The Blériot 71 was a large

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

French heavy night bomber designed and built by Blériot to the BN3 specification. Only a single prototype was built, which was damaged beyond repair on 15 May 1918.

Design and development

The Blériot 71 was a large equal-span biplane with a fuselage braced between the two wings and bearing a strong resemblance to the Blériot 67, (originally designed with the fuselage attached to the lower mainplane). Four

Hispano-Suiza 8B The Hispano-Suiza 8 was a water-cooled V8 SOHC aero engine introduced by Hispano-Suiza in 1914, and was the most commonly used liquid-cooled engine in the aircraft of the Entente Powers during the First World War. The original Hispano-Suiza 8A ...

water-cooled V-8 engines were mounted as close to the centreline as possible, two on the upper wing leading edge and two on the lower wing. The biplane tail unit was originally designed with three fins, but eventually built with just two and the fixed conventional landing gear had four-wheel main units on struts and a tailskid. During flight testing the Bl 71 collided with a

Breguet 14 B2 Breguet or Bréguet may refer to: * Breguet (watch), watch manufacturer **Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747–1823), Swiss watchmaker **Louis-François-Clement Breguet (1804–1883), French physicist, watchmaker, electrical and telegraph work * Bréguet ...

at Villacoublay on 15 May 1918, ending up in a ditch, damaged beyond repair.

Specifications

References

;Notes {{DEFAULTSORT:Bleriot 71 1910s French bomber aircraft 67 Four-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1917 Four-engined piston aircraft