The Blériot XI is a French aircraft of the pioneer era of aviation. The first example was used by Louis Blériot to make the first flight across the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

in a heavier-than-air aircraft, on 25 July 1909. This is one of the most famous accomplishments of the pioneer era of aviation, and not only won Blériot a lasting place in history but also assured the future of his aircraft manufacturing business. The event caused a major reappraisal of the importance of aviation; the English newspaper ''

The Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet ...

'' led its story of the flight with the headline "Britain is no longer an Island". It was produced in both single- and two-seat versions, powered by several different engines, and was widely used for competition and training purposes. Military versions were bought by many countries, continuing in service until after the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in 1914. Two restored examples – one in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and one in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

— of original Blériot XI aircraft are thought to be the two oldest flyable aircraft in the world.

Design

The Blériot XI, largely designed by Raymond Saulnier, was a development of the Blériot VIII, which Blériot had flown successfully in 1908. Like its predecessor, it was a tractor-configuration

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

with a partially covered box-girder

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraf ...

built from ash with wire cross bracing. The principal difference was the use of

wing warping Wing warping was an early system for lateral (roll) control of a fixed-wing aircraft. 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 direc ...

for lateral control. The tail surfaces consisted of a small

balanced In telecommunications and professional audio, a balanced line or balanced signal pair is a circuit consisting of two conductors of the same type, both of which have equal impedances along their lengths and equal impedances to ground and to other ci ...

all-moving

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...

mounted on the rearmost vertical member of the fuselage and a horizontal

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyropla ...

mounted under the lower longerons. This had

elevator An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They a ...

surfaces making up the outermost part of the fixed horizontal surface; these "tip elevators" were linked by a torque tube running through the inner section. The bracing and warping wires were attached to a dorsal, five-component "house-roof" shaped cabane consisting of a pair of inverted V struts with their apices connected by a longitudinal tube, and an inverted four-sided pyramidal ventral cabane, also of steel tubing, below. When first built it had a

wingspan The wingspan (or just span) of a bird or an airplane is the distance from one wingtip to the other wingtip. For example, the Boeing 777–200 has a wingspan of , and a wandering albatross (''Diomedea exulans'') caught in 1965 had a wingspan o ...

of and a small teardrop-shaped fin mounted on the cabane, which was later removed. Like its predecessor, it had the engine mounted directly in front of the

leading edge The leading edge of an airfoil surface such as a wing is its foremost edge and is therefore the part which first meets the oncoming air.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 305. Aviation Supplies & Academics, ...

of the wing and the main undercarriage was also like that of the Type VIII, with the wheels mounted in castering trailing arms which could slide up and down steel tubes, the movement being sprung by

bungee cord Bungee cords equipped with metal hooks A bungee cord (sometimes spelled bungle; also known as a shock cord) is an elastic cord composed of one or more elastic strands forming a core, usually covered in a woven cotton or polypropylene sheath. The ...

s. This simple and ingenious design allowed crosswind landings with less risk of damage. A sprung tailwheel was fitted to the rear fuselage in front of the tailplane, with a similar castering arrangement. When shown at the Paris Aero Salon in December 1908, the aircraft was powered by a 7-cylinder R.E.P. engine driving a four-bladed paddle-type propeller. The aircraft was first flown at

Issy-les-Moulineaux Issy-les-Moulineaux () is a commune in the southwestern suburban area of Paris, France, lying on the left bank of the river Seine. Its citizens are called ''Isséens'' in French. It is one of Paris' entrances and is located from Notre-Dame Cat ...

on 23 January 1909, but although the aircraft handled well, the engine proved extremely unreliable and, at the suggestion of his mechanic Ferdinand Collin, Blériot made contact with Alessandro Anzani, a famous motorcycle racer whose successes were due to the engines that he made, and who had recently entered the field of aero-engine manufacture. On 27 May 1909, a

Anzani 3-cylinder From 1905 to 1915, Alessandro Anzani built a number of three-cylinder fan engines and radial engines, one of which powered Louis Blériot's 1909 cross-channel flight. An Anzani three-cylinder engine that powers a Blériot XI based in England is ...

fan-configuration (semi-radial) engine was fitted. The propeller was also replaced with a Chauvière ''Intégrale'' two-bladed scimitar propeller made from laminated walnut wood. This propeller design was a major advance in French aircraft technology and was the first European propeller to rival the efficiency of the propellers used by the Wright Brothers. During early July, Blériot was occupied with flight trials of a new aircraft, the two-seater Type XII, but resumed flying the Type XI on 18 July. By then, the small cabane fin had been removed and the wingspan increased by . On 26 June, he managed a flight lasting 36 minutes 55 seconds, and on 13 July, Blériot won the Aero Club de France's first ''Prix du Voyage'' with a flight between Etampes and

Orléans Orléans (;"Orleans"
(US) and The Blériot XI gained lasting fame on 25 July 1909, when Blériot crossed the

from Calais to Dover, winning a £1,000 (equivalent to £115,000 in 2018) prize awarded by the '' Daily Mail''. For several days, high winds had grounded Blériot and his rivals:

Hubert Latham Arthur Charles Hubert Latham (10 January 1883 – 25 June 1912) 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 of two attempts to cross ...

