History of Bleriot XI

The Bleriot XI was one of the first infamous monoplanes. The system was primitive by today's standards, and by the early 1900s it became its own standard. The type had limited service capacity during the opening salvos of World War I and gained notoriety across the English Channel under the direct control of Blelio himself.

The aircraft will always be remembered for its stable design and use of "wing warp" for roll control. Regardless, the Bleriot XI helps cement Louis Bleriot's legacy in aviation history.

The design of the Bleriot XI is credited to Louis Bleriot (1/7/1872 - 2/8/1936) and Raymond Saulnier. Under the Morane-Saulnier banner, Saulnier rose to prominence in the aviation industry. Bleriot, an engineer by training, is credited with inventing the car headlight.

With the funding of his successful searchlight business, he began his own working research on the concept of tow glider flight, and in the process began to develop his love of aviation. After a brief partnership with Gabriel Voisin (another aircraft engineer whose name preceded some of his own WW1 fighter design names), Bleriot formed his own airline and initially produced the unsuccessful Bleriot V. The Bleriot V becomes the first from Louis Bleriot Design to achieve continuous flight.

The VII was fitted with a covered fuselage, followed closely behind, more in line with the design of future front-mounted aircraft. The plane is pristine from start to finish and looks like an imaginary children's plane made out of a cardboard box. The fuselage is a near-perfect rectangle, while the main wings are mounted low and have a pronounced dihedral (upward angle from root to tip).

Additionally, this design features a more conventional fin (tail) with a low-mounted vertical fin and large horizontal stabilizers with fin elevators. The pilot sits in an open-air cockpit behind the forward fuselage engine. The engine drives a four-bladed propeller with wide, tapered blades. Power is provided by a single water-cooled 8-cylinder 50 hp Antoinette piston engine. Cruising speed is 50 miles per hour.

Bleriot and his VII completed a total of six flights before being lost in an accident in December 1907.

The Bleriot IX was an experimental monoplane design with a 100 hp Antoinette engine and a branch of the VII, but with a tandem horizontal stabilizer surface. This design managed to make several brief "jumps" on the ground, but did not achieve sustained flight. The Bleriot X is another concept attempt by Louis Bleriot, following more of the American Wright Brothers design path, with a "propeller" style propeller/motor arrangement and biplane wings. The construction of this design was never completed.

However, the early attempts (and these very important failures that followed) proved to be the basis needed to produce the first operational monoplane in the Beriot XI, which achieved its maiden flight on January 23, 1909. The system was presented at the Exposition de la Locomotion Aerienne Show in Paris in December 1909.

Louis Bleriot completed his first flight across the English Channel, helping to test his creation. The flight was part of a competition organised by London's Daily Mail, with a ?1,000 prize. On July 13, 1909, Louis Bleriot and his XI team set a new European long distance record by taking on two other potential winners in the air, lasting approximately 36 minutes and 55 seconds, From Les Barraques, France to Dover, UK, 36.6 km away. Rival Hubert Latham was forced into the sea after an engine failure, while a third competitor, Charles de Lambert's test flight crashed with injuries. Bleriot landed his XI and won the ?1,000 prize, although bad weather played a role in the rough landing, causing damage to the propeller and landing gear.

Nonetheless, Blelio's legacy is sealed as "the man who crossed the English Channel" for the rest of the story.

Tour

The design of the Bleriot XI seems completely outdated by today's standards. By the early 20th century, however, the system had become one of the first truly stable monoplane airframes available to aspiring pilots. The pilot sits in an open-air cockpit behind the engine mounts, which are located at the very front of the fuselage and produce between 25 and 140 horsepower depending on the engine used.

The engine drives a simple but chiseled two-bladed wooden Chauviere propeller (a four-bladed metal propeller was used in the original design, but did not fit the design).

At the very bottom of the fuselage are two bicycle-style wheels that serve as the main landing gear. The landing gear adds a skid or third set of wheels amidships. While the front of the fuselage is covered in fabric, the rear is completely exposed, showing the basic internal layout of the skeleton's struts and cables, and directly (albeit unintentionally) improving lateral stability by increasing drag.

The tail is detailed by a separate fabric-covered vertical tail plane serving as the rudder (though no vertical stabilizers) and a horizontal plane containing the stabilizers and elevators located near the underside of the rear fuselage. The main wing is mounted high on the fabric-covered section of the fuselage and has a pronounced airfoil - thicker at the leading edge, relatively thin at the trailing edge - that uses "wing buckling" rather than ailerons to achieve roll.

