This aircraft was operated at the flying school at Hendon, England, until it crashed in 1912. It was rebuilt by A.E. Grimmer, flown from a local polo field, and then stored many years until purchased by Richard Shuttleworth in 1935. It was completely rebuilt at the Shuttleworth facility.

The Bleriot is likely one of the three most famous of the natural fabric, wing-warping aircraft -- after the Wright Flyer and German Eindecker.

With the severe wing under-camber, the fabric was sewn through the wing from top to bottom surface and then back up through the top surface again.  The darker shades on the wings are the shadows of the structure seen through the doped fabric, as well as extra thicknesses of fabric in the sewn areas. And then fabric tape was doped over the stitching to protect that critical sewing from wear.

To save weight far behind the CG, there was no fabric on the aft portion of the fuselage. This drag aft of the CG contributed to the plane’s overall yaw stability even with the tiny rudder. (When heavier engines were used on these models later, some planes had this aft section covered. They had to remove it or add a larger rudder.)   The drag was not a large factor (in straight flight) because of the 47 mph top speed.

I like to look at the principal structure. This would be the framework to mount engine, landing gear, wing mounts, and the pilot support. This was usually designed as a single "box" with all other pieces bolted to this or tied with pins and cotter keys, and then all structure braced with solid wire.

The aircraft had an aerodynamically balanced empennage with the horizontal tail pivoting on the top surface near the high point. The pull-pull cable control system was connected to control horns that were just wooden posts. There were wires extending from the ends of the posts to various locations on the moveable surface trailing edges; consequently, the control wires were not putting any twisting loads on the respective control horns.  This resulted in a lot of wires -- common with early aircraft.

Wheels and tires were commercially available cycle parts and in the case of the Bleriot, the wheels were suspended by trailing arms, not unlike the VW Bugs’ front wheels, but instead of torsion rods for springing as the Bug has, the aircraft used an upward thrusting yoke to a sliding collar working against the compression of live rubber tubing around the principal, forward landing gear strut.  This yoke had a bracing member half-way up to keep the vertical pieces the proper distance apart -- and intact. There was a large amount of lateral tolerance in the trailing arms and this helped minimize the landing loads of a skidding "alightment" -- a common condition.

Forward stranded wires from the upper trapeze and the undercarriage structure to the upper and lower areas of the wing leading edges kept air-loads within limits and maintained dihedral, while aft stranded wires of a smaller gauge went to pulleys on the upper trapeze and the bottom of the control stick.  By these pulleys and stick, the wires would raise or lower the trailing edge portions of the wings, warping them to cause the aircraft to bank -- more or less.

I was told by a Bleriot pilot that banking air-loads on the control yoke were quite light.  I would have thought them heavy. Pitch loads were "moderate" but these loads were not on a modern aircraft stick stopping thigh-high. At the top of the sticks of these aircraft was a big wheel for both hands and was chest-high.

The first Bleriots had the cute, aluminum 3-cylinder Anzani "fan" engine in a "W" arrangement, and with 25 hp, it hardly produced enough speed to lift off, and with the minimal, full-flying vertical tail, the low-flying speed made controlling it even worse. With just three cylinders there is 120° "coasting" of the prop before the next cylinder fires. With the large thrust disc of the big, heavy prop, the compression was hardly felt when the prop was pulled through for starting. Props of this size and weight, combined with the small engines, made rapid changes of rpm impossible.

I might add that the flying attitude is identical to the angle as it sits on the ground. When flying speed is reached, it seems to levitate parallel to the ground holding the same angle-of-attack.  When landing, there is no flare; it flies lower and lower until all three points touch at one time. Pulling back on the yoke, when landing, just alters the pitch-angle slightly. With the large wing area, the plane doesn't flare as much as it just stops going forward from the increased air-braking...it is preferred that the wheels be very near the ground when this is done.

The pilot warped the wings by moving the control yoke laterally. This control method was patented by Louis Bleriot, and the functions are the same as that used on "joy stick" aircraft today.  This wing warping caused little banking, so occasionally the rudder was used to sort of skid the aircraft around a turn and this was generally in about 5-degree increments.  Wing warping would bank the aircraft; however, its return to level flight was sometimes suspect and the dihedral was relied on to help right the aircraft. This did not happen quickly during normal flight conditions. Gusty winds made it quite a handful.

During the Shuttleworth flight demonstrations the aircraft would noticeably slow down when this was done, and since it was so close to stalling anyway, it was rarely done more than one step to the right and one step to the left and then it would settle back to the grass.  This means the flight consisted of a short hop from one end of the field to the other, where it landed, was captured, and then turned around by the ground crew to point back from whence it had come; then it made the hop back.

Downwind take-off?

No, if there was any wind, it wouldn't be flown. It is flown on still, late afternoons.

This series of Bleriots had a wing span of just 25 feet with a gross weight of 660 lbs. The heaviest thing in these aircraft was often the pilot.

Later Bleriots had the 50-hp rotary Gnome engines and they were almost good-flying aircraft but it was with the dinky Anzani engine that Bleriot made the first air crossing of the English Channel, to win fame and lucrative prizes.

In 1909, the London Daily Mail had offered a £1,000 prize for the first flight across the Channel. This prize was more than twice the cost of a Bleriot, and since the French had put up 4,000 francs, Bleriot thought he would give it a try.

He was beaten to the attempt by another Frenchman, Huber Latham, flying an Antoinette IV. This was a very good aircraft for the day.  Latham was educated in England and his personal account of his July 19, 1909, flight was in English, and certainly worthy of reading as it gives a glimpse into aviation in that day.

He wrote, "Seven miles into the flight, I was preparing to take a photograph when the engine began interrupting.

"Instantly, I gave up any idea of photography.

"I examined all the electrical connections within my reach. I tried also to alter the carburisation and ignition of the engine. But it was all in vain; in a few seconds my engine had stopped entirely.

"At the moment my motive power was taken from me, I estimate that I was about 1,000 feet up in the air. Thus, even though my first attempt at the Channel crossing failed, I think I can claim to have established a record for high flying in an aeroplane.

"Then I glided down to the surface of the water. It seemed quite a long time before I struck the water. My speed at the moment of impact was about 45 miles an hour.

"The machine was under perfect control during this descent. Instead of diving into the sea at an angle, I levelled it up and settled on the water in a horizontal position.

"I swung my feet up on to a cross-bar to prevent them getting wet. Then I took out my cigarette case, lit a cigarette, and waited for the nearby boat to come retrieve me."

(I did say that he was French, didn't I?)

Six days later, at 4:25 a.m., Bleriot took off from France toward England. For 10 minutes of the 37-minute flight, in mid-channel, he could see nothing but water. The air was still but filled with haze. He had no way of knowing where he would be able to land.

The Bleriot aircraft was damaged on landing -- the floatation bag he had installed had not been needed.

And he was immediately arrested by a customs agent.

(I did say he landed in Britain, didn't I?)

In only another four years, such wing-warping aircraft would be taking off from and landing on water while competing in speed events.

Ken Cashion