Blériot XIII

The Blériot XIII was an experimental passenger-carrying aircraft built during 1910 by Recherches Aéronautique Louis Blériot. It differed from the tractor monoplanes usually associated with Blériot: it was a high-wing pusher monoplane with a 100 hp Gnome rotary engine set into the trailing edge of the wing, the pilot in front of the leading edge and four passengers seated behind him. On 2 February 1911 Léon Lemartin broke a world record by flying it with eight passengers, and he later carried as many as twelve other people. The aircraft was probably a developmental step toward the enclosed-cabin Blériot XXIV Limousine built in late 1911 for Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe.