which continued to design and
produce aircraft up to the
nationalization of most of the
French aircraft industry in 1937,
when it was absorbed into
SNCASO. In 1913, a consortium
led by Blériot bought the Société
pour les Appareils Deperdussin
aircraft manufacturer and he
became the president of the
company in 1914. He renamed it
the Société Pour L’Aviation et ses
Dérivés (SPAD); this company
produced World War I fighter
aircraft such as the SPAD S.XIII.
Before World War I, Blériot had
opened British flying schools at
Brooklands, in Surrey and at
Hendon Aerodrome. Realizing
that a British company would have
more chance to sell his models to
the British government, in 1915, he
set up the Blériot Manufacturing
Aircraft Company Ltd. The hoped
for orders did not follow, as the
Blériot design was seen as
outdated. Following an unresolved
conflict over control of the
company, it was wound up on 24
July 1916. Even before the closure
of this company, Blériot was
planning a new venture in the UK.
Initially named Blériot and SPAD
Ltd and based in Addlestone, it
became the Air Navigation and
Engineering Company (ANEC) in
May 1918. ANEC survived in a
difficult aviation climate until late
1926, producing Blériot-Whippet
cars as well as several light aircraft.
In 1927, Blériot, long retired from
flying, was present to welcome
Charles Lindbergh when he landed
at Le Bourget field completing his
transatlantic flight. The two men,
separated in age by 30 years, had
each made history by crossing
famous bodies of water. Together,
they participated in a famous
photo opportunity in Paris. In
1934, Blériot visited Newark
Airport in New Jersey and
predicted commercial overseas
flights by 1938. Blériot remained
active in the aviation business until
his death on 1 August 1936 in Paris
due to a heart attack. In his honor,
the Fédération Aéronautique
Internationale established the
“Louis Blériot medal” in 1936. The
medal may be awarded up to three
times a year to record setters in
speed, altitude and distance
categories in light aircraft, and is
still being awarded. On 25 July
2009, the centenary of the original
Channel crossing, Frenchman
Edmond Salis took off from Blériot
Beach in an exact replica of
Blériot’s monoplane. He landed
successfully in Kent at the Duke of
York’s Royal Military School.
24| FlyUAA| www.FlyUAA.org| November Issue
R
obert Albert Charles
Esnault-Pelterie
(November 8, 1881
– December 6, 1957) was a
pioneering French aircraft
designer and spaceflight theorist.
His first experiments in aviation
were based on the Wright brothers
1902 glider. His first glider
design was tested on a beach near
Calais, but was not successful.
His glider was based upon an
incomplete understanding of the
Wright glider, and although using
a version of the wing warping
which the Wright brothers had
used to control their aircraft this
did not work properly and was
abandoned, since he considered
it dangerous. After condemning
the Wright brothers’ approach,
he developed the concept of the
aileron, fitting a pair of mid-gap
control surfaces in front of the
wings. In 1906 he began his
first experiments in towed flight.
On 19 September 1906 he flew
500 m (1,600 ft). He made his
first powered flight on October
10, 1907, a distance of 100 m
(330 ft) with the Pelterie I (or
R.E.P. I). This was driven by a
seven-cylinder, 30 hp air-cooled
engine of his own design. Avion
Esnault-Pelterie, 1908 Trials of
the monoplane Pelterie II began
on June 8, 1908. This aircraft set
a record with a 1,200 m (3,900
ft) flight, reaching an altitude of
30 m (98 ft). After a modified
version of this plane was flown for
the last time in 1909 at Rheims,
Pelterie stopped flying and instead
focused on the development and
manufacture of aircraft. The
Vickers R.E.P. Type Monoplane
was based upon his designs, and
marked the beginning of aircraft
production at the later Vickers
Limited. The wing structure of the
R.E.P Type D Monoplane, 1911.
His family had invested heavily to
fund his aircraft designs, and this
had left them nearly financially
ruined. However, he was the
inventor of the “joystick” flight
control, and owned a patent on
the design. Following the war,
he was involved in litigation over
his joystick patent. Many aircraft
built during the war had used this
design and the aircraft companies
owed him royalties. The damages
he won and subsequent royalties
made him a wealthy man. This
also allowed him to repay his
father’s significant investment. He
became interested in space travel,
and, not knowing of Tsiolkovsky’s
1903 work, in 1913 produced a
paper that presented the rocket
equation and calculated the
energies required to reach the
Moon and nearby planets. In
this talk, he proposed the use of
atomic energy, using 400 kg of
radium to power an interplanetary
vehicle. His culminating work was
L’Astronautique, published in 1930.
A later version published in 1934
included details on interplanetary
travel and applications of
nuclear power. On June 8, 1927,
Robert gave a symposium for
the French Astronautics Society
titled L’exploration par fusées
de la très haute atmosphère
et la possibilité des voyages
interplanétaires, concerning the
exploration of outer space using
rocket propulsion. Jean-Jacques
Barre attended this lecture, and
developed a correspondence with
Esnault-Pelterie on the topic of
rockets. In 1929 Robert proposed
the idea of the ballistic missile
for military bombardment. By
1930, Robert and Jean-Jacques
had persuaded the French War
Department to fund a study of the
concept. In 1931, the two began
experimenting with various types
of rocket propulsion systems,
including liquid propellants. The
same year he ran a demonstration
of a rocket engine powered with
gasoline and liquid oxygen. During
an experiment with a rocket
design using tetra-nitromethane
he lost three fingers from his
right hand during an explosion.
Unfortunately, their work failed to
galvanize an interest in rocketry
within France. During his
Issue November| www.FlyUAA.org| FlyUAA| 25