The Gordon Bennett Air Race 1911 Part 2: Bleriot XXIII

[lone modeller]

Evening All,

After a bit of a struggle and numerous mistakes, many of my own making, I have managed to complete the two Bleriot XXIII models to represent the aircraft flown by A. Le Blanc and G. Hamel in the Gordon Bennett Air Race held on 1 July 1911 at the Royal Aeronautical Society's flying field at Eastchurch, Isle of Sheppy, Kent. Both models are scratch built form plastic card, rod and strip and wood, and are rigged with 40 SWG rolled copper wire. The spoked wheels are Everard photoetch.



There were only two Bleriot XXIII's built and they were specifically designed for racing. There are no drawings available and a limited number of photographs so I had to construct my interpretation of these aircraft from the sources available. The XXIII seems to have been a variation on the XXI for which I had a poor quality line drawing.



The Bleriots were powered by 100 hp Gnome Omega Omega rotary engines which were two 50 hp Omega engines bolted together. Originally the wings were of a greater span than shown on the models: prior to the race they had been cut down against the advice of Bleriot, and this seems to have made the aircraft difficult to fly because Hamel crashed after hitting the ground when turning around a pylon. Fortunately his was not hurt, but Le Blanc seems to have flown more slowly and therefore did not win the race. Earlier in May 1911 he had set a speed record in his Bleriot XXIII, but that was with the full wing span.



The published dimensions of the wingspan for these aircraft was too short so I had to work out that the quoted figure was for a wing from the fuselage to the tip: when I made the parts to these dimensions they better matched the evidence from the photographs. The rigging is also part guesswork as the photographs do not show clearly enough how it was arranged, so I have based it on the XXI and what seems reasonable from other types.











Most of the photographs are of the model which represents Le Blanc's machine, (no 5). Hamel's machine varied very slightly in small details from Le Blanc but these are difficult to see unless one looks very closely.

Thanks for looking.

Stephen.

[NinetythirdLiberator]

So cool, Stephen.  Rare Bear has nothing on that.  Tiny wings for speeeeeeed. 

Neato,
Dan

[Tim Mixon]

Very interesting choice of subject Stephen. Thanks for sharing the history.  Really nice work on these two racers. It’s interesting to think that even in the fledgling age of aviation, man was already scheming how to compete with each other. I guess that’s what drives innovation though.
I like these a lot. Hoping you have more unusual ones planned.

All the best,
Tim

[lone modeller]

Thanks Dan and Tim.

Tim: I have the two Nieuport II's which took part in the race planned for the next part of the project, and then the Wright Baby which was also a competitor.

Stephen.

[DaveB]

Wonderful work as ever, Steve -

Even if they look odd with the short wings .........

Regards

Dave

[Davos522]

Great work, Stephen, glad to see them finished. Love these two, anything obscure with wings (especially if it had to do with racing) always appeals to me tremendously... looking forward to the pair of Nieuports and that Baby Wright!

Dutch

[torbiorn]

Lovely little pair, and an interesting project. Can barely imagine they can get airborne with those short little wings. 

[PJ Fisher]

These are brilliant!

[kensar]

Nicely done, Stephen.  And nice effort considering what reference material you had to work from. 
One can clearly see that these were early aviation designs. 
Looking forward to seeing the next one you tackle.

[Rookie]

You keep amazing me with these rare birds Stephen.

It is just very clever how you manage to make such fine models with so little data.

Cheers,
Willem

[lone modeller]

Evening All,

These models of the Bleriot XXIII have proved to be among the most difficult that I have had to research. I was not happy with the tail skids which I originally made for them, but I could not find any reliable information concerning exactly how these looked. I therefore based those on the model on the type XXI, which was a precursor of the XXIII. However I recently visited the Eastchurch Air Museum and they provided a photograph of the rear of the wreck of Hamel's machine which shows clearly how the rear undercarriage looked. The white feature to the right of the tail skid is a mark on the negative:


(Photo published with kind permission of of Eastchurch Aviation Museum, copyright reserved).

Therefore I have changed the models so that they now have more conventional skids at the rear:



This is a big improvement as the models now sit in a more representative way when compared to the photographs of the real machines:



I believe that I have now a pair of models which are as close to being accurate as I am able to make them. There could still be some small details which are not 100% accurate, but unless more evidence turns up to show me what the inaccuracies are, I am happy to claim that these are representative of the original machines.

Thanks for looking.

Stephen.

[Davos522]

You're a "representational historian" after my own heart, Stephen (hey! I think I just coined a phrase!). I wouldn't hesitate to rip stuff apart if I found information like that either... looking forward to seeing the rest of the Bennett Collection!

Dutch

[lcarroll]

   Nicely done Stephen, your uncompromising determination to get the most accurate information from an often clouded trail of historical data brings a lot to the hobby and to the historical record. These two little gems are wonderful examples and additions to your unique collection. looking forward to the next projects in your series.
Cheers,
Lance

[dr 1 ace]

Nicely Done times 2 !!

Ed

[RichieW]

Sorry I'm so late to comment on these little gems Stephen. I think they are absolutely beautiful and so intricate. Having seen them in the plastic some months ago I know how tiny these models are and blown away by you have achieved to build from just a few grainy old photographs and very little else in the way of reference material. This is such a great demonstration of scratchbuilding .

Richie