The earliest flight across the English Channel by an airplane was made on Sunday, July 25, 1909, when Louis Bleriot (1872-1936), of France, flew his Blériot XI monoplane, powered by a 23-hp Anzani engine, from Les Baraques, France to a meadow near Dover Castle, England in 36 1/2 min after taking off at 4:41 am.
The first crossing of the North Atlantic by air was made by Lt-Cdr (later Rear Admiral) Albert C. Read (1887-1967) and his crew (Stone Hinton, Rodd, Rhoads and Breese) in an 84-knot Curtiss flying boat NC-4 of the US Navy from Trepassey Harbour, Newfoundland Canada via the Azores, to Lisbon, Portugal, May 16 to 27, 1919. The whole flight of 4,717 miles originating from Rockaway Air Station, Long Island on May 8, required 53 hours 58 min terminating at Plymouth, England on May 31. The Newfoundland-Azores leg (1,200 miles) took 15 hours min at 81.7 knots.














