The first airplane to cross the English Channel was the Bleriot XI. This historic event took place on July 25, 1909, and overnight the Bleriot XI became one of the most important airplanes of its era.  Between July 1909 and August 1914, over 800 Bleriot XIs were produced. The Bleriot XI was a product of the Bleriot Airplane Company, located near Paris, France which was founded in 1905 by Louis Bleriot and his original business partner, Gabriel Voisin.

The company failed after a year but Bleriot was undeterred and pushed forward with his aircraft designing.  The Bleriot XI was the fruit of his labors and he unveiled it at the First Paris Aeronautical Salon on Christmas Eve, 1908. Earlier that year, Lord Northcliff offered $1,250 to the first person who succeeded in flying across the English Channel. Bleriot saw this as an opportunity for publicity and entered his aircraft into the contest. Arriving in July 1909 at the French coast near the city of Calais, Bleriot flew across the channel in his nightshirt and overalls. He covered roughly 23 miles in 36 ½ minutes.  Bleriot won the prize, which had doubled to $2,500.

Bleriot was an international success and established the first aircraft factory, producing classic monoplanes that set an array of records. Versions of the Bleriot XI were a familiar sight at virtually all the aviation meets prior to the First World War. The popularity of the plane spread all over the world. In the United States, the Queen Aeroplane Company of New York started to build a slightly modified version of the plane in late 1910.  By 1913, the Bleriot XI had become an obsolete design.

The Bleriot Aeronautique continued to produce variants of the plane as trainers, but aircraft technology progressed beyond the classic Bleriot XI. Its influence can be seen in later monoplane models including the Deperdussin Model C and the famous German Fokker Eindecker.  The Museum’s aircraft is one of two Bleriot XIs rebuilt from a collection of original Bleriot parts belonging to Mr. Leslie Goldsmith in England.  Two were produced by John Russell. Frapwell.  One was donated to the RAF Benevolent Fund. It was sold to the San Diego Air and Space Museum in 1990 and is currently on display in the Ford Building.