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LOUIS BLERIOT Sources: "the Take-off of XXème sciècle " BLERIOT " by Louis Blériot (Small son) at Maeght Editor;
We thank here Mr Louis Blériot (Small Son) for having authorized to us to use his book to write this short retrospective of the life of one of our larger pioneer of aviation. We thank here Mr Louis Blériot (Small Son) for having authorized to us to use his book to write this short retrospective of the life of one of our larger pioneer of aviation. |
| History of Louis Blériot. |
| Born the 01/07/1872 in Cambrai (Northern France) It made good studies, went to the Central School and was an engineer of Arts and Manufactures. It created its company at once: "the Blériot headlights" in 1897. The development was important It acted of headlights for the car. It also created in 1902 a factory in London the "Blériot limited" which functioned until 1926. |
The list of the patents which Blériot deposited is impressive: (Extracted) 1897- Creation of the generators of acethylene 1898 - Creation of independent lights 1900 - Creation of headlights with Fresnel lens 1903 - Creation of cathodioptic headlights 1904 - Creation of multiple element batteries 1905 - Creation of insulated flame headlights 1906 - Creation of oxy-petrol headlights 1909 - Creation of Phi dynamos 1910 - Creation of connectors and breakers. In 1926 the Blériot Company is bought out by "Ducellier". - It Marie in 1901. |  |
 | The Blériot I "ornithopter" never flew. He made friends with Gabriel Voisin and they worked together.
The Blériot II was a hydroplane. Finished on the 18/07/1905, the first trials were made by being pulled by a
steamboat, piloted by Voisin, the aircraft took off oscillated, hesitated and plunged into the water after 30
seconds and 180 metres and was destroyed. With the Blériot III, the association Blériot/Voisin really started.
The Blériot Type III was a hydroplane with cylindrical wings powered by an 8 cylinder Antoinette engine of 24 hp.
Completed in the spring of 1906, it never flew - too heavy. The Blériot IV again a hydroplane - twin engine -
would not take off, Blériot removed the floats and, fitted with wheels, it became the IV A. At the taxi trials the
fuselage broke, and the association with Voisin at the same time ! |
| The Blériot V, a ="Canard=" appeared in March 1907 - At the same period the Company ="Louis Blériot - Aeronautical Research=" was created.This aircraft was equipped with an Antoinette engine of 24 hp - The innovation lay in the flying controls: one between the knees, to warp the wings - the other on the side to move the rudder or the tail plane - together or
independently - for the first time there was control of the aircraft on 3 flying axes. This system was patented in
September 1902 and on 26/04/1907 it became known a the ="Blériot Bell=".
Following a law suit these patents were cancelled in 1919. The official inventor of the joystick is
Esnault-Pelterie. - |  |
 | On the 21/03/1907 1st trials at Bagatelle, 2nd trials on the 27/03/1907 a failure with the collapsing of the
landing gear. On the 02/04/1907 the propeller was twisted after a collision. At last on the 05/04/1907 , he
succeeded in taking off for a flight of 60 cm high and 5 to 6 m long !
He repeated the flight several times.
The Blériot VI "Libellule" ( Dragonfly ) then appeared, with two pairs of wings and an Antoinette engine of 24 hp.
On the 11/07/1907 he made a flight of 25 metres, on the 15/07/1907, 80 metres, on the 25/07, 120 metres and 150
metres, on the 06/08/1907 143 metres, at 12 m high. At the end of August, he fitted an engine of 50 hp, a
four-bladed propeller and the aircraft became the Blériot VIB. From the 05/09 to the 11/09/1907, he succeeded in
making several flights and on the 17/09/1907 he flew 184 m at a height of 25 m, a performance never seen before at
this time.Because of this exploit, Louis Blériot was awarded the Médaille d'Honneur ( Medal of Honour )
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 | Then came the Blériot VII. a single engined aircraft of 11 m span, engine of 50 hp fed by a reservoir under pressure.Further problems of undercarriage, which collapsed. On the 16/11/1907 he flew at a speed of 80 to 90 km/h.
( 50 to 56 mph ) On the 06/12/1907 he made a flight of 400 to 500 m and a "volteface aérienne "( turn around ). It at this time
that started his reputation as "l'homme qui tombe toujours " ( The man who always falls ). |
A Blériot VIII appeared in 1908. This saw the birth of the famous Blériot undercarriage.
This monoplane resembled the Blériot which was to become the type XI. The flights were satisfactory from June 1908,
on the 29th he made a flight of 700 metres then on the 03/07 he made two turns in a closed circuit. On the
06/07/1908 he flew 8 mins and 24 s. On the 21/10/1908, he flew 7 km in 6 mins and 40 s. On the 31/10/1908, he
succeeded in flying 28 km with 2 stops !The Press of the time lauded the exploits of Louis Blériot. |
 | The Blériots IX, X and XI were a deception for Louis Blériot, at the first Salon de l'Aéronautique, not one single
order was taken. At the year's end of 1908, his financial results were catastrophic. He was ruined. At the
beginning of 1909 he had to make the final adjustments on his new models. The Blériot IX would not fly. The Blériot
X was a biplane which was never tried and would never fly.The BLERIOT XI was different to the other models, with a REP engine of 30 hp, the ailerons are replaced by wing warping, the aircraft is smaller.
