1

Blériot XI

Icon of Ingenuity

by Tom Harnish

wing42

2 © Wing42

Wing42 develops highly detailed flight simulation add-ons for Mi- crosoft Flight Simulator and Lockheed Martin Prepar3D. We specialize in historic aircraft from the 1910s, ‘20s and ‘30s. Our goal is to provide a realistic and immersive experience so simulator pilots can experience what it was like to fly the early birds such as the Blériot, starlets from the Golden Age of aviation such as the Lockheed Vega, and early work- horses for the airlines such as the Boeing 247.

The company is owned and operated by Otmar Nitsche, an engineer with a passion for roaring radials and spinning rotaries.

Blumenstraße 28 02826 Görlitz Germany [email protected]

3 It is as though we have grown wings, which thanks to Provi- dence, we have learnt to control. — Louis Blériot

4 Table of Contents

Introduction ...... 6 Innovations ...... 9 Power ...... 14 REP ...... 14 Anzani ...... 15 Gnome ...... 17 Misconceptions ...... 21 Achievements ...... 24 First across the ...... 29 The first woman across the Channel ...... 32 First flight across the Irish Sea ...... 33 Swiss Alpine Pioneer ...... 35 Looping the loop ...... 36 Flying the Blériot ...... 38

5 Introduction

he Ford Model T put the world on wheels in December of 1908. The Bleriot XI gave wings to the world just two months T later. The Blériot Type Eleven (French: Onze) is arguably the most important aircraft ever to fly.

The ’ experiments showed that sustained heavier- than-air flight was possible. But Louis Blériot demonstrated that trans- portation through the air, over obstacles of land and sea, was practical. Indeed, his historic flight over of the English Channel in July of 1909 proved the point and changed the world forever.

The Blériot XI was an icon of innovation. It used unique joystick and rudder bar controls, a three-cylinder engine adapted from a motorcy- cle, successful modification of the Wright Brothers wing warping roll control, and a controversial monoplane design.

The open frame construction and spindly landing gear gave the Blériot XI a frail appearance. But the wood, wire, and fabric construc- tion was remarkably strong. More importantly, the materials made re-

6 pair and modification easy—a necessity for a machine that was barely controllable.

Blériot’s astonishing flight over the English Channel in 1909 ensured that his name would be known world-wide and his aircraft business would become a success. The Blériot XI became the object of desire, and despite its price similar to mid-tier automobiles, orders for the air- craft inundated Blériot. Within a year of the Channel flight he had set up flying schools in and Great Britain to attract and support new customers.

The Blériot XI was produced from 1909 until after the outbreak of World War One (WWI) in 1914. Total production of the Type Onze was about 800 aircraft in 20 variants, making it the most common and popular aircraft of the day.

In 1913, Blériot formed a consortium to buy the assets of bankrupt aircraft company SPAD (Société de Production des Aéroplanes Deper- dussin). Upon taking possession, he renamed the company Société Pour L’Aviation et ses Dérivés, so he could continue to use the SPAD name—a name that would become legendary during the Great War.

7 After WWI, the company designed and built aircraft using both the Blériot and SPAD names but in 1921 stopped using the SPAD appellation and reverted to Blériot Aéronautique. In October of 1936, Blériot and five other aircraft companies were nationalized and became Société Na- tionale des Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud-ouest (SNCASO).

The events of the Second World War, particularly the occupation of France by German forces, forced the relocation of the design bureau of SNCASO which continued to work in secrecy on jet propulsion. During the post-war era the company benefited from German high-speed re- search and produced a number of successful jet aircraft.

SNASCO merged with Société Nationale des Constructions Aéronau- tiques du Sud-Est (SNCASE) and became in 1957. In 1970, Sud Aviation became part of Aérospatiale, now .

8 Innovations

or fear of being taken as a fool, as he put it, Louis Charles Joseph Blériot (1872-1936) never mentioned that he’d devel- F oped an interest in heavier-than-air flight while working on a degree in engineering at Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures. But, after building a successful business around the first practical automo- bile head-lamp, which he’d invented, he began experimenting with air- craft.

9 His first three (unsuccessful) designs, developed between 1901 and 1903, were ornithopters—a reflection of the state of European aeronau- tics at a time when airships were an aeronaut’s vehicle of choice and the leading European glider pilot had been killed in a 1899 crash.

