Bleriot XI: First World War Aircraft

The Blériot XI that was called into operational service at the outbreak of the war was basically the same aircraft in which Louis Blériot made his historic crossing of the English Channel in 1909. Nothing could better highlight the extent to which the major powers failed to anticipate the military value of the aeroplane in the years preceding WW1, than this reliance on a five-year old design. Military Blériots were flown with a range of different engines, cockpit layouts, undercarriages, elevators, rudders and rigging pylon arrangements. I have aimed at a sort of amalgamation of the various types.