, who flew an

Antoinette Antoinette is a given name, that is a diminutive feminine form of Antoine and Antonia (from Latin ''Antonius''). People with the name include: Nobles * Antoinette de Maignelais, Baroness of Villequier by marriage (1434–1474), mistress of C ...

monoplane, and Count de Lambert, who brought two Wright biplanes. On 25 July, when the wind had dropped in the morning and the skies had cleared, Blériot took off at sunrise. Flying without the aid of a compass, he deviated to the east of his intended course, but, nonetheless, spotted the English coast to his left. Battling turbulent wind conditions, Blériot made a heavy "pancake" landing, nearly collapsing the undercarriage and shattering one blade of the propeller, but he was unhurt. The flight had taken 36.5 minutes and had made Blériot a celebrity, instantly resulting in many orders for copies of his aircraft. The aircraft, which never flew again, was hurriedly repaired and put on display at

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridg ...

department store in London. It was later displayed outside the offices of the French newspaper '' Le Matin'' and eventually bought by the '' Musee des Arts et Metiers'' in Paris.

Subsequent history

After the successful crossing of the English Channel there was a great demand for Blériot XIs. By the end of September 1909, orders had been received for 103 aircraft. After an accident at an aviation meeting in

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in December 1909, Blériot gave up competition flying, and the company's entries for competitions were flown by other pilots, including Alfred Leblanc, who had managed the logistics of the cross-channel flight, and subsequently bought the first production Type XI, going on to become one of the chief instructors at the flying schools established by Blériot. In February 1912 the future of the Type XI was threatened by the French army placing a ban on the use of all monoplanes. This was the result of a series of accidents in which Blériot aircraft had suffered wing failure in flight. The first of these incidents had occurred on 4 January 1910, killing

Léon Delagrange Ferdinand Marie Léon Delagrange (13 March 1872 – 4 January 1910) was a sculptor and pioneering French aviator, ranked as one of the top aviators in the world. Early years Léon Delagrange was born on 13 March 1872 in Orléans, France, the ...

, and was generally attributed to the fact that Delagrange had fitted an over-powerful engine, so overstressing the airframe. A similar accident had killed Peruvian pilot

Jorge Chavez Jorge is a Spanish and Portuguese given name. It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (''Georgios'') via Latin ''Georgius''; the former is derived from (''georgos''), meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker". The Latin form ''Georgius' ...

at the end of 1910 at the end of the first flight over the Alps, and in response to this the wing spars of the Blériot had been strengthened. A later accident prompted further strengthening of the spars.Monoplane Failures
''Flight'' 30 March 1912 Blériot produced a report for the French government which came to the conclusion that the problem was not the strength of the wing spars but a failure to take into account the amount of downward force to which aircraft wings could be subjected, and that the problem could be solved by increasing the strength of the upper bracing wires. This analysis was accepted, and Blériot's prompt and thorough response to the problem enhanced rather than damaged his reputation.

Further development

The Type XI remained in production until the outbreak of the First World War, and a number of variations were produced. Various types of engine were fitted, including the 120° Y-configuration, "full radial" three-cylinder Anzani (the restored example at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome still flies with this) and the and , seven cylinder Gnome

rotary engine The rotary engine is an early type of internal combustion engine, usually designed with an odd number of cylinders per row in a radial configuration. The engine's crankshaft remained stationary in operation, while the entire crankcase and its ...

s. Both single and two-seat versions were built, and there were variations in wingspan and fuselage length. In later aircraft the tip elevators were replaced by a more conventional trailing edge elevator, the tailwheel was replaced by a skid, and the former "house-roof" five-member dorsal cabane being replaced by a simpler, four-sided pyramidally framed unit similar to the ventral arrangement for the later rotary-powered versions. Blériot marketed the aircraft in four categories: trainers, sport or touring models, military aircraft, and racing or exhibition aircraft.

Civil use

The Type XI took part in many competitions and races. In August 1910 Leblanc won the '' Circuit de l'Est'' race, and another Blériot flown by Emile Aubrun was the only other aircraft to finish the course. In October 1910,

Claude Grahame-White Claude Grahame-White (21 August 1879 – 19 August 1959) was an English pioneer of aviation, and the first to make a night flight, during the ''Daily Mail''-sponsored 1910 London to Manchester air race. Early life Claude Grahame-White was born ...

won the second competition for the Gordon Bennett Trophy flying a Type XI fitted with a Gnome, beating a similar aircraft flown by Leblanc, which force-landed on the last lap. During the race Leblanc had established a new world speed record. In 1911, Andre Beaumont won the Circuit of Europe in a Type XI and another, flown by Roland Garros, came second. Blériot XI engine

Louis Blériot established his first flying school at Etampes near Rouen in 1909. Another was started at Pau, where the climate made year-round flying more practical, in early 1910 and in September 1910 a third was established at

Hendon Aerodrome Hendon Aerodrome was an aerodrome in London, England, that was an important centre for aviation from 1908 to 1968. It was situated in Colindale, north west of Charing Cross. It nearly became a central hub of civil aviation ("the Charing Cros ...

near

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. A considerable number of pilots were trained: by 1914 nearly 1,000 pilots had gained their ''Aero Club de France'' license at the Blériot schools, around half the total number of licences issued. Flight training was offered free to those who had bought a Blériot aircraft: for others it initially cost 2,000 francs, this being reduced to 800 francs in 1912. A gifted pupil favoured by good weather could gain his license in as little as eight days, although for some it took as long as six weeks. There were no dual control aircraft in these early days, training simply consisting of basic instruction on the use of the controls followed by solo taxying exercises, progressing to short straight-line flights and then to circuits. To gain a license, a pilot had to make three circular flights of more than 5 km (3 mi), landing within of a designated point.

Military use

The first Blériot XIs entered military service in Italy and France in 1910, and a year later some were used by Italy in North Africa (the first use of heavier than air aircraft in a war) and in Mexico. The British Royal Flying Corps received its first Blériots in 1912. During the early stages of

eight French, six British and six Italian squadrons operated various military versions of the aircraft, mainly for observation duties but also as trainers, and in the case of single-seaters as light bombers with a bomb load of up to 25 kg.

Famous Blériot Monoplane pilots

* Oskar Bider – Swiss aviator who flew over the Pyrenees and the Alps in 1913. * Baron Carl Cederström, who made the first flight of a heavier-than-air craft in Norway on 14 October 1910. He made a flight of 23 minutes and reached a height of 300 metres (983.9 feet). *

– French-Peruvian aviator who crossed the Alps in 1910, but crashed on arrival and was killed. * Jean Conneau (André Beaumont) In 1911 won the Paris-Rome race, the ''Circuit d'Europe'' (Tour of Europe) on 7 July and the Daily Mail Circuit of Britain Race on 26 July 1911. * Antal Lányi (Austro-Hungarian Monarchy) On 28 August 1911 Antal Lányi successfully flew over the Lake Balaton (biggest lake of Europe) from Badacsony to Fonyód with a Blériot XI airplane. * Denys Corbett-Wilson – Anglo-Irish aviator who made the first successful flight from Britain to Ireland in April 1912. *

Leon Delagrange Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...

– One of the first people to fly an aircraft in France, killed on 4 January 1910 flying a Blériot XI when a wing failed. *Carlo Piazza – On 22/23 October 1911, Captain Piazza of the Italian Royal Army Air Services conducted the first aerial reconnaissance flight, between Tripoli and Ain Zara during the

Italo-Turkish War The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War ( tr, Trablusgarp Savaşı, "Tripolitanian War", it, Guerra di Libia, "War of Libya") was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911, to 18 October 1912. As a result o ...

. * John Domenjoz (1886–1952) – Performed aerobatics in South, Central and North America in 1914–1918. His Gnome rotary-powered Blériot-XI is displayed at the National Air & Space Museum, Washington. * Roland Garros – Won second place in the 1911 Circuit of Europe race, and set two world altitude records in 1912 in an adapted Type XI, flying to on 6 September 1912 *

Won the 1910 Gordon Bennett Trophy race, held in New York, flying a Blériot * Eugène Gilbert – Went to the Blériot school in 1910 after having built his own small unsuccessful aircraft in 1909. During a flight across the

Pyrenees Mountains The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to C ...

in the

1911 Paris to Madrid air race The 1911 Paris to Madrid air race was a three-stage international flying competition, the first of several European air races of that summer. The winner was French aviator Jules Védrines, although his win, along with the rest of the race, were ...

he and his Blériot XI were attacked by a large eagle, which Gilbert drove off by firing a pistol. * Tryggve Gran – Norwegian aviator, first to cross the North Sea from Scotland to Norway, on 30 July 1914. The flight set a record for the longest flight over open water, a distance of taking 4 hours and 10 minutes. * Maurice Guillaux – French aviator, visited Australia April–October 1914. Flew Australia's first air mail and air freight from Melbourne to Sydney, 16–18 July 1914. *

Gustav Hamel Gustav Wilhelm Hamel (25 June 1889 – missing 23 May 1914) was a pioneer British aviator. He was prominent in the early history of aviation in Britain, and in particular that of Hendon airfield, where Claude Graham-White was energetica ...

