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Bleriot XI Monoplane Photo: Robert Deering 10/18/2012 National Museum of the USAF Wright-Patterson AFB (FFO) Dayton, Ohio |
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Bleriot XI Monoplane The Bleriot monoplane was an important early aircraft because of its inventor's notable exploits and the aircraft's role in early training and reconnaissance. It first achieved fame in 1909 when its designer, Louis Bleriot of France, piloted one on the first flight across the English Channel. During the early days of World War I, both the French and British used two-seat Bleriots for reconnaissance behind German lines. By 1915, however, more advanced aircraft relegated the Bleriot to a training role. Many Americans who joined the British and French flying services prior to the U.S. entry into the war learned to fly in the Bleriot. Later, members of the U.S. Air Service sent to France for flight training received their first instruction in Bleriots with "clipped" wings that prevented them from taking off. At full throttle, the fledgling pilots bounced across the airfield, learning to control the rudder with their feet. Once they could keep the Bleriot on a fairly straight course, they advanced to an airplane that could leave the ground. Mr. Ernest C. Hall of Warren, Ohio, built the Bleriot on display in 1911 from factory drawings. With it, he taught himself to fly. Mr. Hall donated the aircraft to the museum in 1969. TECHNICAL NOTES: Engine: Anzani 3-cylinder of 20 hp Maximum speed: 45 mph Span: 28 ft. 6 in. Length: 25 ft. 3 in. Height: 8 ft. 4 in. Weight: 700 lbs. loaded Source: National Museum of the United States Air Force |
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Blériot Aircraft Louis Blériot was an engineer who had developed the first practical headlamp for cars and had established a successful business marketing them. In 1901 he had built a small unmanned ornithopter, but his serious involvement with aviation began in April 1905 when he witnessed Gabriel Voisin's first experiments with a floatplane glider towed behind a motorboat on the river Seine. A brief partnership with Voisin followed, but after the failure of the Blériot III and its modified version, the Blériot IV, the partnership was dissolved and Blériot set up his own company, "Recherches Aéronautique Louis Blériot" (Louis Blériot Aeronautical Research). Unlike the business started by Gabriel Voisin, which was a straightforward design and manufacturing concern with Voisin acting as aircraft designer, Bleriot's establishment was, as its name suggests, essentially a privately funded research establishment, employing various engineers and designers. Owing to this it is difficult to establish the extent of Blériot's involvement in the actual design of the aircraft which bear his name. Over the next few years a series of aircraft of varying configurations were produced, each one marginally more successful than its predecessor, and culminating in the Type XI with which he became famous for being the first to fly across the English Channel in 1909. In 1922 Blériot Aéronautique, which had been a private company became a limited-liability company, Blériot Aéronautique S.A.. Although a single company, aircraft were produced using both the Blériot and SPAD names, the former generally being used for the larger multi-engined aircraft, while the smaller single-engined aircraft bore the SPAD name, and it was these that were most successful. The only aircraft produced under the Blériot name to be produced in any quantity was the Type 127, initially designed in 1925 as the Type 117 escort fighter, and later adapted to become a bomber. 42 examples were bought by the French air force. The last aircraft built under the Blériot name was a large flying boat designed in response to a French Air Ministry requirement for an aircraft for a transatlantic mail service between Dakar and Natal in Brazil. The resulting aircraft, the Blériot 5190 first flew in August 1933, and this prototype, named the Santos-Dumont proved highly successful, and a number of passenger carrying variants were planned. In May 1935, after it had completed its twelfth Atlantic crossing, the French government ordered three more examples, only to cancel the order six weeks later. In October 1936 the French government nationalized all manufacturers engaged in the production of military aircraft, including Blériot Aéronautique. |
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