100 years ago today, on July 30, 1914, Norwegian Tryggve Gran (1888 - 1980) became the first person to cross the North Sea in an airplane, a Bleriot XI. He flew from Cruden Bay in Scotland to Reve outside Stavanger in Norway, but his feat was entirely overshadowed by the outbreak of WWI.

This man was quite a character. He took part in Robert F. Scott's South Pole expedition, and was among the search team who found Scott and his team members frozen to death. In 1915 he travelled to France and England to study the use of airplanes in war, and joined the RFC, posing as a Canadian named Teddy Grant, as Norway was neutral in WWI. He is rumoured to have shot down Hermann G�ring.

Interesting indeed am I'm very curious about the rumor concerning Hermann Goering. I wonder if that rumor is based on the paint scheme of the plane that was shot down? I know Goering often used distinctive paint schemes on his scouts.

A lot of pilots used distinctive schemes. It makes you wonder how often someone else used a "marked" plane, though.



The Jedi Master

Right but I think Goering was one of those pilots like Udet, Nungesser and von Richtofen who used a unique paint scheme.

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