Blériot 71

The Blériot Bl.71 BN.3 was a large First World War French heavy biplane night bomber designed and built by Blériot to the BN.3 three-seat night bomber specification. Only a single prototype was built, which was damaged beyond repair on 15 May 1918.

Design and development
The Blériot Bl.71 was a large equal-span biplane with a fuselage braced between the two wings and bearing a strong resemblance to the Bl.67, (originally designed with the fuselage attached to the lower mainplane). Four 220 hp Hispano-Suiza 8B water-cooled V-8 engines were mounted above each other on each side of the fuselage, 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 Br.14 B.2 at Villacoublay on 15 May 1918, ending up in a ditch, damaged beyond repair.