| Description: | The First Channel Crossing by Air: 1785
”This famous aerial event started with the makings of an international incident, and nearly ended in tragedy for the two aeronauts the French pilot Jean-Pierre Blanchard and his sponsor, the ex-patriate American physician John Jeffries.
Blanchard, balloon showman par excellence, arrived at the take-off point-on the cliffs beside Dover Castle with a lead-lined belt concealed under his waistcoat, since he was determined to have the honour of making this famous "first" for himself alone. However, the ruse was detected, and there was a first-class row, composed only when the Governor of Dover Castle appeared in person; and the perilous trip commenced. The date was January 7th, 1785 The balloon set off with an alarming amount of secondary ballast-in addition to the bags of sand-including flags, anchors, cork lifejackets, a packet of pamphlets, a bottle of brandy, biscuits, apples, two useless aerial oars, an equally useless rudder, and the first aircraft propeller in history-Blanchard's little "moulinet". Trouble developed all too soon, and the balloon was either leaky or badly piloted. After going into steep up-and-down runs, the ballast was all gone, and everything else except the life-jackets-was tossed over board, including the "moulinet". Then their coats were committed to the Channel, and finally, in a panic, off came Blanchard's breeches a strange cтор of jetsam for the fishes.
However, the balloon at last cleared the French coast, and deposited its two shivering occupants on to the tree-tops of the forest of Guines, some twelve miles from Calais, in a safe but highly uncomfortable ‘atterrissage’."
C H Gibbs -Smith
One of 12 prints from the collections of The Royal Aeronautical Society reproduced by the Society to mark its Centenary in1966 - No.1 |
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