1910 and Jacques de Lesseps Channel Flight
After Bleriot's historic 1909 flight, 1910 marked more aviation firsts in East Kent, with not only Jacques de Lesseps' flight in May, and the Hon Charles Rolls - a there and back flight in June, but the first passenger flight across the Channel by Euro-American flier John Moisant in August.
Jacques de Lesseps crossed the Channel from Calais in his Bleriot aircraft and won the Ruinart Prize, on May 21, 1910, being only the second man to fly the Channel. Bleriot was denied this prize on a technicality not having registered the date he planned to fly! Jacques de Lesseps was the 10th son of Count Ferdinand de Lesseps, originator of the Suez Canal. Ferdinand de Lesseps married twice and had total of 17 children, (5 from his first marriage, 6 boys and 6 girls from his second. Jacques was born in 1883, when his father was almost 80.]
Two local papers (Dover Times and Dover Express) reported the success of Jacques de Lesseps' flight across the Channel on 21 May 1910. There appeared, across three columns the third week of May 1910, under a small headline "Flying the Channel - De Lesseps wins the Ruinart Prize.
"For the second time the Channel has been crossed by aeroplane - a Bleriot monoplane - this time by Jacques de Lesseps, youngest son of Ferdinand De Lesseps, the engineer who designed and supervised the construction of the Suez Canal. He made the crossing on Saturday afternoon, inspite of the adverse conditions of fog and wind which most people thought too dangerous, particularly in view of a fearful thunderstorm earlier in the day.
"He took off from Les Baraques after there was a break in the weather about 3.30pm, after first alerting his escort craft, a French torpedo destroyer "Escopette."
"I rose at once to a great height," he said, "and made for the destroyer lying about 2 miles out, but the destroyer, although going at top speed, couldn't keep pace with me and in less than 10 minutes I had outdistanced her.
"My machine worked beautifully from the start and at one point I reached about 2,700 feet. There was no vibration. There was a blue sky overhead, and the sea beneath sparkled like diamonds. Then I ran into mist which became denser and denser. For a time I saw nothing but fog, like a great white sea beneath me. The monoplane was travelling about a mile a minute towards the cliffs of the English coast.
"The compass was useless and I saw nothing but a white blanket beneath me for a time, until I sighted the port of Dover. I kept on until I could see the stone Bleriot monument marking the spot where he landed when he won the Daily Mail prize last year for the first Channel flight.
"I turned to the right and began to plane down, but then discovered my first tank of petrol was all but exhausted, and the second tank was not feeding it. I had to plane down from a height of 2,000 ft and could no longer rely on the engine to help me. I saw a bare field free of trees and houses and judged it a good spot to land. I was 35 minutes in the air.
"Immediately I landed two ladies ran out from the farm and greeted me with true British hospitality. They were very nice to me."
This landing was at Wanston Court Farm, managed by two ladies, the Misses Hewlett and Wallan. But the property adjoined Reach Court Farm, belonging to Mr Laslett, the plane having landed in a field of sanfoin he owned, causing damage estimated at £4, which Jacques promptly paid. A witness to the landing was farm labourer William Chapman, aged 80, who said "It's the first aeroplane I've ever seen. He came down on the field quite beautiful!"
The Dover Express reported that an estimated crowd of about 50 people had been waiting on the cliffs hoping to see De Lesseps, nearer Dover, but soon made for Wanston Farm when they heard the sound of the aircraft approaching in the mist, determined to see Bleriot and its pilot. First to pick it out was a boy from the Duke of York's School.
Once the aircraft had been spotted "a most amusing and of course exciting chase across country at once began, soldiers, boys, middle-aged, and elderly men, young men, and ladies, all running helter-skelter in search of the aeroplane." Most thought it had landed just beyond Langdon Fort, but the trail was a good two miles further, before, on topping a ridge overlooking Wanston Court Farm, they could see the plane in the middle of a field. By time they saw De Lesseps, aged about 32, the tall dark-haired man had changed from his flying clothes and was wearing a dark frock coat and trousers and white "muffler." He looked like a professional man going to the office and was surrounded by journalists.
These were joined by the Hon Charles Rolls - soon to make his own double Channel crossing -- who had dashed over from his Swingate airfield base to congratulate Jacques on his successful flight.
Many of the enthusiasts who continued to arrive on the scene had been led to believe it was to be a there-and-back flight and were to be disappointed, although De Lesseps did say he had, at one stage, hoped to fly both ways for the fun of it.
In addition to his Ruinart prize De Lesseps also won £100 which had been offered by the Daily Mail newspaper for the first airman to duplicate Bleriot's effort.
Centenary celebration 21 May 2010:
This was celebrated by two Bleriot XI replicas (one belonging to Pascal Kremer of Luxembourg, piloted by himself or by Goy Feltes; one owned by the Dutch Earlybirds Foundation, in Holland, piloted by Henk van Hoorn) crossing the Channel in perfect weather, landing at The Gliding Club, Waldershare. During the celebrations and reception at St Margaret's in the afternoon, the pilots met Michael de Lesseps, grandson of Jacques, and members of the Clayson family of St Margaret's whose family met Jacques de Lesseps when he landed at Wanston Farm in 1910. Also present were the present owners of Wanston Farm, Chairman of the parish council, and local historians. The party also had time to visit the Bleriot Memorial during the day.
We think you may be interested to see this short video film taken by Netfora - of Pascal's flight to Dover on 21st May - a most wonderful view of the white cliffs, Dover Castle, etc. landing at Waldershare, 100 years to the day of Lesseps' 1910 flight:
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Also there is another video of the celebrations on Dover Society History Scrapbook website:
http://doversociety.homestead.com/JacquesdeLesseps.html
[caption to photo on the website: Jacques De Lesseps pictured, left, hatless, next to his aircraft at Wanstone Court Farm on May 21, 1910, with local residents, soldiers, a press photographer on left with a camera, and a bearded coastguard officer on the extreme right. The original photo was a Dover Express copy, but taken by Whorwells of Bench Street, Dover]
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