Blériot 115

The Blériot 115, also written Bl-115, was a large French biplane airliner of the 1920s with four engines, one pair on the upper wing and one pair on the lower. The prototype first flew on 9 May 1923 and crashed on 23 June that year, killing its pilot Jean Casale. A refined 115-bis flew in June 1924, powered by four 180 hp Hispano-Suiza 8Ab engines, and a bomber version, the Bl-103, was projected but never built. The third and fourth machines, named Roland Garros and Jean Casale, were used in Colonel Louis de Goÿs attempt to open air routes to Africa; the expedition left France on 18 January 1925 and ended at Niamey on 7 February 1925 when the Jean Casale crashed on take-off after covering 4,137 km.