– Flew the world's first regular airmail service between Hendon and Windsor in September 1911. *

Vasily Kamensky Vasily Vasilyevich Kamensky (russian: Васи́лий Васи́льевич Каме́нский; – November 11, 1961) was a Russian Futurist poet, playwright, and artist as well as one of the first Russian aviators. Biography Kamensky w ...

– a famous

Russian Futurist Russian Futurism is the broad term for a movement of Russian poets and artists who adopted the principles of Filippo Marinetti's " Manifesto of Futurism," which espoused the rejection of the past, and a celebration of speed, machinery, violenc ...

poet, one of the pioneering aviators of Russia. *

Jan Kašpar Jan Kašpar (20 May 1883 – 2 March 1927) was a Czech aviator, aircraft constructor, designer and engineer. He is considered an aviation pioneer in the Czech lands. Biography Kašpar was born at Pardubice. From his early years, he was an enthus ...

– Czech aviator, first person to fly in

Czech lands The Czech lands or the Bohemian lands ( cs, České země ) are the three historical regions of Bohemia, Moravia, and Czech Silesia. Together the three have formed the Czech part of Czechoslovakia since 1918, the Czech Socialist Republic since ...

on 16 April 1910. * Hubert Le Blon – A former racing car driver who took up aviation and designed his own monoplane. On 2 April 1910, flying a Bleriot XI, he became the second (after Delagrange) fatality in the type after crashing in San Sebastian, Spain. * Alfred Leblanc – Broke the flight airspeed record on 29 October 1910 while flying a Blériot XI. His speed was calculated at 68.20 mph (109.76 km/h): on 11 April 1911 he raised the record to 111.8 km/h * Bernetta Miller – Fifth licensed woman pilot in the U.S. Chosen as pilot to demonstrate the Moisant-Bleriot monoplane to the U.S. Army in 1912. * Jan Olieslagers (1883–1942) – Lieutenant in the Belgian Army during the First World War. *

Earle Ovington Earle Lewis Ovington (December 20, 1879 – July 21, 1936) 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 ...

– First airmail pilot in the United States, used a Blériot XI to carry a sack of mail from Garden City, New York to

Mineola, NY Mineola is a village in and the county seat of Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 18,799 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from an Algonquin Chief, Miniolagamika, which means "pleasant village". ...

Adolphe Pégoud Adolphe Célestin Pégoud (13 June 1889 – 31 August 1915) was a French aviator and flight instructor who became the first fighter ace in history during World War I. Biography Adolphe Célestin Pégoud was born 13 June 1889 in Montferrat, F ...

– First man to demonstrate the full aerobatic potential of the Blériot XI, flying a loop with it in 1913. Together with John Domenjoz and Edmond Perreyon, he successfully created what is considered the first air show. *

Harriet Quimby Harriet Quimby (May 11, 1875 – July 1, 1912) was an American pioneering aviator, journalist, and film screenwriter. In 1911, she became the first woman in the United States to receive a pilot certificate, issued to her by the Aero Club of Ame ...

– First licensed female pilot in the United States; first female to fly the English Channel solo. Died on 1 July 1912 when she and her passenger were ejected from her new Blériot XI-2. * Rene Simon – In February 1911 the Mexican government engaged Rene Simon, a member of an aerial circus touring the southwestern United States, to reconnoiter rebel positions near the border city of Juarez. * Emile Taddéoli – Swiss aviator who first flew on 22 March 1910, in his newly bought Blériot XI, and flew about during the next five years, using various aircraft, among them the Blériot XI,

Morane-Borel monoplane The Morane-Borel monoplane (sometimes referred to with the retronym Morane-Saulnier Type A or simply the Morane monoplane; company designation Bo.1) was an early French single-engine, single-seat aircraft. It was flown in several European air r ...

Dufaux 4 __NOTOC__ The Dufaux 4 was an experimental aircraft built in Switzerland in 1909 and which was originally constructed as an unnamed biplane, the third aircraft constructed by the brothers Armand and Henri Dufaux. The aircraft was entirely con ...

, Dufaux 5 and SIAI S.13 seaplane. * Ahmet Ali Çelikten – Ottoman-born Turkish fighter pilot who was the first black pilot in aviation history.

