More than 11 Blériots!

A look at the surviving Blériots and variations thereof around the world today

James Kightly (Commissioning Editor)
James Kightly (Commissioning Editor)
Mikael Carlson, of Löberöd, Sweden has several Thulin built Blériots, which he has toured with around Europe, offering remarkably spirited displays. He is seen here at Duxford, back in 2008. [James Kightly]
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By Commissioning Editor James Kightly

Many people have been very pleased to see the white cliffs of Dover come into sight. Only one of them won a £1,000 prize by crash-landing just above them! Louis Blériot undertook what is generally now recognized to be one of the great steps forward in aviation and world history. As covered by Adam Estes’ article ‘Today in Aviation History: First Flight of the Blériot XI‘, the story of the Blériot XI type is an important one, and resulted in (for the time) mass production of the type and a notable number of copies and derivatives, as we discuss here.

It is hard to be precise about the number of Blériot XI aircraft ‘surviving’ today, as most of the examples seen are replicas, though there are a handful of historic originals. Complicating it further is the wide number of copies and derivatives, which we will also touch upon. Here are some highlights, some oddities and (the very important) most original, historic examples.

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The remarkable, ORIGINAL color image taken at the 1909 Paris Salon with Blériot’s monoplane front and center. Almost certainly this is the oldest color aviation display image known, and captures one of the first displays of an historic aircraft on public show.  Taken by pioneer photographer Léon Gimpel, the process used was called Autochrome Lumière, and is occasionally mistaken for a ‘colorising’ process, but is a genuine original color image. [Vintage Aero Writer]

The most important, and remarkably, exceptionally original is Louis’ original channel crossing machine. Naturally, aircraft and man were fêted by the French, and recognized worldwide. After display at the Grand Salon in Paris, in October 1909, Louis’ original Channel conquering Blériot was reverentially placed in the Musée des Arts et Metiers, Paris, where it still is today, suspended at a giddy height in the roof of the ex-Abbey.

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The most important Blériot XI, Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris. This is the original channel crossing machine, and, is apparently still original and unrestored, albeit repaired after the crash-landing. [James Kightly]

Without question, this is one of the most important aircraft surviving; while there are a number of original, world record machines preserved, few can come close to the importance, encompassed by age, significance, and originality. It is also notable that it is one of the less-well-known historic machines to many aviation aficionados despite having been on display, pretty much continuously, for over a century.

The oldest active Blériot is in the UK, with The Shuttleworth Collection, and it has been an airshow participant not only in the modern era, but in the 1930s as well. Flown—mostly hopped—unregistered for many years at Old Warden, it was registered as G-AANG as part of a clean up of these legacy aircraft the collection owns.

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The Blériot XI, C/No 14, seen when owned by Richard Shuttleworth himself, who flew it. As seen on static display here, at Royal Aeronautical Society garden parties and other events in the late 1930s. [Paddy Heffernan Collection, RAAF Museum Archive via James Kightly]
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Blériot XI, Construction Number 14 of the Shuttleworth Collection, Old Warden. This was one of the original aircraft at the Blériot School at Hendon in 1910, but crashed in 1912, and was stored under Blackfriars railway bridge before being acquired by A.E. Grimmer who rebuilt and flew it. Richard Shuttleworth obtained it in 1935 as his first historic airplane. It is generally recognized as the world’s oldest airplane with the earliest aero-engine in flying condition. [James Kightly]
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The cockpit of the last Blériot built, constructed by the craftsmen of the Blériot factory in 1921 and gifted to Louis. After restoration by Jean-Baptiste Salis in 1955, he flew it across the Channel that year, and in 1959, the 50th anniversary. His grandson flew this historic aircraft across the Channel once more for the hundredth anniversary. [James Kightly]
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This is the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace, Le Bourget’s, Blériot XI, as seen in the Grande Galerie. [James Kightly]
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The Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace, Le Bourget, Paris, has two examples, this one, XI-2 in the colors of Adolphe Pégoud which used to be displayed, as here, inverted to commemorate Pegoud’s achievement in successfully looping his Blériot. It can be seen in a more sedate positioning in the background of the previous image. [James Kightly]
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This Blériot XI-2 (the military two-seater version of the famous Blériot XI) was built from the original blueprints in 1991 in the workshops of the Amicale Jean-Baptiste Salis (now the Musee Volant Salis) for the collection at la Ferte Alais, and also wears Adolphe Pégoud’s colors. [James Kightly]
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Blériot XI No.246 seen in 2008 at the Museo Storico dell’ Aeronautica Militare d’Italiana, at Vigna di Valle. [James Kightly]
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This Blériot XXVII at the RAF Museum may actually have been built by Louis Blériot during his summer holidays circa September 1911, although the early history of this aircraft is obscure, as it has no authenticated history before 1936. Originally built as a single-seat racing aircraft, it was unofficially timed at 130kph (81mph, or twice the Channel crossing speed) and could be the Blériot shown at the Paris Aero Show in December 1911. [James Kightly]
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A Vilanova built example in the Spanish Museo del Aire, Madrid, Spain. [James Kightly]
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A Blériot with the cropped prop of a ‘Penguin’ (ground trainer) at the Deutsches Museum, Munich. [James Kightly]
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Blériot XI reproduction ‘2’, registered G-LOTI, at the Brooklands Museum, Weybridge, UK in the 1990s. [James Kightly]
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Blériot No 164 when seen in the Milestones of Flight display at the RAF Museum, Hendon in 2008. [James Kightly]

