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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