Nyrop N:o 3/Blériot XI (1911-1913)

The first Swedish aeroplane that really fly was built in 1910 by Ask & Nyrop in Landskrona. It was a modified Blériot XI of 1909 years model. The enterprise of Ask & Nyrop, which only built three aircraft during its short existence, became the first manufacturer of an aircraft to the Swedish defence.

In the spring  of 1911, O. E. Neumüller, a brewery owner, bought the third and last of the Ask & Nyrop-built modified Blériots. His intention was to donate it to the Swedish Navy. However he  made a condition. The Navy should send Lieutenant Olle Dahlbäck to an aviation school in England and pay for his education.

Dahlbäck got his aviator diploma as the first officer in the Swedish Navy in August. On the first of December,  the aircraft was officially presented to the Navy.

The intention was to use the aircraft for reconnaissance duties, but it was regarded as difficult to fly. It was not in the air many times and was written off in 1916. Already in 1913, the engine, a rotating 50 hp Gnome, had been dismounted and instead used in a Donnet-Lévêque flying boat.  

The aircraft  is preserved at Tekniska Museet (Museum of  Science and Technology) in Stockholm. Photos by Lars Sundin.

Length: 7,0 m.  Span: 8,6 m. Weight, empty: 310 kg. Max. speed: 80 km/h.

© Lars Henriksson

Updated 2009-05-13