BLERIOT, LOUIS

born July 1, 1872, Cambrai, Fr. died Aug. 2, 1936, Paris aviator who made the world's first over-the-ocean flight in a heavier-than-air craft. Blriot had amassed a modest fortune as an inventor of automobile lights and accessories and had taken an early interest in aviation. He experimented first with towed gliders on the Seine River. Then, as lightweight engines became available, he developed a series of airplanes of various configurations ranging from box-kite biplanes to a tail-first (canard) monoplane. By 1909 he had settled on more conventional designs; on July 25 of that year he piloted the Blriot XI, a monoplane with a 28-horsepower engine, across the English Channel from Calais to Dover. This feat won him lasting fame and a prize of 1,000 offered by the London Daily Mail. Blriot was active in building aircraft for the French government during World War I, first producing trainers of his own designs, then associating with the makers of the famous Spad fighter. After the war he formed his own company for the development of commercial aircraft.