Bleriothistoryv11.Pdf

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 Alps .......................................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 Wright Brothers’ 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 motorcycle, 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 construction 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 aircraft inundated Blériot. Within a year of the Channel flight he had set up flying schools in France 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 research and produced a number of successful jet aircraft. SNASCO merged with Société Nationale des Constructions Aéronau- tiques du Sud-Est (SNCASE) and became Sud Aviation in 1957. In 1970, Sud Aviation became part of Aérospatiale, now Airbus. 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 aircraft. 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 Otto Lilienthal 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 Voisin (1880-1973), then employed by Ernest Archdeacon 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 heavier-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 meters, 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 Paris 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-

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