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#Onthisday in 1909, Louis Blériot successfully landed his plane in Dover, England, after flying from Calais, France. This became the first crossing of the English Channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft. After the Daily Mail’s 1908 £500 prize for a flight across the English Channel went unclaimed, the newspaper increased the prize to £1,000 in 1909. Frenchman Blériot took up the offer on July 25, 1909 in his Blériot XI and successfully crossed the stretch of open water between France and England. The short 37-minute trip was one of the most impressive aviation feats of the time. Image: M. Louis Blériot postcard, Blériot XI Monoplane inside Selfridge's store, 1909. SFO Museum Collection. 1995.09.06 This image was posted on July 25, 2019.