Blackburn Monoplane - The Shuttleworth Collection

Описание: The Shuttleworth Collection's original 1912 Blackburn Monoplane Type 'D', performing at Old Warden Aerodrome, during the Shuttleworth Vintage Airshow 2020.

This is the original aeroplane built for Cyril Foggin in 1912, which by late 1913 had passed into the ownership of Francis Glew.

Put into storage and forgotten about at the outbreak of World War 1 in 1914, it was rediscovered in 1937, when found by chance at the back of a barn where it was concealed by a haystack.

Richard Shuttleworth acquired it and started a long term restoration programme, which was completed in 1949. In 1988 the fabric covering was replaced, following minor repairs to the airframe.

Although not definitively resolved, it is reported in the 1989 edition of Blackburn Aircraft Since 1909 (where it is described as the ‘Blackburn Single-Seat Monoplane’) that this machine was described in a contemporary Blackburn Sales Ledger as ‘Type D No 776’. This remains the subject of debate.

Robert Blackburn, one of the UK's earliest aviation designers and pioneers, initially experimented with flying from the beaches at Marske, Saltburn and then at Filey in North Yorkshire. He made his first recorded flight in the Spring of 1909. His first machine was destroyed in 1910, during an attempt to make a turn whilst in flight.

Blackburn achieved much greater success with his second monoplane, seen here, which was flown at Filey on 8 March 1911. It was designed and built for Cyril Foggin, who later became an accomplished aviator in the Royal Flying Corps.

This 1912 Monoplane, was powered by a 50 hp Gnome rotary engine and had a triangular cross section fuselage constructed of wood with cloth covering.
Early designs of this era utilised wing-warping rather than any form of aileron control surfaces.

The aircraft was used for a number of customer demonstration flights from Lofthouse Park (between Leeds and Wakefield). Blackburn himself, used the aircraft to promote his fledgling business by dropping sales leaflets over the wealthy areas of Harrogate to the north, and Stamford to the south. The machine also made a number of cross-country flights in April 1913 and on 23rd, 24th and 25th July 1913, Blackburn made daily newspaper delivery flights between Leeds and York, gaining huge publicity.

This second Blackburn design was followed by a successful series of Mercury-powered monoplanes (the Mercury I, II and III) of which only nine were built. These were all flown at Filey and later at Hendon.

Eventually, Foggins sold his monoplane to Montague Francis Glew, a recent graduate of the Blackburn Flying Schoool. Glew gave flying demonstrations around the UK, although he suffered a number of accidents and minor crashes, predominantly due to his poor piloting skills. During a local flight, Glew crashed the aircraft at Wittering, Lincolnshire in 1914.
It was collected and hidden in a haystack on the farm that Montague was leasing from Lord Burghley's estate, so that it would not be confiscated by the British government for military use.
It remained stored there under a tarpaulin until acquired by Richard Shuttleworth in 1938.

A number of components were totally unusable, such as the main wing spars and engine cowling which all needed to be replaced. The restored airframe eventually flew at Henlow on 17th September 1949, in the hands of AH Wheeler.

This rare survivor is the oldest British-built aeroplane remaining in flying condition today.

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