155:, and extended the vertical tail surface. On 6 August he managed to reach an altitude of 12 m (39 ft), but one of the blades of the propeller worked loose, resulting in a heavy landing which damaged the aircraft. He then fitted a 50 hp (37 kW) V-16 Antoinette engine. Tests on the 17 September showed a startling improvement in performance, with the aircraft quickly reaching an altitude of 25 m (82 ft), when the engine suddenly cut out and the aircraft went into a spiralling nosedive. Blériot later said that his immediate thought was that he was finished: in desperation he climbed out of his seat and threw himself towards the tail. The aircraft partially pulled out of the dive, and came to earth in a more or less horizontal attitude. His only injuries were some minor cuts on the face, caused by fragments of glass from his broken goggles. After this crash Blériot abandoned development of the aircraft, concentrating on his next machine, the
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onlookers were in the way Blériot then shut off the engine and landed. Although the achievement was marred by slight damage to the undercarriage, this was Blériot's first truly successful flight. Further successful flights took place that month, and by 25 July he had managed a flight of 150 m (490 ft). During these flights Blériot made various modifications: he locked the wingtip ailerons and installed a sliding seat, so that he could maintain longitudinal trim by shifting the aircraft's
176:: also among the spectators was Blériot's wife Alice, who had come to watch one of her husband's flights for the first time. Esnault Pelterie paced out the length of the flight, measuring it at 184 m (604 ft). This made it the longest flight achieved in France that year to date, and although the flight had not been officially witnessed, Blériot was awarded a special medal by the Aero Club de France for the feat.
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at each end of the wooden box-girder fuselage, with small tip -mounted elevators on the front wings. Triangular fins were mounted above and below the rear fuselage, with a small rudder hinged to their trailing edge. The undercarriage consisted of a pair of wheels on V-struts at the front of the
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First trials were made at Issy-les-Moulineaux on 7 July but the aircraft failed to lift off. Blériot then enlarged the wings slightly, and on 11 July a short successful flight of around 25–30 metres (84–100 ft) was made, reaching an altitude of around 2 m (7 ft). Because some
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aircraft and a third wheel mounted slightly behind the midpoint of the fuselage. It was powered by a 24 hp (18 kW)
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This event was witnessed by a large proportion of the French aviation community, including
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Devaux, Jean and Michel Marani. "Les Douze
Premiers Aéroplanes de Louis Blériot".
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aircraft in which he made the first flight across the
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127:configuration aircraft, possibly influenced by the
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291:. London: Studio Editions, 1989 p. 161
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827:1900s French experimental aircraft
211:7.20 m (23 ft 7 in)
205:7.00 m (23 ft 0 in)
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227:V-16 , 74.6 kW (100 hp)
119:, Blériot and his chief engineer
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822:Single-engined tractor aircraft
289:Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation
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217:20 m (215 sq ft)
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842:Aircraft first flown in 1907
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244:Elliott 2000, p. 58
190:General characteristics
166:Robert Esnault-Pelterie
287:Taylor, Michael J. H.
107:Design and development
89:Blériot VI "Libellule"
664:Blériot-SPAD aircraft
295:Nova: A Daring Flight
138:mounted on the lower
837:Tandem-wing aircraft
180:Specifications (VI-
33:General information
273:Elliott, Bryan A.
253:Elliott 2000 p. 60
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123:next built a
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147:V-8 engine.
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121:Louis Peyret
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75:First flight
62:Number built
51:Manufacturer
221:Powerplant:
125:tandem wing
43:tandem wing
816:Categories
232:References
225:Antoinette
215:Wing area:
145:Antoinette
97:Blériot XI
19:Blériot VI
209:Wingspan:
140:longerons
131:Aerodrome
117:Blériot V
337:aircraft
172:and the
158:Type VII
136:dihedral
129:Langley
78:11 July
45:aircraft
331:Blériot
203:Length:
70:History
485:XXXVII
475:XXXIII
460:XXVIII
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268:Pegase
113:canard
801:S.710
796:S.510
791:S.126
786:S.116
510:XLIII
490:XXXIX
480:XXXVI
470:XXXII
455:XXVII
440:XXIII
197:Crew:
781:S.91
776:S.86
771:S.81
766:S.70
761:S.66
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655:5190
520:XLVI
515:XLIV
505:XLII
445:XXIV
435:XXII
410:XIII
385:VIII
333:and
279:ISBN
223:1 ×
87:The
80:1907
38:Type
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360:III
182:bis
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