The Blackburn First Monoplane (also known as Monoplane No 1) was a British experimental aircraft constructed by
Robert Blackburn in 1909.
Design and development
The First Monoplane was a high-wing
monoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...
with the engine and pilot's seat located on a three-wheeled platform. A
cruciform tail
The cruciform tail is an aircraft empennage configuration which, when viewed from the aircraft's front or rear, looks much like a cross. The usual arrangement is to have the tailplane, horizontal stabilizer intersect the vertical tail somewhere ...
was carried on an uncovered boom extending from the wing. The 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) propeller was mounted just below the wing's leading edge and driven by a chain to the 35 hp (26 kW)
Green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...
engine below.
Designed during a stay in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, construction began at
Thomas Green & Sons engineering works at
Leeds
Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
, where Blackburn's father was general manager and was later relocated to workshop space in a small clothing factory. When complete, it was transported to the beach between
Saltburn and
Marske for testing from April 1909. In that year, only taxying trials with the occasional hop were made. The only flight – on 24 May 1909 – lasted for around one minute, and ended in a crash in which the aircraft was damaged beyond repair. Blackburn later recalled the incident thus:
Survivors
The only aircraft was destroyed but a replica of the aircraft was constructed by members of the
Brough Heritage Group and is displayed at the
Brough Heritage Centre.
Specifications
References
*
*
Blackburn Aircraft Company(archived page; details the construction of the replica)
{{Blackburn aircraft
1900s British experimental aircraft
First Monoplane
Single-engined tractor aircraft
High-wing aircraft
1909 in aviation
Aircraft first flown in 1909
Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear
Single-engined piston aircraft