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It took creativity as well as a bold spirit to build and attempt to fly in
primitive aircraft made of wood, wire, and fabric. Louis Blériot
produced dozens of airplane designs over the course of his pioneering career.
His Type XI, the small monoplane in which he crossed the English Channel in
1909, was one of the most influential and commercially viable planes of its
era. Yet in the years leading up to this success, Blériot may have had
what aviation journalist Michele Benichou called "too much
imagination"—concocting wildly different machines, many of which never
got off the ground. Learn more about them here. To launch this
slide show, click on the image at left.*—Susan K. Lewis
*Thanks to Tom Crouch of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.,
whose book Blériot XI: The Story of a Classic Aircraft was the
primary source for this feature.
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