List of English Channel crossings by air

This is a list of notable flights across the English Channel.

First attempts

Date Crossing Participant(s) Aircraft Departure point
Arrival point 		Notes
7 January 1785[1] First crossing by air Jean Pierre François Blanchard (France)
John Jeffries (US) 		balloon Dover, England
Calais, France 		—
15 June 1785 First air crash Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier (France)
Pierre Romain (France) 		Rozière balloon: combination hydrogen & hot-air balloon Boulogne-Sur-Mer, France
— 		Balloon blown back over French soil and crashed, both killed.
9 September 1883 First E-W crossing François Lhoste Ville-de-Boulogne gas balloon Boulogne, France
Ruckinge, Kent 		Lhoste had made five previous attempts, and succeeded on the sixth.[2][3]
30 September 1906 First Gordon Bennett Cup Winner Frank P. Lahm, Henry Blanchard Hersey (the United States of America) Gas balloon Tuileries, Paris
Fylingdales, Yorkshire 		Gas balloon traveled 641 km in 22 hours and 15 minutes [4][5]
25 July 1909 First person to cross the channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft Louis Blériot (France) Blériot XI Calais, France
Dover, England 		Encouraged by £1000 prize offered by the Daily Mail for first successful flight across the Channel. Flight time 37 minutes.
2 June 1910 First person to make a double crossing of the Channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft[6] Charles Stewart Rolls (UK) Short Wright biplane Swingfield Downs, Kent
Sangatte, France 		—
Sangatte
Eastchurch, Kent
23 August 1910 First aircraft flight with passengers John Moisant (US) Blériot XI Calais, France
Deal, England 		Passengers were mechanic Albert Fileux and Moisant's cat.
4 November 1910 First airship crossing Ernest Willows (UK)

Frank Goodden (UK)

City of Cardiff airship Wormwood Scrubs, London, England

Corbehem, near Douai, France

Departed at 3:25pm on 4 November 1910. Night-time crossing, landed at 2:00am on 5 November 1910. Arrived at Paris on 28 December 1910.[7]
16 April 1912 First woman to fly across the Channel Harriet Quimby (US) Blériot XI Dover
A beach near Neufchâtel-Hardelot, France 		Flight time 59 minutes. Her accomplishment did not receive much media attention, as the RMS Titanic sank the evening before.
18 September 1928 First flight across the Channel by autogyro Juan de la Cierva (SPA) Cierva C.8 Achieved as part of the first flight by autogyro between London and Paris.[8]
19 June 1931 First crossing in a glider Lissant Beardmore (UK) RRG Professor glider Aero-tow from Lympne to an altitude of 14,000 feet (4,300 m)
Saint-Inglevert Airfield, Pas-de-Calais.[9]
6 September 1945 First helicopter crossing Helmut Gerstenhauer (Germany)

Flt Lt. Dennis (UK)

Flt. Lt. Morris (UK)

Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 Cherbourg, France
RAF Beaulieu, England 		Helicopter was piloted by Gerstenhauer, with two Royal Air Force officers acting as observers.[10]
13 April 1963 First crossing by hot air balloon Don Piccard & Ed Yost (US) “Channel Champ”[11][12] Rye, England
Gravelines, France 		First to cross the English Channel in a hot air balloon.[12]
9 May 1978 First powered hang-glider to cross the Channel David Cook (UK) Volmer VJ-23E Walmer, England
Calais, France 		Powered by a 9 hp (6.6 kW) McCulloch 101 engine.[13] Aircraft is on display at the Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester.[14]
12 June 1979 First human-powered aircraft to cross the Channel Bryan Allen (US) Gossamer Albatross Folkstone, England
Cap Gris Nez, France 		Won a £100,000 Kremer Prize; Allen pedalled for three hours to propel the 55-pound (25 kg) aircraft
7 July 1981 First crossing by electric aircraft[15] Stephen Ptacek (US) Solar Challenger Pontoise Aerodrome, France
RAF Manston, England 		Solar-powered
22 August 1981 First crossing by hybrid energy balloon[16] Julian Nott (UK) G-BAVU (aircraft registration number) North-west of Dover, England
Tournehem-sur-la-Hem, France[17] 		Solar-powered lift
31 July 2003 Crossing in a 20-mile (32 km) long freefall Felix Baumgartner (Austria) wingsuit and a carbon fibre wing
26 September 2008 First crossing with a jetpack Yves Rossy (Switzerland) Crossing completed in less than ten minutes[18]
6 August 2009 First crossing with an electric driven aircraft with onboard energy Gerard Thevenot Gerard Thevenot crossed the channel with his HYNOV, an electric driven trike aircraft with hydrogen as source of energy [19]
28 May 2010 First crossing by helium balloon cluster Jonathan Trappe (US) The Channel Cluster Challock, Kent, England
Les Moëres, France 		Completed in 4 hours. He crossed the Channel dangling beneath a cloud of coloured helium balloons and controlled his altitude by cutting the balloons free one by one with a pair of scissors.[20][21]
9 July 2015 First crossing by battery-powered electric aircraft[22][23][24] Hugues Duval Colomban Cri-cri Air-launched
9 July 2015 First battery-powered electric aircraft to takeoff and fly over the Channel[23][24] Didier Esteyne Airbus E-Fan
16 February 2016 First quadcopter drone to fly across the Channel in a single flight.[25] Richard Gill Enduro 1 Wissant, France

