Louis
Blériot was
born in Cambrai, France, on 1st July, 1872. While studying engineering
in Paris he developed an interest in aviation. Since the early 19th
century Frenchmen such as Jean
Pierre François Blanchard and Jacob Degen had building ornithopters,
a machine that flies by flapping its wings. In 1900 Blériot
built his own
ornithopter, but like Blanchard and Degen he failed to get it off
the ground.
In 1903, Blériot
joined up with Gabriel Voisin, another aircraft designer, to form
the Blériot-Voison Company. The company built a floatplane
glider, which flew during 1905. The following year Blériot
left Voison and started his own company.
Blériot now built
a monoplane with a tractor propeller. The plane had low cantilever
wings, covered fuselage, a rudder, and a large, all-moving tailplane.
The enclosed Antoinette engine drove a four-blade metal propeller.
The Blériot VII was tested in 1907, and managed to cover
more than 1,640 feet (500 m) at a speed of about 50 mph (80 kpm).
Alfred Harmsworth, the
owner of the Daily Mail, was
a great supporter of flying and in October, 1908, offered a prize
of £1,000 for the first airman to cross the English Channel
from Calais to Dover. The idea seemed so preposterous that Punch
Magazine decided to poke fun at Harmsworth by offering
a prize of £10,000 for the first flight to Mars.
Blériot decided
he would make an attempt at winning the prize. He now began work
on a new plane, the Blériot XI.
It made its first flight on 23rd January, 1909, and early tests
showed this was a remarkable aircraft. On 25th July, 1909, Blériot
took off from Les Baraques, near Calais, at 4.41am. After covering
a distance of almost 24 miles (36.6 km) he arrived at Northfall
Meadow, near Dover, at 5.17 am. One man wrote "England's isolation
has ended once and for all."
As a result of his achievement
Blériot
was able to sell the Blériot XI
to the French Army. It
was also sold to other countries and first saw action during the
Italo-Turkish War (23rd October, 1911).
In 1914 Blériot
became president of the aircraft company Société pour
les Appareils Deperdussin. He renamed the company Société
Pour Aviation et ses Derives (SPAD) and turned it into one of France's
leading manufacturers of combat aircraft.
The Spad S.XIII appeared
in 1917 and soon established itself as the best fighter plane available.
Leading Allied aces such as Rene Fonck, Georges Guynemer, Charles
Nungesser and Edward Rickenbacker insisted on using this aircraft.
It has been argued that the Spad S.XIII was the main reason why
the Allies gained control over the skies on the Western Front during
1918. A total of 8,472 of these aircraft were used during the First
World War.
After the war, Blériot
formed his own company, Blériot-Aéronautique, Aéronautique
for the development of commercial aircraft. Louis
Blériot died
on 2nd August, 1936.
