The Blackburn Second Monoplane was strongly influenced by the French ''Antoinette'' and was much more successful than Robert Blackburn's first aircraft. The lone aircraft was built in

Leeds, UK 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 arou ...

in 1910.

Development

The First Monoplane was not a success, barely leaving the ground before crashing. His second machine, the Second Monoplane was very different, and resembled

Léon Levavasseur Léon Levavasseur (8 January 1863 – 26 February 1922) was a French powerplant engineer, aircraft designer and inventor. His innovations included the V8 engine, direct fuel injection, and liquid engine cooling. Primarily associated wit ...

Antoinette Antoinette is a given name, that is a diminutive feminine form of Antoine and Antonia (from Latin ''Antonius''). People with the name include: Nobles * Antoinette de Maignelais, Baroness of Villequier by marriage (1434–1474), mistress of ...

design which Blackburn had seen in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The

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 ...

wing was rectangular with a constant chord, significant dihedral and square tips, and had a thin

aerofoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is a streamlined body that is capable of generating significantly more lift than drag. Wings, sails and propeller blades are examples of airfoils. Foils of similar function designed ...

section cambered on the underside, as was usual at the time. Lateral control was by

wing warping Wing warping was an early system for lateral (roll) control of a fixed-wing aircraft or kite. The technique, used and patented by the Wright brothers, consisted of a system of pulleys and cables to twist the trailing edges of the wings in opposit ...

. The wing was wire braced via a kingpost passing through the

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

, extending both above and below. The fuselage was, like the wings, a wooden structure covered with fabric, triangular in section and tapering towards the tail. This was characteristically ''Antoinette'' with a long, finely tapering fin and

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabilizer, is a small lift (force), lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters ...

, the

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

being divided into two triangular sections above and below the

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

, giving it clearance to move. The pilot's seat was at the trailing edge of the wing, and contained Blackburn's "triple steering column" which was moved up and down for elevator control, from side to side to warp the wings and rotated to move the rudders. This system had been used on the First Monoplane. The undercarriage main axle was carried at the bottom end of the kingpost with wheels at either end and bearing ash fore and aft skids. During development and taxying trials, this structure was braced and sprung in different ways before the undercarriage was deemed satisfactory. Flying was delayed by the choice of a new untried engine, a seven-cylinder radial designed by R.J.Issacson of the Hunslet Engine Co. of Leeds. This drove a wooden two-blade propeller via a 2:1 reduction gear. The aircraft was taken to

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 ...

on the English east coast for testing on the sands with B.C.Hucks at the controls. On 8 March 1911, after taxying for several miles, he made the first takeoff. He flew successfully for a while at about 30 ft (10 m) and 50 mph (80 km/h), but he sideslipped into the sands when attempting his first turn. Despite this mishap, after repair the Second Monoplane did good service at Filey as an instructional aircraft, bringing publicity to Blackburn's name and later machines.

Specifications

References

* {{Blackburn aircraft 1910s British experimental aircraft Second Monoplane Aircraft first flown in 1911 High-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Single-engined piston aircraft Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear