The Blackburn Mercury was an early British aircraft designed as a pilot trainer for the Blackburn Flying School,

Filey Filey () is a seaside town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is located between Scarborough, North Yorkshire, Scarborough and Bridlington on Filey Bay. Although it was a fishing village, it has a large ...

, in 1911. It was an enlarged, two-seat version of the Second Monoplane that flew earlier that year. It was a mid-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 ...

of conventional configuration that accommodated pilot and student in tandem, open cockpits. This prototype was displayed at the Olympia Aero Show in March 1911, and led to orders being placed for two racers to participate in the ''

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'' Circuit of Britain race. The first of these crashed on takeoff, and the second was first rebuilt into a two-seat trainer, then into a single-seat trainer known as the Type B."The Blackburn School Monoplane", p.1051. Though ''Flight'' refers to this aircraft as the Blackburn School monoplane, it is the Type B. Another six Mercuries were built for various private buyers. A full-scale non-flying replica of Mercury II configuration was constructed for the

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

series '' Flambards'' and is now displayed at the

Yorkshire Air Museum The Yorkshire Air Museum & Allied Air Forces Memorial is an aviation museum in Elvington, York, England, on the site of the former RAF Elvington airfield, a Second World War RAF Bomber Command station. The museum was founded, and first opened ...

Variants

* Mercury I – two-seat prototype powered by Isaacson engine (one built) * Mercury II – single-seat racer version with

Gnome A gnome () is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and widely adopted by authors, including those of modern fantasy literature. They are typically depict ...

rotary engine (two built) ** Type B – one Mercury II converted to single-seat trainer * Mercury III or Mercury Passenger Type – (six built) two-seaters powered by a variety of Isaacson, Gnome, Renault and

Anzani Anzani was an engine manufacturer founded by the Italian Alessandro Anzani (1877–1956), which produced proprietary engines for aircraft, cars, boats, and motorcycles in factories in Britain, France and Italy. Overview From his native Italy, ...

engines

Specifications (Mercury I)

Notes

References

* * * *
Yorkshire Air Museum website

Blackburn Mercury
– British Aircraft Directory {{Blackburn aircraft 1910s British civil trainer aircraft Mercury High-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1911 Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear Single-engined piston aircraft