Designed by
Louis BlériotLouis Blériot was a French aviator, inventor and engineer. In 1909 he completed the first flight across a large body of water in a heavier-than-air craft, when he crossed the English Channel. For this achievement, he received a prize of GB£. He also is credited as the first person to make a...
and Raymond Saulnier (of
Morane-SaulnierAéroplanes Morane-Saulnier is a French aircraft manufacturer formed by Raymond Saulnier and the Morane Brothers Leon & Robert in October 1911...
), the
Blériot XI was a light and sleek
monoplaneA monoplane is an aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane. Since the late 1930s it has been the most common form for a fixed wing aircraft.-Types of monoplane:...
constructed of oak and poplar. The flying surfaces were covered with cloth. The original XI was designed and built in 1908 and made its public debut at a Paris airshow in December of that year. The aircraft's original configuration included a
R.E.P.Robert Albert Charles Esnault-Pelterie was a pioneering French aircraft designer and spaceflight theorist. He was born in Paris, the son of a textile industrialist...
engine spinning a four blade metal paddle type
propellerA propeller is a type of fan which transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and air or water is accelerated behind the blade...
which proved to be unsatisfactory.
Designed by
Louis BlériotLouis Blériot was a French aviator, inventor and engineer. In 1909 he completed the first flight across a large body of water in a heavier-than-air craft, when he crossed the English Channel. For this achievement, he received a prize of GB£. He also is credited as the first person to make a...
and Raymond Saulnier (of
Morane-SaulnierAéroplanes Morane-Saulnier is a French aircraft manufacturer formed by Raymond Saulnier and the Morane Brothers Leon & Robert in October 1911...
), the
Blériot XI was a light and sleek
monoplaneA monoplane is an aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane. Since the late 1930s it has been the most common form for a fixed wing aircraft.-Types of monoplane:...
constructed of oak and poplar. The flying surfaces were covered with cloth. The original XI was designed and built in 1908 and made its public debut at a Paris airshow in December of that year. The aircraft's original configuration included a
R.E.P.Robert Albert Charles Esnault-Pelterie was a pioneering French aircraft designer and spaceflight theorist. He was born in Paris, the son of a textile industrialist...
engine spinning a four blade metal paddle type
propellerA propeller is a type of fan which transmits power by converting rotational motion into thrust. A pressure difference is produced between the forward and rear surfaces of the airfoil-shaped blade, and air or water is accelerated behind the blade...
which proved to be unsatisfactory. In the Spring of 1909 Blériot decided to use a basically simple
AnzaniAnzani was an engine manufacturer founded by the Italian Alessandro Anzani , which produced proprietary engines for aircraft, cars, boats, and motorcycles in factories in Britain, France and Italy.-Overview:...
3 cylinder W-configuration engine (a central vertical cylinder with the other two at 60
o on either side and in the same plane) and a two blade Chauviere wooden propeller with much better results. Blériot could be assured of the
AnzaniAnzani was an engine manufacturer founded by the Italian Alessandro Anzani , which produced proprietary engines for aircraft, cars, boats, and motorcycles in factories in Britain, France and Italy.-Overview:...
3W engine running continuously for an hour. The Blériot XI also had some ground-breaking technologies such as castering
landing gearIn aviation, the undercarriage or landing gear is the structure that supports an aircraft on the ground and allows it to taxi.-Overview:...
, allowing for
crosswind landingA crosswind landing is a landing manoeuvre in which a significant component of the prevailing wind is perpendicular to the runway centerline.-Significance:Aircraft in flight are subject to the direction of the winds in which the aircraft is operating...
s.
Wing warpingWing warping was an early system for lateral control of an aeroplane. The technique, used and patented by the Wright brothers, consisted of a system of pulleys and cables to twist the trailing edges of the wings in opposite directions...
