Description
Blériot took to the air with his model number XI for the first time at Issy-les-Moulineaux (near Paris) on Jan. 23, 1909. Principally designed by Raymond Saulnier, the Blériot XI was a tractor monoplane featuring wing warping for lateral control. (Tractor propellers face forward, thereby pulling the aircraft through the air. In contrast, pusher propellers face backward and push the aircraft through the air.) Blériot improved the initially disappointing performance of the aircraft by reducing the weight of the machine and replacing the original engine designed by Robert Esnault-Pelterie with a 3-cylinder, 25-horsepower, air-cooled Anzani engine that drove a two-bladed Chauvière propeller. Between May 27 and June 13, 1909, Blériot made a series of ever more impressive flights. He capped this early period of achievement on July 25, 1909, when he flew 37.8 km (23.5 miles) across the English Channel. This epic flight from Calais to Dover underscored the potential of the airplane as both a strategic weapon capable of carrying war to the enemy heartland and as a vehicle of commerce capable of binding countries together. [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bleriot-XI]
Additional information
| Dimensions | 47.5 × 34.5 cm |
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