FLYING ACROSS THE CHANNEL.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 119, 23 May 1910, Page 7

FLYING ACROSS THE CHANNEL.

ANOTHER FRENCHMAN'S SUCCESS. By Telegraph.— Pre»k Association.— CopyrigliU "LONDON, 22nd May. Count Jaques de Lesseps, a grandson of the builder of the Suez Canal, lias succeeded in repeating the feat performed la&t year by M. hieriot — crossing the Channel from - France to England. Count de Lesseps used a lileriot monoplane, which type of aeroplane thus remains the only heavier-than-air machine which has yet conquered the Channel. The French destroyer Escopelte followed the monoplane across the Channel. '■'he Count ascended at Calais. He rose at once to a height of 280 feet, and circled about in order to feel his way. ' Being botheied by a thick mist, he decided to rise above it. The monoolane soared, and was lost from view. The aviator steered his way acrosschannel by means of the sun. Owing to the haay weather, he did not Eec the English coast till he was nearing Deal. From an altitude of over 10CK) feet, the- Count skimmed down near Dover with perfect ease, descending gracefully at St. Margaret's Bay. The journey (20 odd miles) occupied thirty minutes. The destroyer Escoptttt, following, only caught one glimpse of Count de Lesseps in crossing. [M. Bleriot left Calais at 4.35 a.m. on 25th July, 1909, and landed at Dover at 5.12. One of the unique features of M. Bleriofs monoplane is its smallness. It needs no shed. With, the wings folded up ;t; t occupies no more Bpaee thau a medium-sized motor-car, nnd can be housed in an hotel garage or stable. It has. been trundled along country roads behind a motor-car, and in this way it has frequently covered long distances in FittiiLC at the rate ot eighteen miles an hour. In less than half an hour after its Arrival on. the ground it k ready to fly.]