BLERIOT XI

History

An aircraft heralding from France during the pioneer aviation, first taking to the skies on the 23rd January 1909 - the Bleriot XI was one of the earliest aircraft operated by the Greek Army.

After the liberation of Thessaloniki and the surrender of the Turkish garrison at the city on the 8th November 1912, a single Turkish Bleriot XI-2 was discovered, and subsequently put into service with the Army as a reconnaissance type. The Turks had apparently attempted to set the aircraft on fire before leaving, but either this was mistakenly reported for a different aircraft, or the ploy failed - as with oversized Hellenic roundels painted on the wings, the aircraft would be quickly put into service and used for reconnaissance around the area over the following five months.

On April 4th 1913, piloted by Emmanuel Argyropoulos, and with passenger K. Manos - the aircraft crashed at Lagkadas (in Northeast Thessaloniki), resulting in the death of both the pilot and passenger. The two men would be the first Greek pilot and passenger to be killed in an aircraft accident.

Design

The Bleriot XI was an early monoplane, built with a partially covered box girder fuselage, built from wood with wire cross bracing. Like many aircraft of its era, it used wing warping rather than ailerons, and the rear fuselage was left uncovered - a skeletonised wooden structure. 

The XI-2 variant operated by the Greeks differed mainly in it's powerplant, which was a Gnome 7 Gamma 7-cylinder rotary engine, outputting a maximum of 70 horsepower.