Page 92 - KBHA Bulletin 10

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seconds and covered a distance of 852 ft. It was a momentous day and it inaugurated the
Age of Flight.

The years 1904 – 08 saw further development of the Wright machines and also the first

flights in Europe. These occurred in September 1906 in Sweden and France in a

machine of box-kite construction. The main constructors and fliers in France at this time
were Henry Farman, Louis Bleriot, Santos-Dumont, Gabriel and Charles Voisin, Ernest

Archdeacon, Louis Delagrange, F. Ferber, and Esnault-Pelterie. The Voisin machine, in
particular, became the prototype plane in France and in it Henry Farman established a

sequence of duration records during 1908, which promoted enthusiasm for flight. In
1908 Bleriot and Esnault-Pelterie constructed the monoplane and also perfected the

joystick for lateral and longitudinal control. Their planes were made largely of metal.

On 25 July 1909 Bleriot crossed the Channel in just over half an hour and won the
£1000 prize offered by the Daily Mail. The other major event of 1909 was the Rheims

Aviation Meeting in late August. It was the first of its kind and was attended by a

quarter of a million people. Nearly 40 aircraft were present and new distance, height,
duration and speed records were established. Similar gatherings took place in

subsequent years in numerous countries, drawing huge crowds and seeing new records
being set in short succession.

The year 1911 marked a transition in flying. What had begun as a sport for the

adventurous was soon seen to have other possibilities. For example, on 9 September it

was tested as a form of transport when a tentative air mail service was inaugurated from
Hendon Airfield, London, to Windsor, on the occasion of the coronation of King

George V. But a darker prospect had also become apparent: the aeroplane’s potential as
a weapon of war. Then, in 1912, Wilbur Wright died unexpectedly from typhoid and

this date is reckoned to coincide with the end of the first phase of aeroplane
development. The ensuing years saw greater standardization of designs based on

sounder aerodynamic principles, and there was much further innovation during the

coming Great War. At this time France led the world in all aspects of aviation, and its