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The Bleriot 125 was an unusual passenger aircraft, and attracted considerable attention when displayed on the Bleriot stand at the 1930 Paris Salon de I'Aeronautique. Basically of wooden construction, it had a high wing supported by twin fuselages, each with a luxurious cabin for six passengers, a toilet and baggage compartment. Above the centre section was located an enclosed cabin for three crew members. A monoplane tailplane with four fins and rudders was mounted to the rear of the twin fuselages, and landing gear comprised tandem pairs of wheels partially enclosed in the bottom of the fuselages. Powerplant comprised two Hispano-Suiza engines mounted in tandem on the wing centre-section, and driving one tractor and one pusher propeller.
Leon Kirste's design was somewhat ahead of the state of the art, and the Bleriot 125 demonstrated poor flight qualities when flown for the first time on 9 March 1931. Tests continued into 1933,
but although allocated the civil registration F-ALZD, the Bleriot 125 failed to gain an official flight certificate and was scrapped the following year.
| ENGINE | 2 x Hispano-Suiza 12Hbr inline piston engines, 410kW |
| WEIGHTS |
| Take-off weight | 7260 kg | 16006 lb |
| Empty weight | 4440 kg | 9789 lb |
| DIMENSIONS |
| Wingspan | 29.4 m | 96 ft 5 in |
| Length | 13.83 m | 45 ft 4 in |
| Height | 4.0 m | 13 ft 1 in |
| Wing area | 100 m2 | 1076.39 sq ft |
| PERFORMANCE |
| Max. speed | 220 km/h | 137 mph |
| Range | 1000 km | 621 miles |
| DasPoetica, poethaiku=comcast.net, 29.03.2011 Ken Kesey would have been proud, and the Merry Pranksters really could have flown! | | A Ducruezet, ADucruezet=aol.com, 06.02.2011 Clearly lacked the safety of having 2 or 3 engines instead of a single one. Could have been granted airworthiness certificate then ? |
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