Aviation Historian Roger Codger
1909: Louis Bleriot
In 1909 Louis Bleriot was the first person to fly an airplane across the English Channel, a stretch of water about 20 miles (30 kilometres) across.
By doing this, Belriot won a prize of 1000 pounds, a very large amount in those days.
This video is in French, but shows actual film from Bleriot's crossing in 1909...
History of Flight
The water in the English
Channel is very cold.