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Designed by Louis Blériot and Raymond Saulnier, the Blériot XI monoplane took off on its maiden flight #onthisday in 1909. On July 25, 1909, Blériot flew the aircraft over the English Channel from Calais, France, to Dover, England. This was the first successful crossing of the Channel in an airplane. The feat made Blériot a worldwide celebrity and earned him a £1,000 prize established by the British newspaper “Daily Mail” a year earlier. The design was highly successful, produced in numerous variants, and flown widely by early aviators, including Harriett Quimby and John and Matilde Moisant. In 1911, Earle Lewis Ovington carried the first U.S. airmail in a Blériot XI. #avgeek #BlériotXI #Blériot glass negative: Panama-Pacific International Exposition; 1915 Gift of Edwin I. Power, Jr. and Linda L. Liscom 2010.282.025 a b http://bit.ly/3XDwulu
This image was posted on January 23, 2023.