Blériot 111
Encyclopedia
The Blériot 111 was a French
four-seat executive transport monoplane
designed by André Heremont. The first French aircraft to be fitted with a retractable landing gear, after six years development it was not ordered into production.
The 111/1 was modified as the 111/4 with a revised wing bracing, a more powerful Hispano-Suiza engine and a first for a French aircraft a retractable landing gear. The 111/4 flew on 27 October 1930. The next variant was the 111/5 which moved the pilot's cockpit to the rear of the passenger cabin and was fitted with a 500 hp Hispano-Suiza 12Mbr engine. A re-engined variant of the 111/5 was fitted with a 500 hp Gnome-Rhone K14 radial engine and was named Sagittaire (Sagittarius).
The variant of the Sagittaire was fitted with a new wing and re-designated 111/6. The 111/6 was entered into the 1934 London to Melbourne air race but it was withdrawn when the landing gear was damaged two days before the race start. With no commercial interest in the design no more Bleriot 111s were built.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
four-seat executive transport monoplane
Monoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with one main set of wing surfaces, in contrast to a biplane or triplane. Since the late 1930s it has been the most common form for a fixed wing aircraft.-Types of monoplane:...
designed by André Heremont. The first French aircraft to be fitted with a retractable landing gear, after six years development it was not ordered into production.
Design and development
The Bleriot 111 was a low-wing single-engined monoplane with an enclosed passenger cabin and an open cockpit for the pilot forward of the cabin. The first variant was the Bleriot 111/1 which first flew on 24 January 1929 powered by a 280 hp Hispano-Suiza 6Mbr radial engine. In October 1929 a second variant flew (known as the 111bis or 111/2) which had a modified landing gear. The 111/2 was re-engined with a Jupiter radial engine and re-designated 111/3. The 111/3 was flown as part of the Patrouille Blériot which gave exhibtions and demonstrations around France and Spain in the 1930s.The 111/1 was modified as the 111/4 with a revised wing bracing, a more powerful Hispano-Suiza engine and a first for a French aircraft a retractable landing gear. The 111/4 flew on 27 October 1930. The next variant was the 111/5 which moved the pilot's cockpit to the rear of the passenger cabin and was fitted with a 500 hp Hispano-Suiza 12Mbr engine. A re-engined variant of the 111/5 was fitted with a 500 hp Gnome-Rhone K14 radial engine and was named Sagittaire (Sagittarius).
The variant of the Sagittaire was fitted with a new wing and re-designated 111/6. The 111/6 was entered into the 1934 London to Melbourne air race but it was withdrawn when the landing gear was damaged two days before the race start. With no commercial interest in the design no more Bleriot 111s were built.