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| Louis Blériot | |
|---|---|
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| Born | July 1, 1872 Cambrai, FranceCentennial of Flight, US government |
| Died | August 2, 1936 Paris, France |
| Nationality |  France |
| Occupation | Inventor and engineer |
| Known for | First complete heavier-than-air flight over a large body of water First working monoplane |
Louis Blériot (July 1 1872 in Cambrai, France – August 2 1936 in Paris, France) was a French inventor and engineer. In 1909 he achieved the first flight over a large body of water in a heavier-than-air craft when he fully crossed the English Channel, and received 1000 British pounds for doing so. He also is credited as the first person to make a working monoplane.transportationhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/louis_bleriot: Transportation History at Suite 101.com. Retrieved March 12, 2008. Blériot was a pioneer of the sport of air racing.
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 - George Grantham Bain collection.jpg/58px-Bleriot\'s Accident at Reims (August 1909) - George Grantham Bain collection.jpg)
Wreckage of one of Blériot\'s planes, Reims Air Meet, August 1909.
2 Blériot XI\'s in 1911
Born in Cambrai, Louis Blériot studied engineering at the École Centrale Paris. He invented automobile headlights and established a successful acetylene headlamp business, amassing a small fortune. He used the money from his business to experiment with towed gliders on the Seine River, learning about aircraft and flight dynamics.An essay on Louis Bleriot His interest in aviation manifested itself when, in 1900, he built an ornithopter, which failed to take off.
Blériot and collaborator Gabriel Voisin formed the Blériot-Voisin Company. Active between 1903 and 1906, the company developed several unsuccessful and dangerous aircraft designs, which drained his finances. However, by 1909, he created the Blériot XI, which did not crash quickly.PBS - Chasing the Sun - Louis Bleriot Its first flight was in January 23 of that year, and later it was displayed at the Exposition de la Locomotion Aerienne in Paris in 1909.Spartacus School network article. Retrieved on March 12, 2008.
After years of honing his piloting skills, Blériot decided to go after the coveted thousand-pound prize offered by the London Daily Mail for a successful crossing of the English Channel.
Blériot had 2 rivals for the prize, both of whom failed to reach the goal. The first was Hubert Lathan, an Englishman residing in France. He was favored by both the United Kingdom and France to win. He had arrived first and attempted to fly across on July 19th of that year, but 6 miles from the shore of Dover during his flight he developed engine trouble and was forced to make a sea landing. The other pilot, Charles de Lambert, was a Russian aristocrat with French ancestry, and one of Wilbur Wright\'s students. However, Lambert was injured in a major crash during a test flight, forcing him to quit the competition. In July 25, 1909, the three rivals each arrived on the shores of Calais, France. Blériot had a badly burned foot when a gasoline line broke during one of his trial runs, although he did not withdraw.
Before the trip, the French government allowed a destroyer to escort and observe his plane during the trip to Dover. Blériot used the Blériot XI, which was a structurally strong but simple and maneuverable monoplane of his design powered by a V-type Anzani engine with 25 horsepower and a 2-bladed fixed-pitch wooden propeller. The flight started a little after 4:30 AM on the same day, July 25, 1909, when dawn broke. He reported, in a telegram to the Washington Post, that he throttled his engine to 1,200 revolutions per minute, nearly top speed of the engine, to clear telegraph wires at the edge of the cliff near the runway field. Then he lowered the engine speed to give the XI an average airspeed of approximately 40 miles per hour (64 kilometers per hour) and an altitude of about 250 feet (76 meters). Soon after, inclement weather began to form, with the Channel becoming rougher. Blériot lost sight of landmarks, and rapidly outpaced the destroyer escort. He stated:
"I am alone. I can see nothing at all. For ten minutes, I am lost."
The landing was in turbulent weather, and Blériot encountered numerous problems: rain was cooling the engine, putting it in danger of being shut down, and strong wind was blowing him off course. As airspeed slowed for the landing, the gusts of wind nearly crashed his plane at 20 meters, when he cut off the engine. The landing damaged his landing gear severely, along with the propellor, although the rest of the airplane was fine and the landing was deemed successful.
He flew 22 statute miles (36.6 km) from Les Barraques (near Calais) to Dover. The trip took 37 minutes. Blériot gained immediate fame for this flight.
Meanwhile, Hubert Lathan was idling when he found that Blériot was not making a test flight, and tried to pursue him to Dover. That attempt failed, and 4 days later he crashed into the Channel while trying to copy Blériot\'s flight.
Between 1909 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Blériot produced more than 800 aircraft, most of them being variations of the Type XI model. However, the quality of the aircraft was controversial, as inspections showed the numerous crashes with these airplanes. The British government put a temporary ban on the airplanes, for which Blériot himself investigated and solved the problems.Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Encyclopedia article on Louis Bleriot
In 1913, a consortium led by Blériot bought the Société Pour L\'Aviation et ses Dérivés (SPAD) airplane manufacturer and he became the president of the company. In World War I, his company produced the famous SPAD fighter aircrafts flown by all the Allied countries. After the war, Blériot formed his own company, Blériot-Aéronautique, for the development of commercial aircraft, which was very successful relative to the Wright brothers\'.
In the United States, there was a legal patent battle for the invention of the aileron between the Wrights and Blériot: Blériot\'s airplanes were selling very well, but the Wright brothers did not receive any royalties from his profit even though the technology employed for controlling the planes, namely the aileron, was obviously from them. It was eventually decided that the Wrights devised the aileron first.
Louis Blériot greatly contributed to the aviation community well with his high skill and knowledge, and popularized aviation as sports activities. He remained active in the airplane business until his death in August 2, 1936 in Paris, France.All Star Aero subwebsite
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