Poste Aérienne
In 1908 the Daily Mail launched a competition offering a prize of £500 to the first pilot who flew an aeroplane across the English Channel; but an entire year flew by without anyone taking up the challenge. In response the Daily Mail doubled the prize money to £1,000 in the following year; and on 25 July 1909 Louis Blériot claimed the cash after a flight from Calais to Dover at a speed of 45 mph and a total journey time of 38 minutes. With the Daily Mail slightly ahead of the pack, newspapers throughout Britain hailed the flight as “a brilliant achievement”, “a feat that marks the beginning of a new era”, “a continuation of French superiority in Aeronautics” and “a national triumph for our Continental neighbour!”
In France, where, London announced that French and Swiss Aero Clubs had united to stage an international aviation week to take place in June 1910, with its main event a 41-mile race across Lake Geneva, from Switzerland to France.