Blériot’s first serious foray into aviation began in 1905 when he pur- chasesd a glider on floats, designed to be towed behind a motorboat, from fellow French aviation pioneer, Gabriel (1880-1973), then employed by to assist with his experimental gliders.

Blériot’s glider crashed with Voisin at the controls and Voisin nearly drowned, but Blériot nevertheless proposed a partnership. Voisin left Archdeacon and the first firm ever formed specifically to produce heav- ier-than-air aircraft was created—Ateliers d' Aviation Edouard Surcouf, Blériot et Voisin. However, two strong personalities, predictably, didn’t like sharing design and management decisions, so after watching (and filming) Brazilian Alberto Santos-Dumont’s aircraft named 14-bis suc- cessfully win a 1,500 franc prize for the first aircraft to fly over 100 me- ters, the unsuccessful and uncomfortable partnership was dissolved.

10 Voisin and his brother started a new company, and Blériot formed his own company in 1906—Recherches Aéronautiques Louis Blériot—to research and build aircraft.

Among other innovations, the company perfected the basic methods of controlling an airplane that are still used today. A rudder to control yaw and a rear elevator to control pitch first appeared on aircraft bear- ing the Blériot name. Wing warping, freely-shared with Blériot who had befriended Wilbur Wright, was also seen for the first time in Europe on a Blériot machine. Indeed, the stick and rudder-bar controls still in use today first appeared on the Bleriot VII.

Most aviation pioneers were experimenting with biplanes and other multi-wing designs but Louis Blériot championed monoplanes. The Type XI was the world’s first successful monoplane, although earlier unsuccessful designs experimented with the configuration.

French aeronautical engineer and aviation pioneer, Raymond Saulnier (1881-1964), was a Blériot employee who created the design of the Blériot XI based on the earlier Blériot VIII monoplane. But it took more than an airframe to make an aircraft fly.

Early propeller designs were crude, as shown here on this Blériot VII.

11 Lucien Chauviere (1876-1966) designed the first modern propellers in Europe and it was one of his innovative designs that was used for the record-breaking Channel crossing.

Italian engine designer, Alessandro Anzani (1877-1956), was a key player in the success of the Blériot XI. The Type Onze started life with a heavy and unreliable R.E.P. engine but, on his mechanic’s advice, Blériot made contact with motorcycle racer Anzani who had a shop near where he built and worked on engines. At the time, Anzani was developing a number of three-cylinder designs that included a 25 horsepower motor that was loaned to Blériot for trial and was still on the aircraft for the historic English Channel flight in 1909.

On May 27, 1909 the Blériot XI first flew with a 25 hp (19 kW) Anzani 3-cylinder fan-configuration (semi-radial) engine and a new two-bladed Chauvière Intégrale propeller carved from walnut. This propeller design represented a major advance in French aircraft technology, the first European propeller to rival the efficiency of the propellers used by the Wright Brothers.

When the Blériot XI went into production, it was offered in four variants—trainers, sports and touring, military, and racing/exhibition

12 aircraft—with a choice of two types of Anzani three-cylinder “W” radial engines, and several 50 to 140hp Gnome rotary engines. A two-seat XI-2 “Tandem” was produced, and a less popular XI-2 bis-a-bis (side-by-side) model was also available. A unique Type Onze “Penquin” with clipped wings (so it wouldn’t fly) variant was sold for training purposes.

13 Power

espite later achievements, the first flights of the Blériot Type Onze in 1909 were disappointing. The machine flew only 200 D meters at first and two months later it still had not achieved two kilometers.

REP

The prototype Blériot XI was powered by a 30 horsepower 7-cylinder two-row semi-radial (four cylinders in front of three) built by Robert Esnault-Pelterie (REP). Blériot felt it was unreli- able and too heavy, so it was replaced with a 25 horsepower 3-cylinder Anzani.

14 Anzani

In the early years of 1900, Anzani had been a professional bicycle racer and undoubtedly knew that in the 1890s little rotary engines were integrated into a wheel.

Only modestly successful racing bicycles, Anzani started racing mo- torcycles and gained employment with a motorcycle builder who let him use his workshop to develop a new two-cylinder engine which proved to be lighter and more powerful than others available. Anzani set a world speed record in 1905 and won the first world motorcycle championship in Belgium in 1905.

In 1906 he set up his own a small workshop, near Paris, where he developed new engines and experimented with innovative propulsion methods and vehicles. He built a racing hydroplane boat, for example, and began building his own motorcycles. Thanks to his reputation, he was selected to drive Ernest Archdeacon's aéro-motorcyclette, a pro- peller-driven motorcycle designed to demonstrate that propellers could power aircraft.

From the experience, Anzani realized that his lightweight air-cooled en- gines designed for motor- cycles could be scaled up for the emerging aircraft industry and he developed the now famous, light- 15 weight 25-horsepower three-cylinder “W” aero engine.

Demand for Anzani engines grew, thanks to Blériot’s success, and new models were developed from 15 hp to 125 hp. Anzani engines pow- ered many airplanes during WW1, and after the war Anzani successfully built other aircraft and drove light racing cars. In 1927, just before his fiftieth birthday, Anzani sold his factory and retired to a villa in Nor- mandy.

The Anzani engine certainly didn't look very impressive. Its three iron cylinders were rough castings with holes drilled in their base for cooling. According to Blériot’s mechanic Ferdinand Collin, the Anzani “rattled and spat oil out of the holes at the end of every stroke, covering the pilot with a grease film, so that one had to be heroic and long suffer- ing to keep flying with these miserable engines.” But those miserable engines had one endearing quality: they would run continuously for up to an hour.

Bleriot's original agreement with Anzani is lost to history, but appar- ently the engine that powered the first Blériot XI and used for the Channel flight, was just on loan, part of an "on again, off again” deal

16 that gave Blériot exclusive rights to produce the engines and sell them with his airframes.

But 25 horsepower was barely able to keep the Blériot XI in the air, and far from enough for racing and demonstrations.

Gnome

With its crankshaft fastened to the aircraft, the Gnome’s unique en- gine design (a rotary, not a radial) was based on a innovative engine built by an American by the name of Farwell. Frenchmen Laurent and Louis Seguin built an improved version of Farwell's design, formed a company named Société de Moteurs Gnôme and by 1908 began market- ing their engine with the Gnome (a diminutive, sturdy worker) brand name at the 1908 Paris Air Show.

The Gnome name stemmed from the Sequin’s license-built single- cylinder Gnom engine designed by German Willy Seck and built by his company Willy Seck & Co. Seck’s shareholders refused to let him build an automobile so he left the company which was renamed Obserursel after the town where it was located near Frankfurt.

The Sequin brothers, meanwhile, were so successful selling the “one- lung” Gnom that they used the name for their company. Gnome went on to develop 80 and 100 hp 9-cylinder engines, and a 160 hp twin-row 14-cylinder Gnome held the world speed record before WWI.

The Gnome was widely licensed and copied in many forms and by many countries. Eighty percent of the engines used in WWI were ro- taries—ironically, even the German Oberursel engine was a Umlaufmo- tor (rotary) built under license from Gnome.

The rotary arrangement had several advantages. Since the cylinders were always moving, they enjoyed built-in air cooling. A rotary didn’t need a heavy flywheel; the engine itself was enough. It didn’t need an oil pump; centrifugal force did the job.

The first prototype for the Gnome featured five non-rotating radial cylinders that produced 34 HP, but the first commercial design, the “Omega”, featured seven rotating cylinders that produced 50 horse- power at 1200RPM from 488.5 cu. in. (8.0 liters) displacement. The en-

17 18 gine weighed just 172 pounds including the prop hub, giving it an ex- traordinary specific power rating of 3.4 lbs/hp. In comparison, the Wright engine’s weight-to-power ratio was 15:1.

In stark contrast to crude Anzani engines, Gnome engines were beautifully constructed. Each cylinder, for example, was machined from a forged 97 pound nickel-steel bar into a 5.5 pound piece of art with finely-machined cooling fins.

Gnomes were four-stroke engines but had no carburetor or intake man- ifold—air entered through the hollow, fixed crankshaft. A fuel needle valve and an air valve allowed the pilot to set the fuel/air mixture. Since the crude fuel delivery system had no provisions for throttling, most rotaries ran wide-open all the time. Slight variations in power for for-

19 mation flying were possible by careful adjustment of the fuel/air mix- ture. In addition, a “blip switch” on the control stick served to momen- tarily shut off the engine’s ignition for landing.

The Gnomes had a non-recirculating lubricating system. Centrifugal force mixed and distributed castor oil—which didn’t dissolved in gaso- line—in the crankcase. During each hour of engine operation more than two gallons of castor oil passed through the engine before being sprayed into the air.

Most rotaries were fitted with a three- quarters cowl ring, open only at the bottom, to send the spray of castor oil and sparks from the ex- haust away from the flammable airplane structure and the pilot. But pilots still became victims of the laxative qualities of castor oil which sometimes called for quick, hazardous off- airfield landings. Blackberry brandy was claimed to be an effective antidote with unspecified effect on the pilot’s performance.

The Gnome was light and reliable. It started easily, warmed up rapid- ly, and allowed its pilot to become quickly airborne. But starting the engine could be an exciting experience. First you spritzed raw fuel into each cylinders and a mechanic pulled on the propeller to rotate the engine in its nearly flooded condition. If excess gasoline dripped on to the grass under the engine it could be ignited by a backfire, so you quickly shut off the gas and allow the engine to continue to turn on in- ertia while ground handlers move the highly flammable aircraft away from the fire. Once the dripping fuel is consumed, you re-open the fuel valve and try to keep the engine running by adjusting the fuel flow. Warmed up, you open the air valve (throttle) wide and adjust the fuel mixture to produce maximum power for take-off, climb, and cruise. To land, you use a switch to temporarily ground the single magneto, “blipping” it to keep the engine running.

The Gnome was not a perfect engine, although widely used. High fuel and oil consumption meant the aircraft’s empty weight, full of fuel and oil, limited the payload and made carrying extra fuel for long flights difficult. Reliable, if properly maintained, the Gnome neverthe- less required an overhaul every 15-20 hours. Furthermore, a Gnome cost about the same as a good medium-size automobile such as a Daim-

20 ler or Vauxhall. Finally, its rotating mass limited its size and conse- quently, its maximum power output.

What killed the rotary was ultimately caused by limited “breathing capacity.” Sucking air into the crankcase through the stationary crank- shaft directly affected “volumetric efficiency.” The more efficient carbu- retor, with a direct intake path to the cylinders, was a superior solution that allowed for higher and higher horsepower.

Misconceptions

There are several widely held misconceptions about rotary engines. Many people think they were two-stroke engines with mixed oil and fuel, but they weren’t. Many think that rotary engines had throttles, and some did but most didn’t. And perhaps the most misunderstood “feature’ of a rotary was that they were disadvantaged in a dogfight because of gyroscopic forces produced by the spinning cylinders—per- haps, but only in the hands of inexperienced pilots.

All rotaries were four stroke, not two stroke engines. The misconcep- tion is probably due to rotaries using a total-loss oil system. The air, fuel, and oil enter the engine through the stationary crankshaft and the mixture is distributed to the cylinders by centrifugal force. But the oil and fuel did not combine. Castor oil was used because even under pressure and high heat it didn’t combine or ignite with the fuel.

21 Le Rhône and Clerget rotary engines had carburetors, but Gnome engines did not. However, pilots could vary the speed of the Gnome by adjusting the mixture and by interrupting the ignition. The only direct control pilots had was over the fuel/air mixture was the fuel flow fine adjustment lever in the cockpit. For landings, pilots could temporarily turn off the ignition via a coupez or “blip” switch to slow the engine down.

Accounts of difficult handling due to the gyroscopic effects of rotat- ing engines, like most misconceptions, are based on a kernel of truth. The engine was as a heavy, rapidly spinning mass, which imposed gyro- scopic forces on the airframe. But those forces were not great because 1) the engines were close to the airplane’s center of gravity, 2) the rotat- ing mass was concentrated near the crankshaft because the cylinder walls and heads were remarkably thin, 3) rotaries didn’t spin very fast— typically 1200rpm, and 4) the large propellers demanded by the slow- turning engines were very light, about the same as much shorter mod- ern aluminum propellers.

Nevertheless, a novice pilot starting a gliding turn to the right who finds his nose dropping from gyroscopic precession, might try to hold the nose up with elevator instead of rudder which could produce a stall and spin. This plausibly led to led to a preference for left turning land- ing patterns and the pilot occupying the left seat in side-by-side cock- pits.

The effect of gyroscopic forces have been, however, exaggerated perhaps by inexperienced pilots. Indeed, after a flight in the Old Rhinebeck Blériot XI (serial #56) an experienced pilot reported: “When I made my first flight in a rotary-powered aircraft, I landed and then realized that I hadn’t noticed any gyroscopic effects. An experienced pilot automatically compensates for those things.” Another Blériot pilot agreed, ‘There are small gyroscopic effects but nothing close to the ex- aggerated tales often repeated in print and in documentaries. You ad- just for them much the same way you would if you were flying in mildly gusty conditions.”

22 23 Achievements

n early 1909, Blériot was busy testing a new two-seat Type XII, and made the world’s first flight with two passengers, one of I whom was Santos-Dumont. But he continued flying the Type XI with its wingspan increased by 31 inches.

24 At the end of June, Blériot took part in an aviation meet at Douai, where asbestos insulation worked loose from an exhaust pipe and one of his shoes burnt through and he suffered third-degree burns which took over two months to heal.

But he was determined to prove his Type Onze design. Two days lat- er, walking with crutches, he made a 50-minute flight at Juvisy and on July 13, he completed a prize-winning cross-country flight of 25 miles from Etampes to Orléans.

Blériot was awarded the Prix Osiris by the Institut de France in recognition of his contribution to science. Three days later, he an- nounced his intention to try for the Daily Mail's thousand-pound prize for the first successful crossing of the English Channel in a heavier-than- air aircraft.

Rivals for the prize included , a French national of English extraction flying an Antoinette IV monoplane. Charles de Lam- bert, a Russian aristocrat with French ancestry, established a base at 25 Calais. Arthur Seymour, an Englishman who reputedly owned a Voisin biplane, only submitted an entry to the Daily Mail and never appeared. Daily Mail’s Lord Northcliffe, who had befriended Wilbur Wright during public demonstrations in France in 1908, had offered the prize assum- ing that Wilbur would win. But Wilbur’s brother Orville was recovering from a crash and the brothers considered the prize small compensation for the risk of the flight, so they never entered.

Latham arrived in Calais in early July. Ten thousand people showed up there and at Dover to see what was going on. Marconi set up a spe- cial radio service with a station on both sides of the Channel. But, thanks to poor weather, Latham didn’t make an attempt for almost three weeks. When he did finally fly, 6 miles from England, his engine quit and he had the distinction of making the world’s first water land- ing. He was rescued, sitting on his half-submerged aircraft, calming smoking a soggy cigarette. A replacement aircraft arrived the next day from the Antoinette factory.

The wind was too strong to fly on Friday and Saturday, but on Satur- day evening it began to ease, raising hopes. Blériot’s friend Leblanc had gone to bed at around midnight but couldn’t fall sleep. At 2am he woke Blériot and by 3:30am Blériot had put his wife Alice aboard the de- stroyer Escopette, which would escort the flight.

At 4:15 am on July 25, 1909, Blériot made a short trial flight in his Type Onze, and at sunrise set off for the English shore, flying at about

26 70kph and about 100 meters above the waves. Without a compass, Blériot used the ship to set his course but eventually passed it. With visibility deteriorated, he later reported “for more than 10 minutes I was alone, isolated, lost in the midst of the immense sea, and I did not see anything on the horizon or a single ship”.

The low dark line of the English coast eventually came into sight off to his left and he realized he’d been blown off course to the east. He followed the shoreline until he spotted a French newspaper correspon- dent waving a large French Tricolor flag close to Dover Castle, where there was a low spot in the white cliffs. Over land in gusty winds, after 36 minutes and 30 seconds aloft, he cut his engine and made a heavy landing. Blériot was unhurt, but the undercarriage was damaged and one blade of the walnut propeller was shattered.

27 28 News of his takeoff from France had been radioed to Dover, where it was assumed that he would land on the beach west of the town. A newspaperman, realizing that Blériot had landed near the castle, went to pick him up and drove Blériot to the harbor where his wife was wait- ing. ((The reporters automobile is in the background in the image be- low.) Surrounded by a cheering crowd and photographers, Blériot and his Type Onze were celebrities. Other celebrities and achievements soon followed.

First across the Alps

Jorge Chávez-Dartnell was born in Paris to Peruvian parents. Work- ing as an aircraft mechanic, he earned a pilot certificate, participated in various competitions, and set a world altitude record of 2652 meters in his Bleriot XI.

