Editing Charles Rolls (section)

==Pioneer aviator==
[[File:Explaining His Air Ship to the Hon. C.S. Rolls, Acervo do Museu Paulista da USP.webm|left|400px|In 1901, with [[Santos Dumont]].]]
Rolls was a pioneer aviator and initially, balloonist,<ref name="BBC">{{cite web|title=Charles Rolls|publisher=[[BBC]]|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southeast/halloffame/historical_figures/charles_rolls.shtml|access-date=29 June 2011|archive-date=24 July 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120724174234/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southeast/halloffame/historical_figures/charles_rolls.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref> making over 170 balloon ascents. In 1903 he won the [[James Gordon Bennett Jr.|Gordon Bennett]] Gold Medal for the longest single flight time.

By 1907 Rolls' interest turned increasingly to flying and he tried to persuade Royce to design an aero engine. He became the second Briton to go up in an aeroplane. Piloted by [[Wilbur Wright]] their flight on 8 October 1908 from Camp d'Auvours, eleven kilometres east of [[Le Mans]], lasted four minutes and twenty seconds.<ref>[http://www.cabangu.com.br/pai_da_aviacao/9-luso/wrigth/Flight%20Log%201908%20Camp%20d%27Auvours,%20Le%20Mans,%20France.htm "U.S Centennial of Flight Commission: Wilbur & Orville Wright: A Chronology"].Flight Log 1908 Camp d'Auvours, Le Mans, France.Retrieved 25 July 2018</ref> He bought one of six [[Wright Model A|Wright Flyer]] aircraft built by [[Short Brothers]] under licence from the [[Wright Brothers]] and from early October 1909<ref name="The_Magic_Of_A_Name"/> made more than 200 flights. Founder in 1901 with [[Frank Hedges Butler]] of the ballooning club that became the [[Royal Aero Club]]<ref>John Blake.[http://www.royalaeroclub.co.uk/history-and-origins.php "A Brief History Of The Royal Aero Club."] The Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 24 July 2018</ref> in March 1910 he was the second person they licensed to fly an aeroplane.<ref name="12March1910">{{Cite journal |date=March 1910  | title=The Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom – Official Notices to Members | journal=Flight | pages=185 | url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1910/1910%20-%200189.html | access-date=29 June 2011}} – 12 March 1910</ref> 

Rolls became the first man to make a non-stop double crossing of the [[English Channel]] by plane, taking 95 minutes on 2 June 1910.<ref name="BBC" /> For this feat, which included the first eastbound aerial crossing of the English Channel, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Aero Club.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.royalaeroclub.org/awardGold.htm | title=Royal Aero Club Awards & Trophies | publisher=The Royal Aero Club of the United Kingdom | access-date=29 June 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716165641/http://www.royalaeroclub.org/awardGold.htm | archive-date=16 July 2011 | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref group=note>[[Louis Bleriot]] on 25 July 1909 and [[Jacques de Lesseps|Count Jacques de Lesseps]] on 21 May 1910 crossed West-bound before him</ref> There is a [[Statue of Charles Rolls, Monmouth|statue in Monmouth to commemorate the flight]] and another, by [[Kathleen Scott]], in [[Dover]].
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