(instead of
aileronFor the band with a similar name, see The AileronsAilerons are hinged control surfaces attached to the trailing edge of the wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. The ailerons are used to control the aircraft in roll...
s) controlled the plane's roll. The
tail sectionEmpennage is an aviation term used to describe the tail portion of an aircraft. The empennage is also known as the tail or tail assembly; all three terms may be interchangeably used. The empennage gives stability to the aircraft and controls the flight dynamics of pitch and yaw...
of the Blériot XI included a horizontal stabilizer with an
elevatorElevators are control surfaces, usually at the rear of an aircraft, which control the aircraft's orientation by changing the pitch of the aircraft, and so also the angle of attack of the wing. In simplified terms, they make the aircraft nose-up or nose-down...
, and a
rudderA rudder is a device used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft,or other conveyance that moves through a fluid . On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw and p-factor and is not the primary control used to turn the airplane...
, but no
vertical stabilizerThe vertical stabilizers, or fins, of aircraft, missiles or bombs are typically found on the aft end of the fuselage or body, and are intended to reduce aerodynamic side slip....
. Unintentionally, Blériot added lateral stability to the plane by leaving the aft section of the fuselage uncovered. This created enough drag to add stability to the aircraft's flight characteristics.
The Channel Crossing
The plane gained immortality on July 25, 1909 when Louis Blériot successfully crossed the
English ChannelThe English Channel is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest, to only in the Strait of Dover...
from
CalaisCalais is a town in northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture...
to
DoverDover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; west of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...
in 36.5 minutes and using an Anzani engine designed by the Italian engineer Alessandro Anzani. For several days bad weather grounded Blériot and his opponents
Hubert LathamHubert Latham was a French aviation pioneer. He was the first person to attempt to cross the English Channel in an aeroplane. Due to engine failure during his first attempt to cross the Channel, he became the first person to land an aeroplane on a body of water.-Early life and exploits:Latham was...
who flew an Antoinette monoplane and
Count de LambertCharles, Count de Lambert was an early European aviator.De Lambert was the first person in France to be taught to fly by Wilbur Wright. The first lesson took place at Le Mans on 28 October 1908...
who brought two Wright Biplanes. That morning, Blériot awoke, albeit in a bad mood, reportedly due to previously scorching his foot on an engine exhaust, to conditions fair enough to fly in. When Blériot took off, Latham's camp was still quiet; Latham had overslept. Fighting fog and bad weather, Blériot did not even have a compass to guide his crossing. It is said that the Anzani engine made the flight only with the aid of a brief rain shower to cool it off. Letting the aircraft guide itself, Blériot eventually saw the grey line of the English coast. Approaching closer and closer he spotted a French reporter waving the French flag marking the landing spot. Blériot made a very rough "pancake" landing during which the
landing gearIn aviation, the undercarriage or landing gear is the structure that supports an aircraft on the ground and allows it to taxi.-Overview:...
collapsed, but he walked away, winning the £1000 prize awarded by the
Daily MailThe Daily Mail is a British daily tabloid newspaper. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper, The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982. Scottish and Irish editions of the paper were launched in...
.
Further development
After the successful crossing of the channel, there was a great demand for the Blériot XI. Blériot began to turn his attention from flying to the aircraft manufacturing business. By September 1909 Blériot had received orders for 101 aircraft. Later versions of the Blériot XI used various engines including more powerful
GnomeGnome et Rhône was a major French aircraft engine manufacturer. Between 1914 and 1918 they produced 25,000 of their 9-cylinder Delta and Le Rhône 110 hp rotary designs, while another 75,000 were produced by various licensees, powering the majority of aircraft in the first half of the war on both...
rotary engineThe rotary engine was an early type of internal-combustion engine, usually designed with an odd number of cylinders per row in a radial configuration, in which the crankshaft remained stationary and the entire cylinder block rotated around it...
s and updated
AnzaniAnzani was an engine manufacturer founded by the Italian Alessandro Anzani , which produced proprietary engines for aircraft, cars, boats, and motorcycles in factories in Britain, France and Italy.-Overview:...
engines. Blériot marketed the aircraft in four categories: trainers, sport or touring models, military aircraft, and racing or exhibition machines. Some notable models in the "
Type Onze" series:
Blerior XI (mod)
- This model was used to established a new European endurance record of 36 minutes 55 seconds on 13 July 1909, it also won a cross-country prize.
