Blackburn Type I

The Blackburn Type I was a single-engine civil two-seat monoplane built in England in 1913 by the Blackburn Aeroplane Company, the early Leeds aircraft firm of Robert Blackburn. The first example was ordered by Dr. M. G. Christie as a two-seat development of the Blackburn Type D, so it was longer and of greater span, and it was the first Blackburn aircraft to use the modern combination of a rudder bar and a control column that moved fore and aft, with a wheel for wing warping. It had an 80 horsepower Gnome rotary engine and first flew on or shortly after 14 August 1913 at Lofthouse Park, flown by Harold Blackburn. Three machines were built, a second single-seat freight version, an Improved Type I shown at the Olympia show in March 1914 and later fitted with floats as the Land/Sea monoplane for seaplane training. The type was used for demonstration flights, joyrides and training, took part in the 1913 Roses Race against the Avro 504 prototype, and flew a half-hourly Leeds to Bradford service in July 1914.