Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
- Posts: 2,868
12 August 2010
10:2365089This coming week sees the Centenary of the first passenger flight over the Channel by Moisant in 1910 (actual date was 17th Aug)
More information on:
http://doversociety.homestead.com/flight.html
An exhibition in our small village hall is being staged to mark the event:
Aviation Exhibition - Saturday August 21 2010 - 11.30am - 4pm
Tilmanstone Village Hall (next to the playing field)
(off the A256 Dover to Sandwich road, East Kent)
celebrating the Centenary
of the first passenger flight over the Channel,
by John Moisant, landing at Telegraph Farm, Tilmanstone, on 17 August 1910
There will be displays of: Original newspaper reports/photographs of Moisant's flight, aircraft models, literature, Battle of Britain reference books,
old photographs of Dover & Aircraft, 'Over the Channel' postal history etc. Information table Channel Gliding Club of Waldershare
Special Raffle - Bring and Buy - home made cakes etc. Refreshments served at lunchtime and in afternoon
admission: 50p, children under 10yrs free
ALL Proceeds to Tilmanstone Village Hall Improvement funds
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred
Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
- Posts: 2,868
12 August 2010
10:2565090MOISANT who made the first passenger flight over the Channel in 1910, at Tilmanstone:
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
12 August 2010
12:1965119Should be able to get a long, fingers crossed...
Been nice knowing you :)
12 August 2010
17:5065186Its amazing how far we have come in a hundred years , i wonder where we will be flying in the next hundred years ?
13 August 2010
00:5265291I wager it will be Mars on a regular basis with manned missions to some of the bigger moons of the outer planets; all made possible by the discovery of a new propulsion system/fuel.
13 August 2010
09:5865323After watching DR who mars seems dangerous , but i agree Sid , some of the moons around jupiter and saturn are very interesting .
Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
- Posts: 2,868
20 August 2010
16:1866327Hoping we may see some Forum members tomorrow at the Aviation Exhibition at Tilmanstone village hall, lots of home made cake, hot dogs, a superb raffle, bring and buy as well as the exhibition, with display screens about aviation history, Battle of Britain, etc.
Open 11.30am to 4pm.
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
20 August 2010
20:1366373Thanks for the reminder
Been nice knowing you :)
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
20 August 2010
21:0066382will not be able to make it,hope that it goes well.
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
21 August 2010
18:1466542Very interesting Kath - lots of stuff a lot of people are not aware of !
Just thinking - would the exhibition like another outing so more people can see it ? When we open the Drop Redoubt in October ?
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
- Posts: 2,868
21 August 2010
18:1866543Having taken so long to prepare the aviation exhibition panel sheets, it would be a good idea to get them shown again when possible, Eastry are interested too.
Why not? All that is needed would be the 5' x 3' screens to put the display sheets on. The sheets are easily transported in our car.
The day went very well and a good sum of money raised for the village hall improvements.
Thanks to everyone who helped, cooked refreshments, and gave prizes etc.
And it was good to see so many visitors from Dover, Deal and elsewhere.
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
21 August 2010
18:4266546Thank Kath - 23/24 October we are opening. Less re-enactment and just concentrating on some displays in the Redoubt.
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 702- Registered: 9 Jul 2010
- Posts: 241
21 August 2010
20:1466564Kath
A great and informative display.
Good idea Paul, to display it again at the Drop Redoubt. What aother displays are planned for October?
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
21 August 2010
20:3066570Early stages at the moment, but the First Footguards will be there and a few other bits. tba
Been nice knowing you :)
Guest 702- Registered: 9 Jul 2010
- Posts: 241
21 August 2010
22:3966602I've noted those dates in my diary.
Guest 700- Registered: 11 Jun 2010
- Posts: 2,868
22 August 2010
09:3166633Here is a report on the flight:
PARIS to TILMANSTONE - first passenger flight over the Channel
A century ago this month, an American from a French-Canadian immigrant family pulled off one of the most daring feats in the history of aviation according to one early writer. John Moisant, of Chicago, flying a Bleriot monoplane, made the first ever flight across the Channel with a passenger. He landed at Telegraph Farm, Tilmanstone, after crossing the coast at Deal.
This far surpassed the flights of Louis Bleriot, to Dover in 1909, Jacques De Lesseps, who landed near St Margaret's a few months later and the Hon.Charles Rolls who, after making the first there-and-back crossing from Dover to Calais, died in a crash at Bournemouth a few months later.
