Bleriot delivered more than 500 examples of his Model XI monoplane by the end of 1911, making it one of the most popular pre-World War I aircraft. The Model XI's now obsolete system of wing warping for lateral control "is almost useless on this thing," said Eric Presten, owner of this Bleriot XI replica.
1908 Bleriot
Type XI Monoplane
Louis Bleriot was the first person to fly across the English Channel, and he claimed the 1,000 pound sterling prize offered by the Daily Mail. He took off from Les Barraques, in France, at 4:35AM. Flying at a height of over 150 feet, Bleroit landed in Dover 37 minutes later.