Mystery of Didsbury Explained by Bleriot Who Tested His Machine There
Calgary, Oct. 6. -- The Daily News says : That the first of the Bleriot monoplanes, the inventor of which was the first man to cross the English channel from France to England in his flying machine, was quietly tested and tried out on a huge piece of Alberta prairie, sixty miles west of Didsbury, is a story which has just come to light.
Andre Bleriot is the man who invented his monoplane and made of it such a successful flying machine, and at the time of its first trial he was with his two brothers on their ranch near Didsbury. According to the story told by several Didsbury men, he had been working quietly on his machine for some time, and immediately he found he was successful, he took his plans and went to France.
Bleriot is a Frenchman and his two brothers are still on the ranch near Didsbury. They are reputed to be well off, and one of them is a French count. They began ranching on homesteads and pre-emptions, sixty miles west of Didsbury, some six years ago, and are frequent visitors to Calgary. It is the intention of Andre Bleriot to establish a factory for the construction of his machines in Canada, and Montreal has been picked as the headquarters in Canada. He reached there a few days ago and will probably come west to visit his brothers in a few weeks.
It will be remembered that about one year ago paragraphs appeared in some of the provincial newspapers to the effect that a mysterious flying machine or airship had been seen around Stettler and Didsbury. It has now transpired that this was the Bleriot monoplane, and it was the inventor trying out his machine before to France with it.