what is it?
The Blériot-SPAD S.61 was a French fighter aircraft developed in 1923. Designed by André Herbemont, the S.61 was a conventional biplane, abandoning the swept upper wing used by Herbemont in several previous designs. The prototype S.61 was evaluated by the French Air Force alongside the S.51 as a potential new fighter, but like its stablemate, was rejected.
How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 9.6 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 103 years ago, in 1923.
- Top speed is 2.0× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 9.6 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1923
- number built
- 350
- role
- fighter
- makers
- Blériot
- engines
- 1× Lorraine-Dietrich 12E / Lorraine 12E Courlis
- crew
- 1
- length
- 6.6 m
- wingspan
- 9.6 m
- height
- 3.1 m
- max take-off weight
- 1,522 kg
- top speed
- 260 km/h
- range
- 400 km
- ceiling
- 8,500 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q610880, Wikipedia: Blériot-SPAD S.61 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.