteNice touch of history, Lizy.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteAnother slice of history well told. I would be too terrified to fly in something like that!
ReplyDeleteThose early aviators were intrepid souls.
DeleteThe relief she must have felt when the flimsy plane landed.
ReplyDeleteAlso, nice to know the information about the photo. All very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
Watching her husband take such a chance must have been terrifying.
DeleteSo often, we forget the partners and families who watch their loved ones take incredible risks to advance mankind. Thank you for embodying Ms Bleriot to bring us this incredible piece of history.
ReplyDeleteThanks Elmo X
DeleteAlicia here. What a wonderful continuation of a previous story. If not for people filled with wonder, most of what this modern world has wouldn't exist.
ReplyDeleteWe owe a huge debt to the inventors of the past, all the way back to the first person to rub two stick together.
DeleteThis is Linda, aka granonine. I didn't know this part of the story of flight. Thanks for sharing it!
ReplyDeleteThanks Linda - seeing the plane up close was great!
DeleteInteresting and educational post.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThey were so game back then.
ReplyDelete