First flight over English Channel, 1909. Postcard of the Frenchman Louis Bleriot's aircraft flying past the cliffs of Dover, England, in the first powered flight across the English Channel, on 25 July 1909. The flight went from Baraques in France to the English town of Dover and lasted about 30 minutes. Bleriot (1872-1936) flew in an aircraft of his own design, the Type XI. This is a French postcard from around 1910.