Blériot VI

The Blériot VI, called Libellule or Dragonfly, was built in 1907 as one of the series of experimental aircraft by Louis Blériot that eventually led to the Blériot XI, in which he later flew across the English Channel. Dropping the canard layout of the Blériot V, Blériot and his chief engineer Louis Peyret built a tandem wing aircraft with a pair of wings at each end of a wooden box-girder fuselage, at first powered by a 24 horsepower Antoinette V-8. It made its first short successful flight on 11 July and had reached 150 metres by 25 July. Refitted with a 50 horsepower Antoinette V-16 it flew about 184 metres on 17 September, the longest flight in France that year to date, before the engine cut out and it dived. Blériot survived, abandoned the aircraft, and was awarded a medal by the Aero Club de France.