Barnstormer John Moisant was a wealthy plantation owner who became interested in flying after watching the 1909 Rheims Air Meeting in France. He had built his own plane, the first with an all-metal frame, and flew it a short distance, but decided to have flying lessons from Louis Bleriot. After only four sessions he bought a 50hp Bleriot aircraft - a two-seater - and on August 17 1910, made the first passenger flight across the English Channel, with his French mechanic Albert Fileux.
According to one report he also took his cat called "Mademoiselle Fifi" with him, but the Dover Express at the time reported that it was a soldier, at the landing site at Tilmanstone, who presented the fliers with a kitten as a lucky mascot.
The Channel flight was a race against time to win a cash prize for a flight from Paris to London, Moisant's rival being Hubert Latham. Rising early, Moisant defied the odds - a near gale was blowing and his eyes were bloodshot and inflamed as rain almost blinded him during the flight.
He expected to land at Dover but was forced by the wind towards St Margaret's Bay, eventually landing at the brickfield at Telegraph Farm, one of the highest spots around, after crossing the coast north of Deal.
He told an interviewer: "This is only my sixth flight in an aeroplane. I did not know the way from Paris to Calais when I started, and do not know the way to London. But I shall rely on my British made mariner's compass. I would like to land in Hyde Park if I can find it."
All day on Wednesday he remained at Tilmanstone waiting for the weather to moderate, and eventually he decided to postpone his departure till the following morning. The sun was shining brilliantly on Thursday morning when, shortly before 5 o'clock, the machine was wheeled out, and in a few minutes, Moisant and his trustful mechanic Fileux headed for London.
Canterbury was soon passed, and good progress made until Sittingbourne was sighted, when valve trouble forced a stop after only an hour and five minutes. A local mechanic dealt with this, and at half past nine the airmen were off again. But only a short distance had been covered, when the engine stopped again, and Moisant landed in an old brickfield at Upchurch, near Rainham, smashing the propeller and damaging the chassis.
Louis Bleriot and a British flyer, Tony Drexel, who also had a Bleriot aircraft, heard about Moisant's misfortune and both sent propellers.
Moisant also sought the help of Short Bros. Of Eastchurch, and a Royal Engineer from Chaham also helped. Repairs were done fairly quickly... but a new propeller did not arrive until Friday morning, courtesy of a national newspaper... and Tony Drexel. Then strong winds delayed a start until Saturday. But Moisant could only fly two or three miles, the wind over the hills proving too much for the aircraft, and the airmen crash landed near Gillingham, narrowly missing his host's house. But the aircraft hit a tree and smashed yet another propeller, forcing the airmen to remain there all day Saturday.
It was a moonlight start at 4.29am on Monday, Moisant being determined to get to Crystal Palace. But the wind was very strong, and at the end of 58 minutes, driven considerably off course and his petrol supply low, he had to land at Wrotham, near Maidstone, about 19 miles from Rainham. After half an hour however, he was off again. The Paris to London flight ended on September 9th in a cricket field in Beckenham, after he had first circled the great Exhibition Hall at Crystal Palace several times, but was unable to find the official landing site. Moisant then travelled to the Crystal Palace by road, the aircraft following later to avoid disappointing a big crowd.
Footnote: Moisant died on December 31 in 1910, in an air crash in Louisiana while making a trial flight in an attempt to win the Michelin Cup and a $4,000 prize. He was caught in a gust of wind as he was attempting to land, and was thrown from his Bleriot monoplane landing on his head .... he was not wearing a seat belt.
Bob Hollingsbee
August 2010
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Lincolnshire Born and Bred
Guest 651- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 5,673
22 August 2010
10:2166638Seems being a Dover 'first' was a bit of curse as a few people didn't last long after !
Been nice knowing you :)
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
22 August 2010
16:0366700fancy calling a cat "fifi", everyone knows that it is a dog's name.
Guest 649- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 14,118
22 August 2010
18:2666726I am sorry to have missed that one I just forgot it was on,you get like that when you get older.the funny thing was I was just along the Rd at the High and Dry, looking at what they are doing now they can go ahead with it.
Guest 645- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 4,463
On our walk today we came across this plaque on the sea wall which may be of interest to our aviation forumites and readers
Marek
I think therefore I am (not a Tory supporter)
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Marek
