Blériot 117

The Blériot 117, also written B-117, was a large twin-engined French aircraft of the mid-1920s, conceived as a heavily armed escort that would defend formations of day bombers against fighter attack instead of leaving each bomber to rely on its own vulnerable gunners. It was a mid-wing monoplane with a cantilever wing in three parts, two 300 kilowatt (400 horsepower) water-cooled Lorraine-Dietrich 12D V12 engines and three gunner positions, one in the nose and one in each engine nacelle, giving a wide field of fire. It first flew on 19 June 1924 and did not reach production, but it was developed into the Blériot 127, of which forty-two served with the Service Aéronautique.