Louis Bleriot was the first aviator that in 1909
successfully crossed the English Channel. The aeroplane
was his model XI adapted for the flight, with an extra fuel
tank mounted aft of the cockpit and the tail gear locked and
braced in fixed position. The engine was an Anzani
3-cylinder "fan-type"; air- cooled with a rating of 28 hp.
The plane was slightly underpowered and the flight in the
early morning hours was executed sometimes only a few feet
above the wet surface.
This aeroplane became very popular all over Europe and
was used by flying schools for basic training. More powerful
engines were introduced and at the time of the outbreak of
the hostilities in1914, one model was equipped with a Gnome Monsoupape 50 hp rotary engine. The centre of thrust-line
was then moved up to the center of the fire wall.
As to the tail gear this was sometimes simplified to
two crossed bows of bent rattan appropriately fastened to
the rear fuselage. The elevator was first fitted as the
outer sections of the stabilizer but later models as a
separate stabilizer and elevator along the rear edge of the
former. The plan form was also altered.
The wings had fixed front spar and the rear spars
attached with a joint to the fuselage. The wings were rigged
with 2.5 dihedral measured from the wing root. Wing
warping was executed via a "double cloche;" the wires from
the upper "cloche" were led through pulleys in the lover
wire pylon out to the rear spar and the under side of the
wing. The control was with a fixed wheel and could be moved
forward - aft and left - right. The upper warping wires were
run from the same positions on the upper side of the wings
freely via pulleys on the upper wing support pylon.
Elevator wires were run via guide pulley straight aft
to the elevator horn, located in the centre line of the
fuselage at the elevator main spar. Rudder control wires
from the rudder bar to the rudder horn. The pilot was seated
in a comfortable chair in the open cockpit frame and he had
on his left side a throttle regulator and a magneto switch.
At the beginning of the war Louis Bleriot joined forces
with the well known S.P.A.D airplane company and many of his
designs were no- table developments of fighting aircrafts.
The top photo shows Bleriot XI in the
version 1912, registered S-12, with enlarged rudder plan
form, stabilizer with elevator along the rear edge and a
Gnome rotary engine of 50 hp. The second photo is a
recent stamp of Harriet Quimby from USA celebrating pioneer
pilots. The bottom photo shows Bleriot XI in two
versions. To the left the original with tail wheel, outer
elevator panels and a 3-cyl Anzani 28 hp engine. To the
tight, the 1912 model with enlarged rudder plan form,
stabilizer with elevator along the mar edge and a Gnome
rotary engine of 50 hp. Note also the substitution of the stearable tail wheel with two crossed rattan bows. The
latter model has also a turtle deck from the engine cowl to
the cockpit, The upper wing support pylon is also reduced to
a single inverted V These aeroplanes were registered in
Sweden with numbers S-14 and S- 15 and owned by Baron Carl Cederstrdm. Sold to the Swedish Army Air force in 1913.
