B is for Blériot

As mentioned in a previous post, every new version of Smart Logbook is named in honor of a famous pilot. The 1.1 release, which came out in March, commemorated French aviation pioneer Louis Blériot.

Blériot became an international celebrity after his historic 1909 crossing of the English Channel. Here are five facts about the man and his most famous flight that you may not have known:

1. Blériot found fortune before fame. Before discovering aviation, he invented the first practical car headlight and was soon supplying lights to two of the biggest automakers of the day, Renault and Panhard-Levassor. The revenue from his thriving business funded his flying experiments.
2. Blériot was relentless in his pursuit of aeronautical success. His first five designs never even left the ground. His Blériot VII, though, was not only airworthy but revolutionary. It was the world’s first monoplane and established the modern configuration, with a pair of elevators and a rudder at the rear.
3. The race to fly the English Channel was in part motivated by a prize of £1,000 offered by the Daily Mail newspaper of London. Even Wilbur Wright, who was then touring Europe to sell the Wright Flyer, wanted to get in on the action . He sent word to his brother Orville, who was still in the United States. However, the two eventually decided the prize money was not worth the considerable risks of such a dangerous flight.
4. Blériot made his famous flight across the Channel without so much as a compass for navigation! He initially followed the French destroyer Escopette, which was to escort Blériot. Unfortunately, his Type XI, flying at 45 mph, quickly overtook the ship and Blériot soon found himself alone in poor visibility with nothing in sight but water. The English coast eventually came into view, though, and he touched down just north of Dover Castle. Today a granite outline of Blériot’s plane marks the spot.
5. Louis Blériot was present at Le Bourget field in 1927 to congratulate Charles Lindberg just after he finished his solo transatlantic flight.