One of Louis Blériot’s major achievements, and one he deserves credit for, was his control system. In the pre-1910 period there were numerous variations in the ways people developed to control their aircraft. The limitations of some systems, such as weight-shift control were not evident, given the very limited performance of aircraft of the time. As evidence it is notable that most designers assumed the use of some sort of rudder control; some sort of pitch control with elevators or foreplane, presupposing that the aircraft was going to be directed up and down, left and right. However roll or bank was not well understood, and often it seemed to be regarded only as a matter of returning an inadvertent bank to the upright position. On the early Bristol Biplanes (Boxkites) the ailerons were called ‘balancers.’ The Wright Brother’s aggressive litigation (against Blériot and Curtiss among others) over their patent as they saw it of the aileron did not help matters.

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An example of the Blériot control system on display in London’s Science Museum. [James Kightly]

Blériot developed his own system, sometimes known as the Blériot or the ‘Cloche’ system for what is now regarded as the standard configuration of flight controls, with a rudder bar for rudder control, and stick for the other two dimensions. This is well shown in this original Blériot cockpit in London’s Science Museum, the stick bottom ‘cloche’ showing the origin of the other term.

The Canada Aviation and Space Museum has a trio of Blériot themed types currently on display, which well illustrates the remarkable worldwide influence of Blériot, and how his success was followed. Their Blériot [left] did not come from the factory, but was built from locally-available plans by California Aero Manufacturing and Supply Company (San Francisco) in 1911, for John W. Hamilton. It is believed to be the first California-built airplane to fly, but put into storage in 1911, with the museum acquiring it in 1971. The Borel-Morane [center] was developed by Raymond Saulnier, who had worked with Blériot. This is the oldest surviving aircraft to have flown in Canada, and the only survivor of the type. The McDowell Monoplane [right] was a local design and built by Robert McDowall, a land surveyor and civil engineer from Ontario. He based his design on the Blériot concept, but omitted any lateral control and was tail heavy, so was only ever ‘hopped’, not flown

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James Kightly, from Melbourne, Australia, discovered his passion for aviation at the Moorabbin collection in the late 1960s. With over 30 years of writing experience for aviation magazines in the UK, US, Australia, and France, he is a feature writer for Aeroplane Monthly and an advisor for the RAAF History & Heritage Branch. James has interviewed aviation professionals worldwide and co-runs the Aviation Cultures conferences. He has flown in historic aircraft like the Canadian Warplane Heritage’s Lancaster. At Vintage Aviation News, he ensures accurate and insightful aviation history articles. Outside aviation, James has worked extensively in the book trade and museums. He supports the Moorabbin Air Museum and the Shuttleworth Collection. James lives in rural Victoria with his wife and dog.
2 Comments
  • Hi James, You didn’t mention Maurice Guillaux’s Bleriot in the Powerhouse Museum, also a replica in the QV Museum in Launceston.

    • No, I didn’t, Maurie, thank you for doing so! I didn’t set out to do a comprehensive listing – with the questions over degrees of originality vs replicas, even counting ‘original Blériots’ is tricky. some are hugely important – THE Blériot in Paris, Shuttleworth’s, for instance. I left out the Sydney example, as sadly the Powerhouse Museum collection is in flux, and not, I understand fully accessible. Looking forward to when they are again.

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