Variants

;Blériot XI (REP) :1908, the first Type XI, powered by a REP engine, displayed at the 1908 Paris Salon Exposition, first flown at Issy on 18 January 1909. ;Blériot XI (Anzani) :1909, the first aircraft re-engined with a Anzani engine and with wings enlarged from . Fitted with a flotation bag for Blériot's cross channel flight. ;Blériot XI ''Militaire'' :Military single-seater, powered by a Gnome engine. ;Blériot XI ''Artillerie'' :Very similar to the ''Militaire'' version, but with a fuselage divided into two sections so that it could be folded for transport. ;Blériot XI-1 ''Artillerie'' :Single-seat er powered by a Gnome 7 Omega, with collapsible fuselage for transportation. ;Blériot XI E1 :Single-seat training version. ;Blériot XI Type Ecole : A trainer with considerable wing dihedral looped cane tailskid, tip elevators and other modifications. ;Blériot XI R1 ''Pinguin'' :''Rouleur'' or ground training aircraft, fitted with clipped wings and a wide-track undercarriage with a pair of forward-projecting skids to prevent nose-overs. Some examples were fitted with a Anzani engine and others with old Gnome engines that were no longer producing their full power output. ;Blériot XI (1912) :From March 1912 with two-piece elevators and high fuselage skid. ;Blériot XI (1913) :As for Blériot XI (1912) with landing gear re-inforcements removed, powered by a Clerget 7Y ;Blériot XI Parasol: :aka Brevet-gourin, modified by Lieutenant Gouin and Henri Chazal with a parasol wing and split airbrake/rudder. ;Blériot XIbis :In January 1910 the bis introduced more conventional tail feathers and elliptical elevators with a half-cowled Gnome engine. ;Blériot XI-2 Tandem :Standard tandem 2-seat touring, reconnaissance, training model, powered by a Gnome 7 Gamma rotary piston engine. ;Blériot XI-2 bis "''côte-à-côte''" Bleriot

:February 1910 2-seat model, with side-by-side seating and a non-lifting triangular tailplane with semi-elliptical trailing-edge elevators, with several variations such as floats extended nose, modified tail-skid and other changes. (Length , Wingspan ;Blériot XI-2 ''Hydroaeroplane'' : Two-seater floatplane with wingspan of powered by a Rhône engine. First flown with an extended rudder with a float on the bottom: this was later replaced by a standard rudder and a float fitted under the rear fuselage. ;Blériot XI-2 ''Artillerie'' :Military Two-seater powered by a Gnome 7 Gamma, with modified rudder and undercarriage. Two aircraft or versions of the same aircraft with differing elevators. ;Blériot XI-2 ''Génie'' :Military version designed for easy transport, powered by a Gnome 7 Gamma, it could be broken down/reassembled in 25 minutes. ;Blériot XI-2 ''Vision totale'' :An XI-2 modified with a parasol wing in July 1914, also known as XI Brevet-Gouin. ;Blériot XI-2 ''Hauteur'' :Powered by an Gnome rotary piston engine and used by Roland Garros in altitude record flights in August 1912 and March 1913. ;Blériot XI-2 BG :Two-seat high-wing parasol model. ;Blériot XI-3 Concours Militaire :Tandem 3-seat model, powered by a twin-row 14-cylinder, Gnome 14 Gamma-Gamma rotary engine. Span , length ;Thulin A :Licence-built in Sweden

Military operators

; *

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Australian Flying Corps The Australian Flying Corps (AFC) was the branch of the Australian Army responsible for operating aircraft during World War I, and the forerunner of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The AFC was established in 1912, though it was not until ...

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Bolivian Air Force The Bolivian Air Force ( es, Fuerza Aérea Boliviana or 'FAB') is the air force of Bolivia and branch of the Bolivian Armed Forces. History By 1938 the Bolivian air force consisted of about 60 aircraft (Curtiss Hawk fighters, Curtiss T-32 Co ...

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Chilean Air Force "With full speed to the stars" , colours = Indigo White , colours_label = , march = Alte Kameraden , mascot = , anniversaries = 21 March ...

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Royal Danish Air Force The Royal Danish Air Force ( da, Flyvevåbnet, lit=The Flying weapon) (RDAF) is the aerial warfare force of The Kingdom of Denmark and one of the four branches of the Danish Defence. Initially being components of the Army and the Navy, it was ...

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French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

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Guatemalan Air Force The Guatemalan Air Force ( es, Fuerza Aérea Guatemalteca or ''FAG'') is a small air force composed mostly of U.S.-made aircraft throughout its history. The FAG is a subordinate to the Guatemalan Military and its commanding officer reports to th ...

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Corpo Aeronautico Militare The Italian Corpo Aeronautico Militare (Military Aviation Corps) was formed as part of the Regio Esercito (Royal Army) on 7 January 1915, incorporating the Aviators Flights Battalion (airplanes), the Specialists Battalion (airships) and the Ballo ...

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Imperial Japanese Army Air Service The Imperial Japanese Army Air Service (IJAAS) or Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF; ja, 大日本帝國陸軍航空部隊, Dainippon Teikoku Rikugun Kōkūbutai, lit=Greater Japan Empire Army Air Corps) was the aviation force of the Im ...

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Mexican Air Force The Mexican Air Force (FAM; es, Fuerza Aérea Mexicana) is the primary aerial warfare service branch of the Mexican Armed Forces. It is a component of the Mexican Army and depends on the National Defense Secretariat ( SEDENA). The objective of ...

