Blériot 165 Explained

The Blériot 165 (or Bl-165) was a French airliner of the 1920s. It was a twin-engined biplane, a final development in the family of designs that began with the Blériot 115. Two were built for Air Union to replace the Farman Goliath on their Paris–London route and were christened Leonardo da Vinci and Octave Chanute. The airline found that it preferred the Lioré et Olivier LeO 21s that it had ordered alongside this aircraft, meaning that no further examples were produced.

The second aircraft had originally been fitted with Renault 12Ja inline engines and night-flying equipment and had been designated Blériot 175, but it was soon refitted to the same standard as the first and shared its designation. At one point, plans were made to build a second 175 for Paul Codos to make a long-distance flight from Paris to Tokyo, but this did not eventuate. Similarly, plans to build a bomber version as the Blériot 123 were also abandoned.

Variants

123:Projected three-seat bomber version. Not built.

165:Original design with 2x 420abbr=onNaNabbr=on Gnome & Rhône 9Ab engines.^[1]

175:Powered by 2x 450abbr=onNaNabbr=on Renault 12Ja, fitted with night-flying gear.^[2]

Operators

• Air Union

Bibliography

• Cortet. Pierre. L'avion de transport public Blériot 165 . Avions: Toute l'Aéronautique et son histoire . July 2000. 88 . 11–14 . The Commercial Transport Blériot 165. fr . 1243-8650.
• Cortet. Pierre. Rétros du Mois . Avions: Toute l'Aéronautique et son histoire . February 2000 . 83 . 5 . Retros of the Month . fr . 1243-8650.

Further reading

• Book: Taylor, Michael J. H. . Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation . 1989 . Studio Editions . London . 162 .
• Book: World Aircraft Information Files . Bright Star Publishing. London .

Notes and References

1. Web site: Parmentier . Bruno . Blériot Bl-165 . Aviafrance . 25 February 2018 . Paris . fr . 20 December 1998.
2. Web site: Parmentier . Bruno . Blériot Bl-175 . Aviafrance . 25 February 2018 . Paris . fr . 12 January 1997.