The Aero Club of offered a prize for the first to fly over the 2009 meter from Brig, Switzerland to Milan, Italy. The distance was 150 kilometers and to win the prize, the flight had to be accom-

29 plished in less than 24 hours. After his recent record climb, Chávez thought he could win.

Chávez and rivals made several attempts before the Peruvian made it through the pass on September 23, 1910 The weather was perfect on the Swiss side with no wind, but he hit strong turbulence during the crossing. Nevertheless, he was the first to successfully fly across the Alps.

A few minutes from a first refueling stop, flying at about 10 meters, the Blériot lost a wing in turbulence and crashed, perhaps because of poorly repaired earlier damage.

Chávez received fatal injuries and died four days later. According to friends, Chavez’s dying words were Arriba, siempre arriba! (higher, al- ways higher!), now the motto of the .

30 31 The first woman across the Channel

In 1911, reporter, photographer, actress and screenwriter became the first American woman pilot and the seventh in the world. On April 16, 1912 she became the first woman to fly across the English Channel…in a Blériot XI, of course. The feat, however, was lost in the newspapers and obscured in history because it happened the day after the Titanic sank.

Five months later Quimby died in a new Type Onze Tandem follow- ing an unexplained pitch down that threw both occupants out of the cockpit. Ironically, the Blériot recovered and landed in shallow water where it sustained little damage.

32 First flight across the Irish Sea

A week after Quimby’s successful 34km flight across the English Channel, three intrepid aviation pioneers - Vivien Hewitt, Denys Cor- bett Wilson and Damer Leslie Allen – set out to fly 75km across the Irish Sea.

Their attempts left Allen missing and presumed dead but Wilson succeeded after an hour and forty minute flight despite deteriorating weather and losing his compass over the side in turbulence.

Four days after the record had been set by Wilson, Hewitt made it, too, after nearly crashing while landing in gusty winds, rain, and fog.

Enroute, Hewitt encountered fog and was able to maintain his course only because he had earlier noticed a dim shadow of the cabane struts on his wing. By keeping the shadow in roughly the same spot he was able to reach land only 10 miles off course.

W

33 A modest man, he noted in his logbook, "Passage very rough and the wind strong and the machine took some handling.”

Wilson completed the record flight several days earlier, but Hewitt’s flight was a longer (120km), more difficult, and more dangerous so he received the accolades for the achievement.

In any event, the April 1912 achievements of Wilson and Hewitt didn’t achieve a level of fame, like Quimby, because their daring avia- tion exploits took place just after the sinking of the Titanic which crowded any other news out of the papers.

34 Swiss Alpine Pioneer

Swiss farmer Oscar Bider completed compulsory military service and emigrated to Argentina where he worked through 1911 and 1912 as a gaucho. He returned to the continent and learned to fly at a Blériot school in the shadows of the Pyrenees. After a month of training he earned his pilot’s license, bought a Blériot XI with a 70hp Gnome en- gine, and became the first to cross the Pyrenees.

Well aware of Jorge Chávez untimely end trying to cross the Alps three years before, Bider meticulously prepared for an attempt of his own. In the process he discovered that his aircraft could not get high enough with a full fuel load, so he decided to land after the crossing to refuel, just as Chávez had done, and at the same town.

Even with the lighter load, he struggled for a half an hour before successfully crossing the 3.600 meter Jungfraujoch ridge and stoppe for fuel as planned before he continued to Milan. After a 13 day delay wait- ing for good weather, Bider returned on July 26, 1913 by a longer but lower route, becoming the first pilot to cross the Alps in both direc- tions.

35 Looping the loop

With the signature on his pilot license still wet, Adolphe Célestin Pé- goud was eager to do something spectacular in an aircraft.

He decided to jump from a two-seater with a parachute but no one would take him up for fear the change in weight when a person jumped would upset the balance. Pégoud solved the problem by jumping out of the single seat Bleriot he was flying.

Climbing to 2,000 feet he stepped over the side and his parachute opened as designed but his unmanned Bleriot flew an uncontrolled loop and ended up in a tree after nearly colliding with him during his descent. This expensive stunt led to a job with Blériot demonstrating their latest design, the 50 hp Gnome-powered Model XI. It also led Pé- goud to believe he could fly a controlled loop himself. After landing, Pégoud addressed reporters: "I've seen him, alone, looping the loop. So you see that this is possible. Also, I will try!"

