Bleriot XI Number 56 (1909) Original Fuselage Longeron Relic Display

This display includes a section of extremely rare original (c. 1909) fuselage longeron from Bleriot XI aircraft number 56, built in 1909 at the Bleriot factory in France. Within two years this airplane was in the United States under the registration N60094. In August 1913 'Number 56' was rendered unflyable after a landing accident during an airshow in Saugus, Massachusetts. Its remains were taken to a local junkyard, where they remained for a number of years before being purchased by H. H. Coburn in the 1930s who was fascinated by the aircraft but did littler with it. In the early 1950s the aircraft passed to collector Bill Champlin, who began to rebuild it. Original parts that were considered too damaged to fly again were sold to fund his project, and many were purchased by Robert Boheme in 1956. The section from which these pieces have been cut, and others, were then acquired by Ron Cole of Cole's Aircraft as part of the Boheme estate in 2022.

Bleriot XI Number 56 is now the oldest aircraft flying in the world and is located at the Old Reinbeck Aerodrome.