After various minor flights in the spring and summer of 1908, Blériot, on October 31st of that eventful year in aviation, determined to attempt a cross country voyage, as Farman had done the day before. As will be remembered, Farman had flown from Chalons to Rheims, above trees and houses, a distance of nearly 17 miles, thus achieving the first town-to-town flight in history. Blériot would improve that record at once, by flying in a closed circuit embracing several villages. His renowned cross-country flight was directed from Toury to Artenay, a village nine miles distant. Mounting his aëroplane _VIII-ter_, at mid afternoon, in presence of a large gathering, Blériot followed the course shown in Fig. 40. In the neighborhood of Artenay he landed for a few minutes. After some slight repairs to his magneto, he reascended, turned about and headed for home. Half way on his return course he stopped again for a few minutes, at the Village of Santilly; then readily reascended and flew to the neighborhood of his starting point. He thus traveled about 17 miles in a closed circuit. This performance, with that of Farman the day before, inaugurated the period of aërial voyages in heavier-than-air machines. It appealed so powerfully to the sentiment of the community that a monument was erected at Toury to commemorate the glorious achievement. PLATE XXV. [Illustration: BLÉRIOT FLYING OVER TOURY-ARTENAY CIRCUIT.] [Illustration: BLÉRIOT MONOPLANE _NO. VIII_.] [Illustration: BLÉRIOT MONOPLANE _NO. IX_.] [Illustration: FIG. 40.—BLÉRIOT’S TOURY-ARTENAY AËROPLANE CIRCUIT, 1908.] A fair view of the famous monoplane, in its renowned cross-country voyage, is presented in Plate XXV. It consisted of a single sustaining surface firmly attached to a long trussed spine mounted on three wheels, and carrying at its front end the gasoline motor and propeller, at its rear end two of the rudders, the third, or lateral, rudder being placed at the wing terminals. A part of the trussed frame was covered, to minimize the atmospheric resistance against the framing, pilot and engine. The vertical rudder at the rear turned the machine to right or left; the horizontal rear rudder controlled the elevation and pitching of the machine; the torsional wing tips controlled the lateral stability, and could be used to cant the aëroplane or check its listing, as in the Wright and Curtiss machines. The craft exhibited an easy poise in the air, and possessed good equilibrium, owing to its arrowlike structure and its three-rudder system of control. It was a strong rival of the biplanes previously noticed, and a herald of better things to come.