Although uncommon at the time, Péquod fitted the machine with a lap belt and shoulder harness and demonstrated astonishing, plunging dives and vertical banks.

36

“2 SEP 1913 - A Frenchman yesterday repeat- edly performed the remarkable feat of flying with the machine upside down. This exhibition shows that the age of perfection has arrived in flying machines, and that stability is an accomplished fact."--News item.

Experimenting with ways to recover from a steep climb, on Sep- tember 21, 1913 he held the stick back until he had completed his first loop, proving the adage that you can pull back to go up and pull back more to go down.

37 Flying the Blériot

lying a Blériot XI is unlike flying a modern aircraft in almost every way.

F Famous Hollywood pilot Frank Tallman said the 120 hours he had flying a Blériot (with modern engines, mind you) were responsible for “more gray hair” than any of the other 500 types he had flown. “(It’s) hard to put into words,” he said, “to readily explainable to a modern pilot how perfectly awful it is to fly the Blériot and what great admiration I have for the pilots whose raw courage often far out- stripped their piloting skills and knowledge.”

A other pilot, a former USAF F-100 jet-jockey and a retired 747/757/767 airline captain said, “The Blériot is the worst flying airplane I’ve flown, and one of the most satisfying.”

Wing warping used for roll control is marginally effective and pro- duces more yaw than roll. The rudder is small and produces adequate but delayed yaw; it’s better at picking up a wing than the roll controls but will also change your heading. Pitch control is sensitive, and the tail is very heavy.

38 The 25hp Anzani engine produces barely enough speed for takeoff and not enough to maintain level flight in more than about a 15º bank. At anything less than full throttle the aircraft descends, with only a few kph difference between level flight and stall.

Short, straight flights in dead calm are the only safe thing to do in the Anzani. Flights of a few seconds are considered a success, a figure-8 reason to rejoice.

It can be coaxed up to maybe 300’ if you carefully play with the few knots between climb and stall. Too much pitch or any bank will create sink and if held will lead to a stall. Not enough pitch and it will just fly level or descend. Even gentle turns are only possible with some height because you have to dive slightly to get some speed so the wing warping will work.

No ground steering is available until the tail comes up, which it won't unless forced to do so and then the rudder is barely effective. Flight with more than a 4 knot breeze is reckless. One pilot’s preflight plan- ning is to pluck a handful of grass and drop it. If the leaves don’t fall on the exact spot where they grew you should forget about flying.

The 50hp Gnome makes the aircraft a more flyable machine, but steep turns and climbs are difficult and even dangerous. Small wind gusts can overpower the machines roll capabilities and attempts to bring the wing up with rudder will also change the direction of flight.

Before takeoff, a small dose of blackberry brandy will calm nerves and may prevent the intestinal effects of the castor oil, or so it is claimed. A scarf to wipe the grime and oil sprayed from the exhaust off goggles is required equipment not just dashing adornment. Without brakes and a steerable tailwheel, taxiing is only possible with the help of wing walkers. To fly, one has them point the machine in the direction of flight, you check flight controls and warm the engine, signal to pull chocks, then lean forward and hold your tongue just right in the corner of your mouth nwhile trying to control your heart rate.

Full forward elevator is required to overcome the heavy tail, to re- duce the drag produced by the highly cambered wing set a high angle of incidence, and to provide some airflow over the rudder. With the tail on the ground the aircraft will never fly, and in the air even a few de-

39 grees of pitch-up will produce too much drag. On takeoff, when the air- craft seems unwilling to go any faster, release the forward pressure slightly and the aircraft will lift off.

Response time to roll inputs is very slow and if a crosswinds lifts a wing it may not be possible to get it down again. If the wind changes during takeoff, land immediately. Heading may be changed with persis- tent use of rudder, but rudder inputs will seem more of a suggestion than a command so the machine will react slowly, in part because the pilots body blocks much of the propwash.

The Blériot XI, with either Anzani or Gnome engine, produces a lot of drag, so it descends quickly with less than full power or even too much pitch. Landing involves simply putting the nose down (and apply- ing the blip switch if flying a Gnome). The machine won't pick up much speed, but a little extra helps roll control. A flare creates enough drag that the aircraft will increase its rate of descent and land nicely but with little directional control.

For more on flying qualities see:

Unlearn what you know about conventional flight Flying an Original 1909 Blériot XI Écrasement d une réplique d un Blériot XI de 1911

40 41