October 31, 1908 in the sky: Louis Blériot made a historic flight

History of aviation – October 31, 1908. The French air pioneer Louis Blériot is at the heart of aeronautical news on this Saturday, October 31, 1908, the date on which he will distinguish himself in the sky by carrying out a round-trip city flight a city. Which constitutes a first in the history of aviation, never before had such a flight been carried out. Henry Farman had already signed up for a city-to-city flight the day before, October 30, 1908, but he was content to move from Bouy to Reims, without making the return trip.

Louis Blériot, on the other hand, made the return trip, during his air raid on October 31, 1908, taking off from Toury to reach Artenay, before retracing the route in the opposite direction. Having left at 3 p.m., he will be back around 5 p.m., having covered a distance of 26 kilometers.

Blériot will carry out his flight at the controls of a monoplane, a Blériot VIII Ter aircraft with an Antoinette engine capable of developing 50 horsepower. An engine which will be the weak link: in fact, on two occasions, near Artenay and at Santilly, the aviator will be forced to stop because of an engine failure, the latter showing much too much heat.