Norwegian Army Air Service The Norwegian Army Air Service (NoAAS) ( no, Hærens flyvåpen) was established in 1914.Official Norwegian Defence Force websiteHistory of the Royal Norwegian Air Force Its main base and aircraft factory was at Kjeller. On 10 November 1944, the ...

. One only: Tryggve Gran's ;: Royal New Zealand Air Force. One XI 2 Monoplane was in service from 1913 to 1914. The aircraft was named "Britiania", it was New Zealand's first military aircraft; ; *

Romanian Air Corps The Romanian Air Corps or Aviation Corps (RAC) ( ro, Corpul de Aviație) was the air arm of the Romanian army until the formation of the Romanian Air Force. It was established on 1 April 1913 as the Military Aeronautics Service () and subordina ...

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Imperial Russian Air Service The Imperial Russian Air Service (russian: Императорскій военно-воздушный флотъ, , Emperor's Military Air Fleet) was an air force founded in 1912 for Imperial Russia."''12 августа 1912 года прика ...

;

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

Serbian Air Force and Air Defense The Serbian Air Force and Air Defence ( sr-Cyrl, Ратно ваздухопловство и противваздухопловна одбрана Војске Србије, Ratno vazduhoplovstvo i protivvazduhoplovna odbrana Vojske Srbije, Wa ...

; * Swedish Air Force * Swedish Navy ; * Swiss Air Force ; * Ottoman Aviation squadrons RFC Bleriot

; * Royal Flying Corps ** No. 2 Squadron RFC ** No. 3 Squadron RFC ** No. 4 Squadron RFC ** No. 5 Squadron RFC ** No. 6 Squadron RFC ** No. 9 Squadron RFC ** No. 10 Squadron RFC ** No. 16 Squadron RFC ** No. 23 Squadron RFC ** No. 24 Squadron RFC ; *

Uruguayan Air Force The Uruguayan Air Force ( es, Fuerza Aérea Uruguaya, abbreviated FAU) is the air service branch of the Armed Forces of Uruguay. Originally created as part of the National Army of Uruguay, the Air Force was established as a separate branch on Dec ...

Surviving aircraft

In addition to the aircraft used by Louis Blériot to make his cross-channel flight in 1909, on display in the

Musée des Arts et Métiers The Musée des Arts et Métiers () (French for Museum of Arts and Crafts) is an industrial design museum in Paris that houses the collection of the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers, which was founded in 1794 as a repository for the pr ...

in Paris, a number of examples have been preserved. Both the British and American restored-to-airworthiness examples, each now over a century old and believed to be the two oldest flyable aircraft anywhere on Earth, are usually only "hopped" for short distances due to their uniqueness.

Airworthy aircraft

* 14 – Bleriot XI airworthy at the Shuttleworth Collection in Old Warden, Bedfordshire. Built in 1909 and now with the British civil registration G-AANG, this is the world's oldest airworthy aircraft. It is powered by a three-cylinder "W form" Anzani engine. * 56 – Bleriot XI airworthy at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in Red Hook, New York. It is powered by a 120°-angle regular "radial" Anzani three-cylinder engine and bears U.S. civil registration N60094. The front and back thirds of the fuselage are original. * 1381 – Bleriot XI-2 bis on display at the

Swedish National Museum of Science and Technology The Swedish National Museum of Science and Technology ( sv, Tekniska museet) is a Swedish museum in Stockholm. It is Sweden’s largest museum of technology, and has a national charter to be responsible for preserving the Swedish cultural heri ...

in Stockholm. A Blériot XI, the oldest airworthy museum aircraft in Sweden, manufactured in 1918 under licence by AETA, Enoch Thulins Aeroplane Works, in Landskrona, Sweden, as type Thulin A, has been owned by the museum since 1928. Following a two-year restoration by Mikael Carlson, the Blériot XI made what was probably its maiden flight to celebrate the Centenary of Flight in Sweden, at the Stockholm Festival of Flight on 20–22 August 2010. Registered with the Swedish Civil Air Traffic Authority in 2010 as SE-AEC, the Blériot uses its original rotary engine, a Thulin-built copy of the

Gnome Omega The Gnome 7 Omega (commonly called the Gnome 50 hp) is a French seven-cylinder, air-cooled aero engine produced by Gnome et Rhône. It was shown at the Paris Aero Salon held in December 1908 and was first flown in 1909. It was the world's f ...

. * Reproduction – Bleriot XI airworthy at the

Montreal Aviation Museum The Montreal Aviation Museum (french: Musée de L'aviation de Montréal), formerly the Canadian Aviation Heritage Centre (french: Centre canadien du patrimoine aéronautique), is an aviation museum located in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, Cana ...

Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue () is an on-island suburb located at the western tip of the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is the second oldest community in Montreal's West Island, having been founded as a parish in 1703. The olde ...

