To the extreme forward underside of the fuselage were situated two bicycle-style wheels used as main landing gears. The undercarriage was compliment by either a skid or a third wheel set just aft of amidships. While the forward portion of the fuselage was covered over in cloth, the aft portion was completely exposed, showcasing the internal basic skeletal strut-and-cable arrangement and directly (though unintentionally) leading to improved lateral stability through added drag. The empennage was detailed by a single cloth-covered vertical tail plane acting as the rudder (though no vertical stabilizer was present) and a horizontal plane containing the stabilizer and elevator set alongside the bottom of the rear fuselage. The main wings were high-mounted on the cloth-covered portion of the fuselage body and featured a distinct airfoil - thicker at the leading edge and relatively thin at the trailing edge - utilizing "wing-warping" instead of ailerons to achieve roll. The wing system swooped down from front to rear (when viewed in side profile) in a naturally pleasing form. The cockpit was highly utilitarian with the operator essentially sitting inside of an open-topped box though his perspective could be described as excellent considering the lack of obstructions to his views. If there was anything beyond the main wings and engine blocking his all-around vision, it was the struts set just ahead of his position to help brace the main wings. General construction was of oak and poplar with cloth covering. In all, the Bleriot XI was a sign of the times, a time when aviation was just getting "off the ground" so to speak and its primitive yet practical approach to many of flights problems were dealt with in ingenious ways.
Wartime Service
Military service for the Bleriot XI began sometime in 1910 when the aircraft was accepted into the ranks of the French and Italian air services. The British began operation of their Bleriot XIs in 1912. By the time of World War 1, the Bleriot still retained some military value and was thusly pressed into service in their two-seat forms - albeit to a limited extent - serving primarily as observation and trainer aircraft (although some were utilized as "light" bombers). Observation became an important part of maintaining an "eye in the sky" on enemy troop movements, often times forcing these crews to operate their flimsy Bleriots over and behind the dangerous enemy front lines. As technology naturally progressed during wartime, the need for Bleriots became less and less to the point that the system was fully relegated to the training role.
Some Bleriot trainers had their wings clipped so as to prevent them from getting fully airborne. This allowed would-be pilots to concentrate on mastery of the rudder controls through short "hops" along the ground and focus on keeping the aircraft flying in a straight line - baby steps to be sure. Once graduated from these clipped-wing flightless birds, the aviators would be assigned to flyable aircraft as their reward.
Many-an-American aviator who had signed up for service in the French and British flying services (before America's direct involvement in the Great War) got their first taste of powered heavier-than-air flight in these machines. As America entered the war full-steam in 1918, US Air Service personnel also joined the ranks of these newborn aviators by training on Bleriots.
Miscellaneous
By 1913, Louis Bleriot eventually led the manufacturing consortium of Societe pour les Appareils Deperdussin, later becoming its president in 1914 and changing the name to Societe Pour L'Aviation et ses Derives (otherwise shortened to "SPAD"). SPAD would go on to produce some of the best war-winning fighter designs of the Great War, eventually helping to wrestle control of the skies from the Germans.
In a 1934 visit to Newark Airport in the United States, Louis Bleriot predicted commercial overseas flights by 1938. Unfortunately, he would not see this come to fruition as his death from a heart attack took his life on August 2nd, 1936 in Paris, France - bring an end to this French hero's legacy. The Louis Bleriot Medal, established in 1936, was aptly named in his honor and would be awarded to individuals involved in record-setting flights thereafter. The award is still handed out to this day.
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