Who piloted the first flight across the English channel in 1909?
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
Marie Marvingt d'Or" (Gold Medal) "for all sports", the only multi-sport medal they have ever awarded. Marie Marvingt ascended as a passenger in a free-flight balloon for the first time in 1901. Then, on 19 July 1907, she piloted one. In September 1909, she made her first solo flight as a balloon pilot. On 26 October 1909 Marvingt became the first woman to pilot a balloon across the North Sea and English Channel from Europe to England. For this flight, her balloon was called "L'Étoile Filante" ("The Shooting Star"). She won prizes for ballooning in 1909 and 1910. She earned her balloon