. It is a reproduction of the Blériot XI "Le Scarabée", flown over Montreal by Count Jacques de Lesseps in 1910, built by volunteers at the museum. They spent nearly 15 years building this exacting reproduction from original blueprints; its first flight took place in September 2014. * Reproduction – Bleriot IX airworthy with Eric A. Presten in Vineburg, California.

Display aircraft

* 9 – Bleriot XI on static display at the

New England Air Museum The New England Air Museum (NEAM) is an American aerospace museum located adjacent to Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. The museum consists of three display hangars with additional storage and restoration hangars. Its co ...

Windsor Locks, Connecticut Windsor Locks is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 12,613. It is the site of Bradley International Airport, which serves the Greater Hartford-Springfield region and occupies approxi ...

. It was built in 1911 by Ernest Hall and has a Detroit Aero engine. * 76 – Bleriot XI on static display at the National Technical Museum in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

. It was used by Jan Kašpar. * 153 – Bleriot XI on static display at the

Cradle of Aviation Museum The Cradle of Aviation Museum is an aerospace museum located in Garden City, New York on Long Island, established to commemorate Long Island's part in the history of aviation. It is located on land once part of Mitchel Air Force Base which, to ...

in Garden City, New York. It was originally purchased by Rodman Wanamaker, is the first aircraft to be imported into America, and was acquired from the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome. * 164 – Bleriot XI on static display at the

Royal Air Force Museum London The Royal Air Force Museum London (also commonly known as the RAF Museum) is located on the former Hendon Aerodrome. It includes five buildings and hangars showing the history of aviation and the Royal Air Force. It is part of the Royal Air Fo ...

. It has a reproduction fuselage and a six-cylinder Anzani engine installed. * 686 – Bleriot XI-2 on static display at the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace in Paris, Île-de-France. * 3856 – Bleriot XI on static display at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in Red Hook, New York. It was built in the US in 1911 by the American Aeroplane & Supply House of

Hempstead, New York The Town of Hempstead (also known historically as South Hempstead) is the largest of the three towns in Nassau County (alongside North Hempstead and Oyster Bay) in the U.S. state of New York. It occupies the southwestern part of the county, on ...

as a "cross-country" longer-ranged version with a copper ventral fuel tank, and had been in storage at least since November 1915 before its discovery in 1963, and restored in 1975–76 by Cole Palen. It was previously flown at the museum with its pre- ''Monosoupape'', seven-cylinder 70 HP Gnome engine. It was on display for a period of time at the USS Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York City. * Unknown ID – Bleriot XI on static display at the

Paris, Île-de-France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. This is the original Type XI aircraft that Louis Blériot flew across the English Channel on 25 July 1909. * Unknown ID – Bleriot XI on static display at the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace in Paris, Île-de-France. * Unknown ID – Bleriot XI on static display at the National Air and Space Museum in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

This aircraft was manufactured in 1914, purchased by Swiss pilot John Domenjoz, and has a Gnôme engine installed. VanDersarl-Bleriot-display

* Unknown ID – VanDersarl Bleriot on display at the National Air and Space Museum in

Chantilly, VA Chantilly is a census-designated place (CDP) in western Fairfax County, Virginia. The population was 24,301 as of the 2020 census. Chantilly is named after an early-19th-century mansion and farm, which in turn took the name of an 18th-century ...

. It was built by teenage brothers Jules and Frank A. Van Dersarl of

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

. Beginning in 1909, the brothers constructed the aircraft from scratch, including the engine, leading to successful flights with no prior flight instruction in June, 1911. It was successfully restored and flown by Javier Arrango in 2011. * Unknown ID – Bleriot XI on static display at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in

Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

. It was license built by the California Aeroplane Manufacturing and Supply Company in 1911 for John W. Hamilton and has an Elbridge Aero Special 60 hp engine installed. * Unknown ID – Bleriot XI Mk II "Looper" on static display at the

Powerhouse Museum The Powerhouse Museum is the major branch of the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS) in Sydney, the others being the historic Sydney Observatory at Observatory Hill, and the newer Museums Discovery Centre at Castle Hill. Although often de ...

in Sydney, New South Wales. This aircraft was flown by Maurice Guillaux with first Australian airmail from Melbourne to Sydney in 1914. * Unknown ID – Bleriot XI on static display at the

Deutsches Museum The Deutsches Museum (''German Museum'', officially (English: ''German Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology'')) in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of science and technology, with about 28,000 exhibited objects from ...

Munich, Bavaria Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. * Unknown ID – Bleriot XI on static display at the Museo del Aire in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

. Originally owned by S. García Cames, it was rebuilt by Juan Vilanova and Luis Acedo and has been on display at the museum since 1968. * Unknown ID – Monoplane on static display at the

National Museum of the United States Air Force The National Museum of the United States Air Force (formerly the United States Air Force Museum) is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is the ...

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater D ...

