AVIATION FABRIC PRINT BLERIOT XI SMITHSONIAN RELIC SERIES

Description

Up for auction is this unframed Smithsonian Institution print of the Bleriot XI along with an actual piece of original fabric from that very airplane. The original fabric measures two inches square. The print size is 15 x 20 inches, excellent condition. This auction INCLUDES the original narrative history papers, and the certificate of authenticity issued by the National Air and Space Museum (NASM).
From the mid-1970's to the early '80's, the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum produced its "Aviation Relic Series" of limited edition prints, featuring 2" square pieces of fabric from various historical aircraft in their collection. These were from aircraft that were going through restoration at the time to replace deteriorating original fabric. The National Air & Space Museum kept some large pieces of the original fabric in their collection for future reference but they decided to make some original fabric available to the public through this poster series to stimulate more interest in the museum. It seems remarkable that the Smithsonian would sell off such significant artifacts, and after a few years, not surprisingly, the museum decided that this was not a good idea after all and their policy now forbids this practice. Their misfortune is your gain!
For the buyer, the nice thing about them is that you can be absolutely sure the fabric is totally authentic, unlike most aircraft fabric you see in dealer's inventories or on Ebay.
This print reads as follows: "
On July 25, 1909 Louis Bleriot flew the English Channel in a frail monoplane powered by a three cylinder Anzani engine that developed only 25-30 horsepower. Over the next five years hundreds of copies of the Bleriot 11 were produced, making it one of the most popular aircraft of the pre-World War 1 era. The Bleriot 11 in the collection of the National Air and Space Museum was built in 1914. Fitted with a Gnome Sigma engine, the machine was flown by Swiss exhibition pilot John Domenjoz in Europe and the United States.
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About the Bleriot XI:
Designed and flown by Louis Blériot, it was an XI that made the first aerial crossing of the English Channel, an unbelievable feat at the time.
The Blériot XI was the most successful of several airplanes that emerged during the miraculous summer of 1909, when all of Europe seemed to be taking to the sky. The Blériot XI achieved immortality when the plane and its French designer, Louis Blériot, made the first aerial crossing of the English Channel that summer. This was a huge accomplishment at the time since the the Channel was always considered to be England's last line of defense and "early warning system." The Blériot XI in the Smithsonian collection is one of these attractive French monoplanes that was so popular in the United States, where it was flown at exhibitions. At one such gathering in 1915, the pilot executed 40 consecutive loops over the Statue of Liberty, much to the delight and amazement of the onlookers. Most other aircraft of this era were biplanes and so the XI's single wing, or monoplane, design was unusual and an early classic. A swatch of the original wing fabric, removed during its Smithsonian restoration, is mounted on this relic print. Today the Blériot XI is on permanent exhibit in the Early Flight Gallery. A signed Certificate of Authenticity from the Smithsonian and 2 pages of historical documentation is also included with the Blériot fabric and relic print. This is an example of very early aviation at its best...and a great addition to any collection of aeronautica!
The Blériot Type XI was the most famous and successful of several classic airplanes that emerged during the summer of 1909, when all Europe seemed to be taking to the sky. Louis Blériot, a French engineer and manufacturer of automobile head lamps and other accessories, first became interested in aeronautics in 1901, when he constructed an experimental ornithopter. During the next eight years he moved through a series of ten distinct aircraft designs, only one of which was capable of making a flight of more than ten minutes.
Blériot's next effort, the Type XI, was designed primarily by engineer Raymond Saulnier, but it was a natural evolution from earlier Blériot aircraft and one to which Blériot himself made substantial contributions. It was first flown at Issy-les-Moulineaux, a military parade ground-turned-flying-field, on January 23, 1909. Further trials and various modifications proceeded through the spring. By the end of May, the Type XI was fitted with a 25-horsepower, three-cylinder Anzani engine, and throughout the remainder of the spring and summer Blériot was flying with regular success. The Anzani was somewhat crude, but it had a reputation for reliability, which was critical to Blériot's next challenge.
