Ernest Willows
From Ffaith
In 1910, just seven years after the Wright brothers' pioneering aviation work, Cardiff born balloonist Ernest Willows, the son of a wealthy dentist achieved the first of several world records. Willows developed a way of powering a hot air balloon using movable propellers. For the first time balloons with rigid frames - later known as dirigibles - could be steered.
The breakthrough saw him undertake the first crossing of the Bristol Channel by air on his way to London. Willows' finest moment, came when he became the first person to cross the English Channel from London to Paris.
His life was cut short in 1926 in a ballooning accident in Bedford at the age of 40.