Blériot XI
Militaire
- Military single-seater, powered by a 50 h.p. Gnome engine.
Blériot XI
Artillerie
- Very similar to the Militaire version.
Blériot XI-2
- Standard tandem 2-seat touring, reconnaissance, training model, powered by a 70-hp (52-kW) Gnome 7B rotary piston engine.
Blériot XI-2 bis "
côté-à-côté"
- Larger, 2-seat model, with side-by-side seating.
Blériot XI-2
Hydroaeroplane
- Mounted on floats with a larger wing area.
Blériot XI-2
Artillerie
- Military 2-seat model, powered by a 70 h.p. (52-kW) Gnome rotary piston engine.
Blériot XI-2
Génie
- Military version, designed for easy transport, it could be broken down/reassembled in 25 minutes.
Blériot XI-2 BG
- Two-seat high-wing parasol model.
Blériot XI-3
- Tandem 3-seat model, powered by a twin-row 14-cylinder, 140 h.p. Gnome Double Lambda rotary engine.
Bleriot XI E1
- Single-seat training version.
Bleriot XI R1
- Rouleur or ground training aircraft, fitted with clipped wings.
Military use
The first Bleriot XIs entered military service in Italy and France in 1910 and a year later some of those were used in action by Italy in North Africa and in Mexico. The
Royal Flying CorpsThe Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery cooperation and photographic reconnaissance...
received its first Bleriots in 1912. During the early stages of
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, eight French, six British and six Italian squadrons operated various military versions of the aircraft, mainly in observation duties but also as trainers, and in case of single-seaters, as light bombers with a bomb load of up to 25 kg.
Famous Blériot Monoplane pilots
- Adolphe Pégoud
Adolphe Célestin Pégoud was a well known French aviator who became the first fighter ace.Pégoud served in the French Army from 1907 to 1913...
- First man to demonstrate the full aerobatic potential of the aeroplane, flying a loop with it in 1913. Together with John Domenjoz and Edmond Perreyon he successfully assembled what is thought of as the first air showAn air show is an event at which aviators display their flying skills and the capabilities of their aircraft to spectators in aerobatics. Air shows without aerobatic displays, having only aircraft displayed parked on the ground, are called "static air shows".Air shows are held for a variety of...
.
- Harriet Quimby
Harriet Quimby was an early American aviator and movie screenwriter. She was the first woman to gain a pilot license in the United States when, in 1911 she earned the first U.S. pilot's certificate issued to a woman by the Aero Club of America. Less than a year later, she became the first woman...
- First licensed female pilot in the United States. First female to solo the English Channel.
- Earle Ovington
Earle Lewis Ovington was an American aeronautical engineer, aviator and inventor, and served as a lab assistant to Thomas Edison. Ovington piloted the first official airmail flight in the United States in a Blériot XI in 1911. He carried a sack of mail from Garden City, New York to Mineola, New...
- First air-mail pilot in the United States.
- Alfred Leblanc
Alfred Leblanc, was a French balloonist and aviator who today is probably most famous for breaking the flight airspeed record in 1910 while flying the Blériot XI. His airspeed was calculated at 68.20 mph...
- Broke the flight airspeed record in 1910 while flying the Blériot XI. His speed was calculated at 68.20 mph (109.8 km/h).
- Jorge Chavez
Jorge Chávez Dartnell , also known as Géo Chávez, was a Franco – Peruvian aviator. At a young age, he achieved fame for his aeronautical feats...
- French-Peruvian aviator who flew through the Alps in 1910. The flight resulted in a fatal crash.
- John Domenjoz (1886-1951) - Performed aerobatics in South - Central & North America in 1914-1918. His Bleriot-XI is shown at the National Air & Space Museum, Washington http://www.pionnair-ge.com/spip1/spip.php?article186.
