Modern Era · Europe · Technology

1909

Bleriot crosses the English Channel

July 25, 1909

In a wood-and-fabric monoplane he had built himself, Louis Bleriot flew thirty-seven minutes from Calais to Dover, hopping from wave crest to wave crest with no compass and a sputtering engine. Britain's great moat had just been jumped. An English newspaper ran the headline: England no longer an island. The military implications were not lost on anyone in the War Office.

More from 1909 Modern Era

In context

Also in 1909 (2 other events on record)

Peary claims the North Pole · North America · Exploration
Adana massacre · Middle East · Politics

Before and after in Europe

Before: October 6, 1908: Austria annexes Bosnia
After: May 6, 1910: Edward VII dies, George V takes throne

Before and after in Technology

Before: 1908: Oil discovered in Persia
After: 1913: Ford opens the moving assembly line

Era

Modern Era (1901–2000), one of 590 events from that era on Saeculum.