Louis Blriot

FLIGHT INTO THE XXTH CENTURY

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Copyright Louis Blriot

The right of Louis Blriot to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for
damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN
978 1 84963 517 2 (paperback)
978 1 84963 524 0 (hardback)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2015)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LB

Printed and bound in Great Britain

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Contents
Chapter 1

Chapter 9

Origins, Childhood, Adolescence,

Education

A Temporary Diversification

8-9

Chapter 10

Chapter 2

Blriot Lamps

118-125

10-17
Chapter 3

The Beginnings in Aviation

18-44
Chapter 4

Blriot Aircraft and Seaplanes (19191936)

126-171
Chapter 11

The ANEC Aircraft

172-173
Chapter 12

The Crossing of the Channel

Aircraft and Seaplanes SPAD or BlriotSPAD

45-57

174-217

Chapter 5

Chapter 13

From Tradesman to Industrialist

The Blriot-Blanchard and Guillemin

58-79

218-221

Chapter 6

Chapter 14

Blriot Aircraft Before August 1914

The UCA, Nationalisation, after Blriot

80-102

222-224

Chapter 7

Blriot Military Aircraft in France and

Abroad
103-115
Chapter 8

Conclusion 225-227
Annex 228-235
Index 236-243

The Factory at Suresnes and its Personnel

116-117

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Publishers Note

he real Louis Blriot is an unknown person. For most

people he is simply the first man to fly across the Channel
in 1909. For others, far less numerous, he was also an
aviation industrialist, but never knew in this domain, as much
success as certain of his contemporaries.
Louis Blriot was however, in 1919, the worlds leading
aircraft builder. But the aircraft that he built in unequalled
quantities did not carry his name. The name SPAD had been
saved from disappearing by Louis Blriot in 1914. The company
Blriot Aronautique designed and built Blriot and SPAD
aircraft up till its nationalisation in 1936. If today the European
giant EADS conserves the sign Blriot in front of its offices in the
Paris suburbs, it is to show everything that the Company owes to
Louis Blriot.
The principle characteristic of Blriot aircraft production is
the amazing quantity of types of machines, built or simply imagined. To tell the truth, the exact number is not known, for traces
of some of them have been lost. But the list of those we possess
is a prodigious indication. Between 1910 and 1914 for example,
the inventory stands at forty-six different types, of which fortyfive were designed and built in seven years, from 1907 to 1914
without counting multiple versions or variations. This simple
example is a witness to the enormous capacity for work that Louis
Blriot possessed. Later, with six design engineers, the creativity
of Blriot-Aronautique never faltered.
Frequently, Blriot-Aronautique brought out innovations
and did much better than its French competitors. Certainly, they
were not always successful. In the period in between the wars
it happened sometimes that orders were passed to the aircraft
companies who knew how to make themselves known to members
of the relevant government departments principle source of
orders without their design office having to show proof of much
talent. Louis Blriot detested these practices. Even with an introverted character he often spoke aloud what others dared not say.
It was thus that he attracted the hostility of those that in fact he
should have courted. And if he pushed his design office so much
to imagine new formula, it was also to compensate for the inter

service rivalry of the different Air Ministries. Between the wars

France faced a cruel shortage of centralized laboratory research
for the benefit for the entire aviation industry. This shortage was
being made up a little late in 1939 and was only completed in
1945 with the creation of the Office National de Recherches
Aronautiques, the ONERA. The British, the Germans, the
Russians and the Americans had had comparable organisations
since at least 1919! Blriot Aronautique therefore had to supply
as much energy to research as it did to the design and fabrication.
It was too much for one company alone, no matter how powerful it should be. For Louis Blriot had built a small empire. He
was not only a flying pioneer, inventor of aeroplanes; he was also
and above all a Captain of Industry. Blriot Aronautique was
his favourite company, but he had already established at the end
of the XIXth century, well before his thirtieth birthday, another
company Etablissements Louis Blriot. The first catalogues were
the fruit of an inventive spirit and hard work. The success and
the fortune without which he would never have known success
in aviation came very rapidly, thanks to the invention and the
manufacture of acetylene or electric lighting systems for cars.
The headlights of our cars today, we owe them to Louis Blriot. It
was he who introduced the word headlight into the vocabulary of
the automobile industry. He had to sell off this prosperous activity in the middle 1920s. It was taken over by Ducellier, by one of
the ex- directors of the Socit des Phares Blriot, Pierre Marchal,
and became the famous SEV Marchal, today Valo.
Weakened by his efforts and by the death of his elder son,
Louis Blriot died in 1936. The author, one of his grandsons, has
dedicated the major part of his life to preserving the memory and
to re-building as much as he can of his grandfathers industrial
heritage. He has amassed hundreds of documents, photos, and
objects, enough to fill a museum, which he hopes will one day
attract the attention of a Town Hall or Local Authority. This
book is a reminder of the past work of his grandfather, Louis
Blriot. He is happy that in both the Aviation Industry and the
Automobile Industry, his work goes on.

Translators Note

ouis Blriot was a pioneer in the truest sense of the word, we owe an awful lot to the man who crossed the Channel in 1909. Louis
Blriot today writes of his grandfather The real Louis Blriot is an unknown person. This will become apparent to the reader as
the story unfolds, page by page. The records, the variety, the sheer quantity of aircraft and projects, the determination to succeed.
The mans foresight was amazing. The Louis Blriot Trophy offered in 1930 was not won until ... 1961.
Louis Blriot, grandson, the author of this book has become a firm friend over the past years, in the building of a replica Blriot XI as
well as the work on the book. I have seen the dedication that he has for making his grandfathers story available to all. He has the same
enthusiasm as his venerable ancestor, the same force of character that was needed to be at the forefront of Flight into the XXth Century
His style of writing is fluid, the detail is there for the dedicated historian, the story is there to be simply enjoyed. The task of translating this book was for me an occasion to learn about the history of the beginnings of aviation, to share with the reader the successes and
the failures, but above all to pass on the enthusiasm and admiration that I could hear in the words written by grandson for grandfather.
Terry Froggatt
La Baule, July 2015

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A portrait of Louis Blriot in his fifties, by

the photographer Desgrandes. The photo
shows, despite the years, the energetic
character of the man, his tenacity, his quiet
courage, qualities recognised unanimously
by his contemporaries.

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Introduction

n 1872, at the time of the birth of Louis Blriot, France was

only just beginning to feel the effects of the industrial revolution. Little by little, trains were replacing stagecoaches, and
steam boats replacing sailing ships. For the people of this time,
Icaruss dream of rising into the air like a bird remained as utopian
as it was at the time of ancient Greece. However, in a little over a
quarter of a century, technical progress and the inventiveness of
man would be such that the automobile, and then aviation would
see the light of day, principally in France.
Louis Blriot, even at an early age, believed in science and the
improvements that it would bring into daily life. He had a thirst
for knowledge and even though he was capable of composing
verses in Latin and in Greek, it was the science disciplines which
attracted him. But progress was so rapid then that many people
were left behind, as today certain people are by computers. Gas
lighting, electricity, the telephone, the phonograph, all appeared
within the space of a few years.

Even in his family, Louis Blriot, having become an inventor,

met with incomprehension. A little before his exploit of the 25th
July 1909, his mother confided in one of her friends, You know,
Louis has become completely crazy, he wants to cross the channel
on a kite.
He would know, nevertheless in no uncertain terms how
to silence the sceptics and the worriers, in giving to France and
to the world the first real avion1 the Monoplane of the Channel
Crossing. Born straight after the war of 1870 where the Army
made cavalry charges as at the time of Alexander the Great, Louis
Blriot died in 1936 just before the Second World War which
saw, amongst other things, the birth of the jet engine and astronautics. His life, despite innumerable difficulties up to which he
had to face or perhaps because of them is the reflection of an
era that saw humanity accomplish the most surprising progress in
a period of time unbelievably short.
(1) This name was used only from 1911 onwards, in order to honour Clment Ader
who had used it to name one of his machines, the name was initially reserved for military aircraft.

Foreword

n 1922 when I arrived chez Blriot in Suresnes, Louis Blriot

had been honoured worldwide for his historical success on
the 25th July 1909. He later became one of the principle
French aircraft builders during the First World War and his
efforts allowed his country, thanks to his famous SPAD fighters,
to stand victoriously against the Air Forces of Germany. It was
in the fine factory of the Quay Gallieni, a model factory for the
time, where, very young, I had the chance of joining the Design
Office. I found Chief Engineers of great renown, and colleagues,
mostly young, attracted by the newness of the specialization, and
the enormous future perspectives offered by aviation, behind the
leading light which was Louis Blriot. Novice for several years, it
was only from 1929 onwards that, as a young manager, promoted
with his agreement, I was able to approach him. I appreciated his
spirit always directed towards the creation of new aircraft, before
even the technical knowledge existed to allow their building. He
was totally Le Patron, by his presence and his sober elegance,
right up to the watch chain across his waistcoat ( a white waistcoat in summer ), by the precision of timing and the follow up of
everything which was made in his factory.

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Never one to let things go, he expected a lot of his managers

and expected them to have constant authority over their personnel. However, he knew how to show generosity by rewarding
efforts. As early as 1929 I received a bonus based on the company
turnover; a small sum, but oh! how stimulating. From the factory
in Suresnes, came hundreds of fighter aircraft, of all makes. In the
design office, there were studies of dozens of aircraft of all categories: training, fighting/combat, public transport, flying boats and
amphibians, record breaking machines, certain of these were built
and gave prestigious results for France. But his greatest hope
was to one day produce a flying boat to cross the North Atlantic,
offering passengers a high degree of comfort. He left us too soon
to build it. One of the last sketches that we did together was the
transformation of a passenger seat into a couchette. Nothing was
forgotten! If the activity of the factory knew the highs and lows
of this period of uncertainty which was the between the wars,
Louis Blriot was always, even at the worst moment of the strikes
of 1936, unanimously respected by his personnel.
Andr Paulin,
Ex Head of the Design Office of Blriot-Aronautique

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This book is dedicated to the memory of the test pilots from the House of Blriot who gave their lives so that aviation might progress. From
left to right and top to bottom: Bizot, Casale, Lemartin, Massotte, Desparmets, Perreyon, Deroye.

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Authors Acknowledgements

he author wishes, through this book, to render homage,

as impartial as possible, to his grandfather. He does not
boast of believing that he has totally reached this aim, in
that the admiration that he has for his grandfather could unconsciously influence him and hopes that the reader will not hold
this against him. He wishes equally to warn the reader against
the possible errors in the dimensions of the aircraft, above all for
the period 1910-1914, during which, in a very short time, a large
number of different models were built or planned. In the absence
of archives of the Blriot factory these having been destroyed
in June 1940 it has been very difficult even impossible, to
identify certain types and above all to make a choice in the available information, often contradictory. The author has, each time,
retained those figures which seemed to him to be the most likely
amongst those nearest to the event, but has no pretension to infallibility.
The author thanks Mr Jean Liron for his collaboration on the
second half of this book, Mr Andr Paulin for his preface and
his precious souvenirs of the factory of Suresnes between 1922
and 1936. Messrs Jean Devaux, Michel Marani and Michel
Bnichou for proof reading the manuscript, the counselling
and the documentation that they supplied. The Bibliotheque
Nationale and in particular Mme. Le Pavec. The Muse de
lAir, especially Messrs JeanYves Lorant, Stphane Nicolaou and Jol Petit of the documentation department, Messrs
Gilbert Deloisy and Roger Marvie of the photographic depart-

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ment. The historical department of the Arme de lAir and its

head, General Robineau. The Institut National de La Proprit
Industrielle (INPI) of Paris and Rennes, in particular M. Henri
Soumireu-Lartigue and Mme. Nicole Guillemot for their assistance in the research into the patents filed by Louis Blriot. Mr
Andrew Renwick, the photograph curator of the Royal Air Force
Museum. The Brooklands Museum and its founder Sir Peter
Masefield, as well as Mr Michael Goodall. The Daily Mail newspaper of London. The department store, Selfridges of London,
and in particular Mr David Bailey. M. Jean-Louis Ardoin Saint
Amand, notably for his information about the airfield of La
CroixdHins. M. Bernard Cassagne for the documentation
concerning the land and the factory of Tartifume. Mr James H.
Rowe, Mr and Mrs David M. Barker for their help concerning the
factory in Addlestone, Mr T. J. Ruffell of GEC-Marconi, current
director of the factory in Addlestone. Mr Peter Richley for the
research that he was happy to do in England, in particular on
the Blriot Whippet. Mr J. A. Davidson and M. Roger Berthier
ex-director of the Suresnes factory of Arospatiale, for his help
concerning the evolution of the ex-Blriot factory since 1945. M.
Jean-Emile Cailliez, Mrs Jennifer Dean, M. Pierre Cortet, M.
Michel Galand, M. Ren Lemaire, M. ChristianHenry Tavard
and M. and Mme. Yves Deburghgraeve for their participation in
the laying out of the manuscript. Messrs Benot Boutin, Claude
Ginsburger and Olivier Berger for their efforts to make the old
plans of the factory readable.

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