- Rene Simon(1885-19??) - In February 1911, the Mexican government engaged Rene Simonhttp://www.earlyaviators.com/esimonre.htm, a member of an aerial circus touring the south-western United States, to reconnoiter rebel positions near the border city of Juarez.http://www.sedena.gob.mx/index.php?id_art=343
- Tryggve Gran
Jens Tryggve Herman Gran was a Norwegian aviator, explorer and author.-Biography:Tryggve Gran was born in Bergen, Norway, growing up in an affluent family dominant in the shipbuilding industry. His father, a shipyard owner, died when Tryggve was only five years old...
- Norwegian aviator, first to cross the North Sea from Scotland to Norway in 1914.
Military operators
- Australian Flying Corps
- Central Flying School AFC
The Central Flying School RAAF is a Royal Australian Air Force training establishment, based at RAAF Base East Sale. It was formed in March 1913, and during the First World War it trained over 150 pilots, who fought in Europe and the Middle East....
at Point Cook, VictoriaPoint Cook is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 25 km south-west from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Wyndham...
Bulgaria
Greece
Italy
Mexico
: One only
Tryggve GranJens Tryggve Herman Gran was a Norwegian aviator, explorer and author.-Biography:Tryggve Gran was born in Bergen, Norway, growing up in an affluent family dominant in the shipbuilding industry. His father, a shipyard owner, died when Tryggve was only five years old...
´s
: Two aircraft only.
Romania
Serbia
Ottoman Empire
- Royal Flying Corps
The Royal Flying Corps was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of the First World War. During the early part of the war, the RFC's responsibilities were centred on support of the British Army, via artillery cooperation and photographic reconnaissance...
- No. 2 Squadron RFC
No. 2 Squadron of the Royal Air Force is currently one of two RAF squadrons operating in the reconnaissance role with the Tornado GR4A and GR4 and is based at RAF Marham, Norfolk....
- No. 3 Squadron RFC
No. 3 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operates the Typhoon F2 and T1 from RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire.-Foundation and First World War:No. 3 Squadron was formed at Larkhill on 13 May 1912 from No 2 Company of the Air Battalion Royal Engineers...
- No. 4 Squadron RFC
- No. 5 Squadron RFC
No. 5 Squadron of the Royal Air Force is the operator of the new Sentinel R1 Airborne STand-Off Radar aircraft and is based at RAF Waddington.-History:As No...
- No. 6 Squadron RFC
No. 6 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operated the Jaguar GR.3 from RAF Coltishall, Norfolk until April 2006, moving to RAF Coningsby and operating until May 2007....
- No. 9 Squadron RFC
- No. 10 Squadron RFC
No. 10 Squadron was a Royal Air Force squadron. The squadron served in a variety of roles over its 90 year history...
- No. 16 Squadron RFC
No. 16 Squadron is a flying squadron of the Royal Air Force. It formed in 1915 at Saint-Omer to carry out a mixture of offensive patrolling and reconnaissance and was disbanded in 1919 with the end of the First World War...
- No. 23 Squadron RFC
No. 23 Squadron of the Royal Air Force operates the Boeing E-3D Sentry from RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire. The RAF Airborne Warning And Control System fleet is made up of seven Sentry AEW1 with the aircraft being pooled between 23 Sqn and No. 8 Squadron.-History:No...
- No. 24 Squadron RFC
Survivors
A flyable 1909-built Blériot XI, with British civil registration
G-AANG, is on display at the
Shuttleworth CollectionThe Shuttleworth Collection is an aeronautical and automotive museum located at the Old Warden airfield in Bedfordshire, England. It is one of the most prestigious in the world due to the variety of old and well preserved aircraft.- History :...
, Old Warden, England. It is the world's oldest airworthy airplane. Another restored and flyable Bleriot XI, with US civil registration
N60094, exists at the
Old Rhinebeck AerodromeThe Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome is a museum of World War I aircraft and antique automobiles that is located in Red Hook, New York, USA.-History:...
, believed to be only three weeks newer than the Shuttleworth example by date of manufacture. The ORA example was originally built at the Bleriot factory in France, marked with factory serial number 56.
Specifications (Blériot XI)
External links