View source for Daily Mail's $5000 prize for crossing the Channel

{{Event
|Event names=Daily Mail's £1,000 ($5000) prize for crossing the Channel
|Event type=competition
|Country=GB
|Locations=Calais-Dover
|Start date=1908-10
|Tech focus=airplane
}}

A £500 prize was first announced by Lord Northcliffe in 1908 and subsequently doubled after no attempts were made.<ref> "[http://www.wright-brothers.org/History_Wing/Wright_Story/Showing_the_World/Crossing_the_Channel/Crossing_the_Channel.htm Crossing the Channel]", ''Wright Brothers Aeroplane Company Virtual Museum''</ref> (This and other challenges by the ''Daily Mail'' had been ridiculed as impossible.)<ref>Paul Harris, "[http://gdc.gale.com/assets/files/daily_mail/the_story_of_the_daily_mail.pdf The Story of the Daily Mail]", ''Associated Newspapers'', 2013.</ref>

[[Hubert Latham]] attempted the transit on 19 July, 1909, but was forced to make a water landing.<ref>"[https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1909/1909%20-%200434.htm The Splendid Failure]", ''Flight'', 24 July 1909.</ref> Damage to the airplane prevented another attempt.<ref>[[Zahm, 1911, Aerial Navigation]], pp. 289–290.</ref>

[[Louis Blériot]] won the prize on 25 July, 1909.<ref>"[https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1909/1909%20-%200455.html Blériot's Cross-Channel Flight]", ''Flight'', 31 July 1909.</ref> The flight took 40 minutes at an estimated speed of 45mph.<ref>[[Berriman, 1913, Aviation]], p. 232.</ref>

Latham made another attempt two days later; he was forced to make another water landing, and injured his face.<ref>[[Zahm, 1911, Aerial Navigation]], p. 292.</ref>

The event became part of the narrative about [[military]] applications of aircraft in the lead up to [[the war]]. English newspapers [was the ''Daily Mail'' among them?] called attention to the possibility of aerial invasion.<ref>"Startled: Flight of Blériot Jars Complacency of John Bull: 'We Are no Longer an Island,' Cries Frightened Press of Great Britain, and Jubilant Papers of France Echo Statement—Honors Many Await Successful Aviator, and Crowds Give Him Ovations." ''Los Angeles Times'' 27 July 1909.</ref>

=== Sources ===
<references />

=== Links ===
* Boyne (http://www.wingsoverkansas.com/boyne/article.asp?id=268)
* "Blériot Flies the Channel: And Wins the Daily Mail £1000 Prize", ''Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines''