Louis Blériot

Louis Blériot (July 1, 1872 - August 2, 1936) was a French inventor and engineer, who performed the first flight over a large body of water in a heavier-than-air craft. This image is in the public domain in the United States and possibly other jurisdictions. ... This image is in the public domain in the United States and possibly other jurisdictions. ... July 1 is the 182nd day of the year (183rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 183 days remaining. ... Events January - April January 2 - Brigham Young, is arrested for bigamy (25 wives). ... August 2 is the 214th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (215th in leap years), with 151 days remaining. ... 1936 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The French Republic or France (French: République française or France) is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents. ...

Louis Blériot was born in Cambrai, France on July 1, 1872, and studied engineering in Paris at the Ecole Centrale Paris. He had an early interest in aviation and in 1900, built a motor-powered machine called an ornithopter, which was intended to fly by flapping its wings. Like other ornithopters before, this experiment failed, but he continued working toward a practical aeroplane. Cambrai (Dutch: Kamerijk) is a French city and commune, in the Nord département, of which it is a sous_préfecture. ... École Centrale Paris is one of the leading French Grandes Écoles of engineering. ... 1900 is a common year starting on Monday. ... An ornithopter is an aircraft that flies by wing-flapping. ...

During 1903, Blériot teamed up with Gabriel Voisin, another aircraft designer, to form the Blériot-Voisin Company. The company built a floatplane glider, which flew during 1905. They also developed a biplane powered by an Antoinette motor. The company broke up in 1906, and Blériot began to build and fly aircraft of his own design. 1903 has the latest occurring solstices and equinoxes for 400 years, because the Gregorian calendar hasnt had a leap year for seven years or a century leap year since 1600. ... Gabriel Voisn ( February 5, 1880 – December 25, 1973) was a French aviation pioneer. ... 1905 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1906 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

As lightweight engines became available, he developed planes with various configurations ranging from box-kite biplanes to a canard (tail-first) monoplane. The Blériot V was the world's first successful monoplane. This aeroplane got off the ground in 1907 but soon crashed and was abandoned. In aeronautics, canard (French for duck) is a type of fixed-wing aircraft in which the tailplane is ahead of the main lifting surfaces, rather than behind them as in conventional aircraft. ...

A 1000 pound prize being offered by the London Daily Mail for the first successful flight across the English Channel interested Blériot and encouraged him to develop his fourth monoplane and first truly successful aircraft, the Blériot XI. After setting a European endurance record of 36 minutes 55 seconds and winning a cross-country prize, Blériot felt confident about embarking on his cross-Channel trip. On July 25, 1909 he made the trip from Calais to Dover in 37 minutes, delighting the French and worrying the British, who felt that they had suddenly become vulnerable to air attack. The Daily Mail and its Sunday edition the Mail on Sunday are British newspapers, first published in 1896. ... July 25 is the 206th day (207th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 159 days remaining. ... 1909 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... This article is about the French city. ... Arms of Dover Borough Council This article is about the English port. ...

Bleriot XI of 1909, photographed in the UK in 2001.

Shortly after, Blériot turned his attention to aeronautical design and engineering. He became president of the floundering aircraft company Société pour les Appareils Deperdussin in 1914. He renamed the company Société Pour l'Aviation et ses Dérivés (SPAD) and turned it into one of France's leading manufacturers of combat aircraft. During World War I, SPAD built more than 5,600 aircraft for France and exported some to Britain and other countries. He also opened flying schools before World War I in England at Brooklands and Hendon Aerodromes as well as a factory in 1917 at Addlestone, near Brooklands, Surrey. Bleriot XI of 1909, photographed in the UK in 2001. ... Bleriot XI of 1909, photographed in the UK in 2001. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... Brooklands was a motor racing circuit built near Weybridge in Surrey, England. ...

After the war, Blériot formed his own company, Blériot-Aéronautique, for the development of commercial aircraft. He died in Paris in 1936 and was interred in the Cimetière des Gonards in Versailles. Versailles, formerly the capital city of the kingdom of France, is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and is still an important administrative and judicial center. ...

See also

• List of early flying machines
• First flying machine

This is a listing of early flying machines. ... Depending on the criteria, the Wright brothers may or may not have been the first to invent a flying machine There exist different views on what was the first flying machine. ...

External link

• US Centennial of Flight Commission: Louis Blériot (http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Dictionary/Bleriot/DI11.htm)