An engineer from the Ecole Centrale, Louis Blériot made his fortune by manufacturing headlights for the automobile industry. He developed a passion for aircraft engines and built monoplanes without much success. In 1908, he managed to fly his Blériot VIII for 11 minutes. A year later, on 25 July 1909, he made the first air crossing of the English Channel in a Blériot XI equipped with a 25 hp engine. Hailed throughout the world, his feat led to the development of aviation. Louis Blériot was the first industrialist in aeronautics and developed his company, Blériot-Aéronautique, which rose to the top of the international scene.