Tom Lockley: The Blériot XI

This talk gives a brief outline of the development of the Bleriot XI, a discussion of the Shuttleworth Collection Bleriot XI ‘Manche’, the development of Guillaux’s aerobatic aircraft and comments on the Bleriot’s military history. Tom Lockley gave this talk to the Australian Society of WW1 Aero Historians at their meeting on 20 May 2023. Tom was a teacher of wide experience for 43 years, and on retirement enjoyed becoming a full time amateur historian with a special interest in aviation. After voluntary work as archivist at the ill-fated Bankstown Aviation Museum he continued with voluntary work at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. He became very interested in the Bleriot aircraft as a result of being coordinator of the centenary celebrations for the visit to Australia of the French aviator Maurice Guillaux. In July 2014 a reenactment of Guillaux’s pioneering mail flight (Melbourne to Sydney) was held, involving over 30 aircraft at different stages.