Blériot achieved immortality in the Type XI on July 25, 1909, when he made the first airplane crossing of the English Channel, covering the 40 km (25 mi) between Calais and Dover in 36 minutes, 30 seconds. It was not the longest flight to date either in duration or distance. But the symbolic impact of conquering the Channel by airplane made it the most widely acclaimed flight before Lindbergh. For the effort, Blériot captured the London Daily Mail prize of ,500 that had been put up by the newspaper the year before for any successful cross-Channel airplane flight. Blériot's original Type XI today is in the possession of the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers in Paris.
In the afterglow of the Channel flight, Blériot received the first of many orders for copies of his Type XI monoplane. Variants of the original 1909 machine were produced by the Blériot firm, foreign licensees, and enthusiastic amateur builders in Europe and America into World War I. Hundreds were built. Many of the leading aviators of the day flew Blériot aircraft.
The first Blériot XIs entered military service in Italy and France in 1910, and a year later, some of those were used in action by Italy in North Africa (the first use of aircraft in a war) and in Mexico. The Royal Flying Corps received its first Blériots in 1912. During the early stages of the First World War, eight French, six British and six Italian squadrons operated various military versions of the aircraft, mainly in observation duties but also as trainers, and in the case of single-seaters, as light bombers with a bomb load of up to 25 kg
The Blériot XI in the NASM collection was manufactured by Blériot Aéronautique at Levallois, Perret, France, in 1914. It is a standard Type XI of the immediate prewar period, powered by a 50-horsepower Gnôme rotary engine and featuring wing-warping for lateral control and a castering undercarriage that eased the problem of crosswind landings. The airplane was purchased on July 31, 1914, by the Swiss aviator John Domenjoz, a Blériot company flight instructor. Domenjoz had recently earned a reputation as one of Europe's most celebrated stunt pilots while performing in major European cities during the early summer of 1914. Planning to continue his European exhibition tour, Domenjoz ordered his new airplane to be specially strengthened and added a heavy harness to support the pilot during inverted flight.
With the outbreak of war in Europe, Domenjoz took his new Blériot to South America, where he continued to thrill crowds with daring aerobatics. He would often perform extended inverted flight lasting more than a minute. Flying at Buenos Aires in April 1915, he performed 40 consecutive loops in 28 minutes. Such feats earned him the nickname "Upside-down Domenjoz." He returned to the United States in the fall of 1915 and made headlines flying in and around New York City. Domenjoz and his Blériot continued the tour through the American south and midwest late in 1915 and early in 1916. After a stop in Havana, Cuba, he headed north again for another New York engagement.
Domenjoz returned to France in the winter of 1916, serving as a test pilot and flight instructor. In May 1917 he was back in the United States for another exhibition season. Following wartime service as a civilian flight instructor at Park Field in Memphis, Tennessee, Domenjoz made one final barnstorming tour in 1919. He then placed his beloved Blériot in storage on a Long Island farm and returned to France, where he remained for seventeen years.
Some years before Domenjoz came back to the United States to live in 1937, his Blériot had been sold to a museum at Roosevelt Field on Long Island to cover unpaid storage costs. It remained there until 1950 when the Smithsonian Institution purchased it with two other pioneer aircraft and a number of early engines. It was fully restored by the National Air and Space Museum in 1979 for exhibition in the museum's Early Flight gallery.
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 7.62 m (25 ft 0 in)
Wingspan: 7.79 m (25 ft 7 in)
Height: 2.69 m (8 ft 10 in)
Wing area: 14 m2 (150 sq ft)
Empty weight: 230 kg (507 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Anzani 3-cyl. Fan 25-30 hp 3-cyl. air-cooled fan style radial piston engine, 19 kW (25 hp)
Propellers: 2-bladed Chauvière Intégrale, 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) diameter
Performance Maximum speed: 75.6 km/h (47 mph; 41 kn)
Service ceiling: 1,000 m (3,281 ft)