FRENCHMAN Louis Bleriot became the first man to fly across the English Channel a century ago today.
And, today, his feat will be replicated thousands of times – by BA, Virgin, EasyJet, Emirates, you name it.
Oh, and by a Swede, who’s using a reproduction of Bleriot’s original Bleriot XI plane.
Only, with… the original engine.
Yup: reproduce all the stuff that’s not actually so important to keeping you up in the air, such as the seatbelts, the dials, the aerofoils, the colourful lettering. The begoggled teddybear. But, the one component you need to keep going so that you can? Heck, just, bang in the original one. Well, it still runs, doesn’t it?
Swede Mikael Carlson is clearly confident. Like every good mechanical engineer, he knows it’s been looked after (even if most of them who did so are now dead). Knows its provenance. Has seen it, heard it, checked it over with his mechanic’s eye, stared into its oil filler cap, and reckons it will be fine.
I can understand such confidence. What, am I similarly foolhardy and battily brave? No, I’ve another mechanical fascination sitting on my drive this weekend – the million-mile Mobil 1 BMW 3 Series.
I’ll explain in depth all about this later – the headliner is that it’s done 1,000,000 miles (plus) on the original engine. Which (and I’ve just checked) still starts, sounds and serenely soothes just like the syrupy-smooth original.
Carlson, got a spare seat in the Bleriot? I’ll blast down in the BMW for a ride…
