WINGS OVER THE SEA : ' ARE LANDING PLACES 

 NECESSARY FOR THE COMMERCIAL AERIAL 

 CROSSING OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC r 



By Louis Bl^riot 



[With 5 plates] 



The recent progress of commercial aviation : the speedy trans- 

 continental lines in the United States, the renewing from the ground 

 up of the equipment of the great European transport companies, the 

 success of the London-Melbourne route, as well as the regular cross- 

 ings of the South Atlantic — all this shows that development is accel- 

 erating and that aviation is moving with gi^eat strides toward its 

 final goal, supremacy in the field of rapid transport over great 

 distances. 



Everyone remembers the .magnificent flight of Costes and Bellonte, 

 September 1 and 2, 1930, one of the finest performances of the times, a 

 response to the visit of Lindbergh and the first flight from Paris to 

 New York, made under extremely difficult conditions. I salute also 

 Rossi and Codos, who in the Joseph LeBrix^ in 1933, succeeded again 

 in crossing the North Atlantic, carrying a useful load of 2 tons. It is 

 to them and to Bossoutrot that I owe the present list of honors of 

 my old firm — world records in a straight line and in a closed circuit, 

 and crossings of the North and South Atlantic in both directions. 

 Let me express here my recognition and my admiration for your 

 intrepid courage. 



I recall that it was in 1919 that the Atlantic was first crossed in 

 an airplane by Alcock and Brown. You will remember the flight 

 of Lindbergh, coming in a straight line from New York in 1927, 

 and today we can say that the list of pilots who have succeeded in 

 this exploit exceeds by far the hundred mark, the Italians having 

 crossed in a squadron with a personnel of 100. 



Many of these heroes have visited me, and it is after conversing 

 with them that I have decided, in order to do my best to aid them, to 



1 Translated by permission from I'Agrophile, 43« ann., no. 3, March 1935. 



2 This matter has been made the subject of a conference at tbe Aero Club of France. 



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