Shakespeare Beach, Dover

Drone launched from beach in France and flew back to UK. The total flight time was 78 minutes at an average speed of about 10 m/s. The flight was conducted with the approval of the French DGAC and British CAA.
14 June 2017 First crossing by flying car.[26] Bruno Vezzoli, Jérôme Dauffy Pégase Mark II Ambleteuse, France

East Studdal, near Dover

Pegase developed by Vaylon company took off from France and flew to UK. Total flight time: 85 minutes Distance 72,5 km which 33,3 km over the channel.


References

  1. ^ "Blanchard, Jean-Pierre-François." Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
  2. ^ "LA COMMÉMORATION DU CENTENAIRE DE L'AÉROSTATION À BOULOGNE-SUR-MER EN 1883". Renaissance du vieux Boulogne (in French). 31 January 2016. Archived from the original on 1 October 2023. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  3. ^ "Balloons: Engineless Flight 1836 - 1913". Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines. Archived from the original on 6 February 2019. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  4. ^ Kenny, Kimberly A. (2007). Canton's Pioneers in Flight. Arcadia. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-0-7385-2522-8.
  5. ^ Stekel, Peter. "Don Piccard 50 Years of Ballooning Memories" (PDF). www.FAI.org. FAI.org. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  6. ^ Humphreys, Roy (2001). Kent Aviation, a Century of Flight. Stroud: Sutton Publishing. p. 189. ISBN 0-7509-2790-9.
  7. ^ "Willows Airship №3 1910". Rosebud's WWI and Early Aviation Image Archive. 20 November 2008. Archived from the original on 20 November 2008. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  8. ^ "Channel Flight By Autogiro. Spanish Airman's Success". The Times. No. 45002. London. 19 September 1928. col F, p. 14.
  9. ^ "Channel Crossed by Glider". The Times. No. 45854. London. 20 June 1931. col F, p. 12.
  10. ^ Coates, Steve; Carbonel, Jean-Christophe (2002). Helicopters of the Third Reich. Crowborough, UK: Classic Publications Ltd. p. 184. ISBN 1-903223-24-5.
  11. ^ "Ed Yost – Aviator, Inventor, and "Father of Modern Day Hot-Air Balloon" Dies". WebWire. 28 May 2007. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 31 October 2007.
  12. ^ a b Associated Press. "Record Balloon Flight Made By Americans". Gadsden Times, April 14, 1963, p. 1. Retrieved on May 29, 2013.
  13. ^ Cook, David (2007). Flying from my mind: Innovative and record-breaking microlight and aircraft designs. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Pen & Sword. p. 8. ISBN 9781844155880.
  14. ^ Pollard, Lewis (9 May 2018). "On this day: Crossing the English Channel in a hang-glider". Manchester Science Museum. Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  15. ^ "The Solar Challenger | Exhibitions | Smithsonian". www.si.edu. Archived from the original on 26 September 2013.
  16. ^ Solar Balloon Takes Flight Over England
  17. ^ "HISTORY OF SOLAR BALLOONING". aerocene.org. Aerocene. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  18. ^ "Pilot completes jetpack challenge". London: BBC. 26 September 2008. Retrieved 1 November 2008.
  19. ^ "Man of La Manche". CAFE Foundation. Archived from the original on 13 July 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  20. ^ American crosses Channel carried by helium balloons, The Guardian. Retrieved 28 May 2010
  21. ^ Karpel, Mark (August 2010). "The Drifters of Wind, Helium, and Hope" (PDF). Air & Space. Washington, DC, USA: Smithsonian Enterprises. pp. 24–31. ISSN 0886-2257. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
  22. ^ "Did Duval Beat Airbus Across the Channel?". AVweb. 10 July 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  23. ^ a b Bertorelli, Paul (9 July 2015). "Airbus' Asterisked Record". AVweb. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
  24. ^ a b "French pilot in tiny one-seater beats Airbus to first electric cross-Channel flight".
  25. ^ "British firm fly quadcopter over Channel for first time (Wired UK)". Wired UK. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  26. ^ Paris, Charles Bremner. "Frenchman flies a car to Dover".