English Channel Dover and Boulogne but later also Ramsgate (Pegwell Bay) to Calais. The journey time Dover to Boulogne was roughly 35 minutes, with six trips per day at peak times. The fastest crossing of the English Channel by a commercial car-carrying hovercraft was 22 minutes, recorded by the "Princess Anne" MCH SR-N4 Mk3 on 14 September 1995, The first aircraft to cross the Channel was a balloon in 1785, piloted by Jean Pierre François Blanchard (France) and John Jeffries (US). Louis Blériot (France) piloted the first airplane to cross in 1909. The sport of Channel swimming traces its origins to the
Hot air ballooning Great Race" (1965 Comedy), the opening sequence features a hot air balloon competition between The Great Leslie and Professor Fate. "Five Weeks in a Balloon", published in 1863, was Jules Verne first acclaimed novel which made him famous and propelled his career as a novelist. The heroes travel across Africa from Zanzibar to Saint-Louis in a gas balloon, not a hot air balloon. In "Something Wicked This Way Comes" (1962) by Ray Bradbury, a hot air balloon with the Dust Witch is sent to find out and mark the location of the boys' homes. In Phillip Pullman's trilogy "His Dark