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