The wing system droops from front to back (viewed from the side), and the shape is naturally pleasing. The cockpit is very functional, with the operator basically sitting in an open box, although his vision is arguably excellent considering his unobstructed view.

If anything other than the main wing and engine blocked his all-round view, it was the struts mounted directly in front of his position to support the main wing. The general structure is oak and poplar, covered in fabric.

Overall, the Bleriot XI is a sign of an era where aviation is arguably just "taking off" and its original but practical approach to many flying problems is being neatly solved.

War Services

Military service for the Bleriot XI began sometime in 1910, when the aircraft joined the French and Italian Air Forces. The British started using their Bleriot XI in 1912. By the time of World War I, the Blelio still retained some military value, and thus saw its two-seater form enter service - albeit limited - primarily as an observation and trainer aircraft (although some were used as "" "Light" bombers). Observation became an important part of keeping a close eye on enemy operations, often forcing these crews to operate their weak points above and behind dangerous enemy fronts.

Naturally, as technology improved during the war, the need for bleriots decreased to the point that the system was completely relegated to a training role.

Some Bleriot trainers have their wings clipped to prevent them from flying completely in the air. This allows aspiring pilots to focus on mastering rudder control with short "jumps" along the ground, and focus on getting the plane to fly in a straight line -- for safety's sake.

After completing these flightless birds with clipped wings, pilots will be assigned to flyable aircraft as a reward.

Many American pilots who were registered for service with the French and British Air Services (before America's direct involvement in World War I) had their first experience with power-heavy-air flying with these machines. As the U.S. entered the war at full speed in 1918, U.S.

Air Force personnel joined these nascent aviators for bleriots training.

Other

By 1913, Louis Bleriot eventually headed the production consortium of Societe pour les Appareils Deperdussin, later becoming its president in 1914 and changing the name to Societe Pour L'Aviation et ses Derives (or "SPAD" for short) ). SPAD produced some of the best fighter designs of World War I and eventually helped wrest control of the skies from the Germans.

While visiting Newark Airport in the United States in 1934, Louis Bleriot predicted that there would be commercial overseas flights by 1938. Unfortunately, he won't see this become a reality, as he died on August 2, 1936 of a heart attack that took his life, Paris, France - to complete the legacy of this French hero. Donated in 1936 and named after him, the Luis Bleriot Medal has since been awarded to individuals who participated in record-breaking flights.

The award continues to this day.

Bleriot XI Specification

Basic

Year:
1909
Status:
Retired, out of service
Staff:
1

Production

[850 units]:
Louis Bleriot - France

Roles

- Reconnaissance (RECCE)

- X-Plane / Development

- Education

Dimensions

Length:

25.00 ft (7.62 m)

Width:

7.79m

Height:

8.83 feet (2.69 m)

Weight

Curb Weight:

230 kg

Performance

1 x Anzani 3 cylinder fan engine or 1 x 120 degree cylinder angle and a true radial engine from 22 to 25 hp.

Performance

Maximum Speed:

47 mph (75 km/h; 40 knots)

Armor

No.

Changes

Bleriot V - The first flying Bleriot design.

Bleriot VII - Antoinette 8-cylinder 50hp water-cooled front engine driving a four-blade propeller system; monoplane; tail; made six flights but lost contact in an accident in 1907.

Bleriot IX - Based on the VII, but with a tandem horizontal stabilizer surface.

Bleriot X - Experimental airframe based on the Wright Brothers design; double layer; never completed.

Bleriot XI (mod) - Development Racer

Bleriot XI Militaire - Single seat military model; equipped with 50 hp Gnome engine.

Bleriot XI Artillery - Single seat military model; responsible for artillery observation.

Bleriot XI-2 - Two-seat tandem model; for training and touring; equipped with 1 Gnome 7B series 70 HP rotary engine.

Bleriot XI-2 to "cote-a-cote" - similar to XI-2, but larger overall; two-seat model.

Bleriot XI-2 Seaplane - Model of a seaplane; increased wing area.

Bleriot XI-2 Artillery - Artillery Scout; equipped with a 70 hp Gnome rotary piston engine.

Bleriot XI-2 Genie - Militarized XI; designed from the ground up for portability, can be assembled in under 30 minutes.

Bleriot XI-2 BG - Two-seater parasol (high-wing mount) variant.

Bleriot XI-3 - Three-seat monoplane custom crew in tandem arrangement; equipped with 1 140 hp Gnome engine.

Bleriot XI E1 - Single Seat Coach

Bleriot XI R1 "Rouler" - ground trainer; clipped wings ensure that the plane does not take off completely, but "jumps" onto the ground, training the pilot to control the rudder.

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