Derived from the monoplane with which Louis Blériot crossed the English Channel on 25 July 1909, the type XI-2 built in 1912 was one of the first military aircraft in history. Purchased by the French, British and Italian armies, it performed reconnaissance, observation and training tasks. The Blériot XI-2 on display at the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace (Air and Space Museum) belonged to Adolphe-Célestin Pégoud, a pre-war aerobatic pilot. In 1913, Pégoud was the first to perform an inverted flight and then a loop with his Type XI-2 with reinforced upper stays: he flew on his back at an altitude of 1,200 metres, before descending in a spiral.