On the 07/01/1909, Blériot was awarded his "Brevet de Pilote-Aviateur" - N° 1 ! ( Pilot’s License N° 1 )
His first flight on the 23/01/1909, he flew 200 m at 75 km/h.Louis Blériot sold part of his patents for automobile headlights, to an English company for 200 000 Frs.
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| The Blériot XII had an engine by ENV of 35 hp in V, water cooled, the first flight was on the 27/05/1909 and
replacement of the engine by an ANZANI of 3 cyl in W form.
On the 8th and 11/06/1909, flights with a passenger. On the 12/06/1909 he made a flight with Santos-Dumont and
Fournier - three people on board. On the 16/06 he is awarded with another person, the Prix Osiris and, at last it
is at this time that he received his first orders. On the 02/07, he won the Prix de la Corderie for a flight in a
closed circuit of 1.500 m. On the 03/07 he beat the record for endurance and distance with a flight of 47mins and
17s, and 277 km. On the 04/07 he flew for 50 mins and 8s. On the 13/07 he won the Prize for the first straight
line flight of 40 kms in less than 6 hours ! He did it in 44 mins and 30 s and 41,2 km. It is at this time that
Blériot took the decision to tempt the crossing of the Channel and try for the prize of £10000 offered to the winner
by the English newspaper the "Daily Mail". On the 25/07/1909, in a Blériot Type XI, he completed the flight and won
the prize and the cup. The success was felt worldwide. |
 | From this moment onwards Blériot moves from “Craftsman” to “Industrial” ( 1909/1910 ) In one month the Blériot
company took more than 100 orders for the Type XI.
On the Type XII , he won the prize for 10 Km at the speed of 76,955 km/h.
>From 1910 to 1914 the Blériot company made more than 1000 machines of which a large majority ( + de 700 ) of Type XI. In October 1910, the "Blériot School of Hendon" was formed in England, and numerous ”Blériot Flying Schools” in France.
From 1910, it was the golden age for aviation meetings, at which many Blériot aircraft participated and also an avalanche of records for height, speed and distance, it was also the time of the great rallies such as Paris to Madrid etc. The Blériots XII, XIII, XIV appear and on the XIV Blériot reached a height of 3180m covered 515,900 km in 5h59mn. The records for the Blériot aircraft is impressive. |
| On the 05/03/1914, Louis Blériot is admitted to the Military Aeronautical Council. It is easy to guess why. War is
inevitable.
His aircraft are improving every day, they are militarised, the Type Numbers reached XLVI. With the 14/18 War appeared the Type LIII, then the Blériot Company constructed the Caudron G3 and G4 ( 880 ) Then appears the Type LXVII, which was be equipped with four engines of 100 hp.
The Type 71 appeared in 1918 with 200 hp. In 1914 Blériot becomes President of the Council of SPAD aircraft. ( previously Aéroplanes Duperdussin ) SPAD stands for "Société Provisoire des Aéroplanes Duperdussin". ( Society Provisory of Aeroplanes Duperdussin ) In fact after legal arguments Duperdussin had to abandon their factory. This company had 2500 employees and produced 3184 SPAD biplanes up to 1918. After the war, the two
companies evolved separately. |  |
From the Type 71, a military aircraft, the Type 74 "Mammouth" commercial was developed, with four Hispano engines of 300 hp. On the 22/01/1920, the flight trials ending in the crashing of the aircraft and the death of it‘s pilot.Then came the Type 75 "Aerobus" it climbed to 2500 m on the 30/08/1920 and could fly at 155 km/h. The end of the war marked the end of development and the plant at Suresnes diversified into the production of furniture, cars, sand yachts, hydro-foils, tuna boats, motor cycles, even carburettors ! There was still some development of numerous prototypes, certain would see completion, others not. |  |
Mention here the Types 102, 105, 106 in 1924 then the Types 113, 115, 155 in 1925, the Types 165 and 175 in 1926,
195 in 1933, 350 in 1934 up to 5190.
The factories also built aircraft for other designers such as the Goupy N° 2, the hydroplanes Blanchard, the aircraft Guillemin ( JG 40-41-42-43-10-60 ), the aircraft of the SFCA, the aircraft Maillet and Maillet-Lignel, the aircraft Taupin, the aircraft Lignel, the Morane 315 under license. At the end there was an order for POTEZ
aircraft. |
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In 1934 Louis Blériot was named Commander of the Légion d'Honneur on the 25th anniversary of his Channel crossing.
In November 1934 an agreement was reached between the Companies Blériot Aéronautique, the ANF-Les Mureaux and the Company Avions Farman, under the name U.C.A. ( Union Corporative Aéronautique ). This Company disappeared in 1936/1937 by the Nationalisation of the French Aviation Industry.
On Saturday 1st August 1936, 10 days before the finalisation of the Nationalisation, Louis Blériot passed away, he was 64. The factory at Suresnes conserved the name Blériot until it’s demolition in 1991. | | | -Back |
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