on 8 october 1908 at camp d'auvours, france, 11 kilometers east of le mans, griffith flew as a passenger with wilbur wright. the flight lasted for 4 minutes and 22 seconds. in doing so, he became the first englishman to go up in an aeroplane. prior to this, griffith had been a doubter about the chances of heavier-than-air machines being at all successful for flying. the wright's also had many other doubters in europe before those demonstrations in france. but after this flight in 1908, and the demonstrations by them, he became a close friend and supporter of the wright brothers and made many trips to the united states to visit them. griffith gained his pilot licence in 1914.