Jetrader - May/June 2009 - 20

GLOBAL COMMERCIAL AIRCRAFT LEASING COMPANY For all your operating lease needs contact us at info@genesislease.com 4450 Atlantic Avenue, Westpark, Shannon, Co. Clare, Ireland. Tel +353 61 233 300 www.genesislease.com his natural aptitude as an engineer and teamed up with another enthusiast, Gabriel Voisin, to found the Blériot-Voisin Company in 1903. Together, by 1905, they had built several of their designs, including a ﬂoatplane glider and a biplane powered by a small Antoinette engine. The partnership was dissolved in 1906 and Blériot continued on his own to build a variety of designs, including a canard (tail-ﬁrst) model. On March 18, 1906, a Romanian living in Paris named Trajan Vuia built and ﬂew the ﬁrst monoplane for some 40 feet (12 meters), and Blériot then switched from biplanes to monoplanes, which he had concluded would make for a more efﬁcient wing. In 1907, at Bagatelle, France he ﬂew his ﬁrst monoplane, Blériot Model VII, a distance of 500 meters, (1,640 feet). It was on January 23, 1909, at Issy-les-Moulineaux that the monoplane destined to shake up the British Admiralty, ﬁrst ﬂew. Blériot’s eleventh design, it was powered by a 30 hp (22.4 kilowatt) R.E.P. engine with a metal four-blade propeller; however, he soon replaced it with the more reliable Anzani engine of 25hp, (18.6 kilowatt) and the Chauviere two-blade propeller. On July 4, he proved the soundness of his design with a ﬂight of 50 minutes. He was now conﬁdent that at last he could be the ﬁrst to conquer the English Channel (La Manche) by air. What were the Blériot XI speciﬁcations? With a wingspan of 25.5 feet (7.8 meters) and some 26 feet (8 meters) long, it had no ailerons but employed wing warping of the trailing edges for lateral control, similar to that patented by the Wright Brothers on their Flyer. For longitudinal control, the horizontal stabilizer had an elevator attached at each tip. There was no separate rudder on the vertical ﬁn, which appears to pivot as a unit. The ash wood fuselage frame was uncovered from aft of the pilot’s station which had fabric attached to the sides of the cockpit’s frame. Besides wing warping for lateral control, the Wrights also invented the modern propeller and defended these designs vigorously against copiers. Not ﬁnding any record of legal action against Blériot for adopting them, it is possible that a royalty was paid, and by 1913, he had built and sold almost 800 Blériot XIIs. It was in one of these in 1912 that America’s ﬁrst licensed woman pilot crossed the Channel in the reverse direction, to be killed later in an accident ﬂying one at an air show near Boston. Following his achievement Blériot became director-general of the Deperdussin Société in 1914, which was eventually renamed Société Pour Aviation et ses Derives (SPAD). During World War I, more than 5,600 combat aircraft were built by SPAD for France and also exported to Great Britain and other allies. After hostilities, he founded his own company to construct commercial aircraft, eventually dying in August 1936 at the age of 64. By this time, of course both the Atlantic and Paciﬁc had been ﬂown and surveyed by the pioneers for regular commercial service, and the British started to plan its defense against a possible air attack from across the Channel by a resurgent Luftwaffe. REFERENCES • • • • 20 The 1 417918_Genesis.inddofﬁcial Le Petit Larousse, Illustré www.centennialofﬂight.gov www.science.howstuffworks.com/bleriot-xi www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/bleriot.html publication of the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading 4/24/09 8:44:20 AM

http://www.genesislease.com http://www.centennialofflight.gov http://www.science.howstuffworks.com/bleriot-xi http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/bleriot.html

Jetrader - May/June 2009

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