. It was built by Ernest C. Hall in 1911, who donated it to the museum in 1969. * Unknown ID – Bleriot XI on static display at the

Museo Nacional de Aeronáutica de Argentina The National Aeronautics Museum "Brigadier Edmundo Civati Bernasconi" ( es, Museo Nacional de Aeronáutica) is an Argentine museum located in the city of Morón, Buenos Aires. Established in 1960, the museum is dedicated to the history of aviati ...

Morón, Buenos Aires Morón () is a city in the Argentine province of Buenos Aires, capital of the Morón ''partido'', located in the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area, at . Located 20 km (13 mi) west of Downtown Buenos Aires, Morón is easily reac ...

. The aircraft has replica wings and is powered by a "W" three-cylinder Anzani 25 hp engine.Cater & Caballero (IPMS Magazine May 2013) * Unknown ID – Bleriot XI on static display at the

Flieger Flab Museum The Flieger Flab Museum (English: Swiss Air Force Museum) is located in the Canton of Zurich in Dübendorf on the grounds of Dübendorf Air Base. In the museum, 40 airplanes and helicopters are displayed, with the collection divided into dis ...

in Dübendorf, Switzerland. The aircraft was manufactured in 1914 * Reproduction – Bleriot IX on static display at the

South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum The South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum (SYAM) is a Volunteer led museum located at Lakeside in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. It occupies the former site of the Royal Air Force Station, RAF Doncaster. The museum occupies the last remaining o ...

in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. * Replica – Bleriot XI on static display at the Brooklands Museum in Weybridge, Surrey. * Replica – Bleriot XI on static display at Flugausstellung Hermeskeil in Hermeskeil, Rhineland-Palatinate. * Replica – Bleriot XI on static display at the

College Park Aviation Museum College Park Airport is a public airport located in the City of College Park, in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. It is the world's oldest continuously operated airport. The airport is located south of Paint Branch and Lake Ar ...

College Park, Maryland College Park is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and is approximately four miles (6.4 km) from the northeast border of Washington, D.C. The population was 34,740 at the 2020 United States Census. It is best known ...

. * Replica – Bleriot XIII on static display at the

United States Army Aviation Museum The United States Army Aviation Museum is an aviation museum located on Fort Rucker near Daleville, Alabama. It has the largest collection of helicopters held by a museum in the world.Phillips 1992, p. 37.Purner 2004, p. 204. The museum feature ...

Fort Rucker Fort Rucker is a U.S. Army post located primarily in Dale County, Alabama, United States. It was named for a Civil War officer, Confederate General Edmund Rucker. The post is the primary flight training installation for U.S. Army Aviators and ...

near

Ozark, Alabama Ozark is a city in and the county seat of Dale County, Alabama. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 14,907. Ozark is the principal city of the Ozark Micropolitan Statistical Area, as well as a part of the Dothan-Ozark Combi ...

. It is one of the first known replicas and was built in the 1930s.

Specifications (Blériot XI)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Angelucci, Enzo. ''The Rand McNally Encyclopedia of Military Aircraft, 1914–1980''. San Diego, California: The Military Press, 1983. . * Charlson, Carl and , directors. ''A Daring Flight ''(DVD). Boston: WGBH Boston Video, 2005. * Crouch, Tom D. ''Blériot XI: The Story of a Classic Aircraft.'' Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982. . * * * Elliott, Bryan A. ''Blériot: Herald of an Age.'' Stroud, Gloucestershire: Tempus, 2000. . * Munson, Kenneth. ''Bombers, Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft 1914–1919'' (Blandford Colour Series). London: Associate R.Ae.S., 1977. * Villard, Henry Serrano. ''Blue Ribbon of the Air''. Washington: Smithsonian Press, 1987. . * Villard, Henry Serrano. ''Contact! The Story of the Early Aviators.'' Boston: Dover Publications, 2002. . * Vivien, F. Louis
"Description détaillée du monoplan Blériot" (in French).
Paris: librairie des Sciences aéronautiques, 1905. (Original ''1911 AVIA book'' French book with Blériot XI characteristics and specifications). *

External links

Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome's 1909–10 Blériot XI pageBleriot XI World's Oldest Flying AeroplaneYouTube video of Old Rhinebeck's N60094 Blériot XI making a short flightThe Shuttleworth Collection's oldest-of-all Blériot XI making a flightLouis Blériot – Developer of Commercial and Military Aircraft ''US Centennial of Flight Commission''.A Blériot XI at Maurice Dufresne Museum, FranceBlériot XI at Musée des transports de Lucerne, SwitzerlandBleriot Type XI N° 225 at MAPICA La Baule, FranceJohn Domenjoz, barnstormer & aerobatics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bleriot 11 1900s French experimental aircraft 11 Single-engined tractor aircraft Shoulder-wing aircraft Military aircraft of World War I Racing aircraft 1910s French military trainer aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1909 Rotary-engined aircraft