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Страна: Великобритания

Год: 1913

A.Jackson Blackburn Aircraft since 1909 (Putnam)

Blackburn Type I

   M. G. Christie, DSc, who had done some flying at Filey and Hendon on earlier Blackburn types but had not qualified for an Aviator's Certificate, watched the performance of Cyril Foggin's new single-seat monoplane with interest, having known the owner as a fellow pupil at Hendon. It came as no surprise therefore when he ordered a two-seat version and engaged Harold Blackburn to give flying demonstrations and to act as his personal pilot. Similar in appearance to, and structurally identical with, the single-seater, the new Blackburn Type I two-seater had the span increased to 38 ft and was fitted with the more powerful 80 hp Gnome generously cowled in aluminium for about five-eighths of its circumference and driving a 9 ft Blackburn laminated walnut airscrew. The occupants sat in tandem in a large double cockpit, with the passenger in front over the C.G. so that the aircraft could be flown solo from the rear seat without ballast. Instrumentation included a large Hewlett and Blondeau inclinometer mounted externally on the starboard wing pylon strut, and the control column, conforming for the first time to contemporary practice, moved fore and aft for elevator control and had a large steering wheel for wing warping. A slightly redesigned undercarriage with forward instead of backward, sloping front struts imparted a rakish appearance to the whole machine.
   The Type I was delivered at the Yorkshire Aerodrome, Leeds, on 14 August 1913, and it is said that on its first test flight Harold Blackburn climbed it to 7,000 ft in 10 min. His flying programme, which commenced at Harrogate about a week later, usually took the form of a week or so's demonstration and joyriding at each town, followed by cross-country flights with M. G. Christie, the owner, at weekends. Typical of these trips was one made on 24 August 1913, from Bridlington to Leyburn (75 miles in 70 min) and then on via Ripon Racecourse to the Stray, Harrogate (40 miles in 23 min). Ripon was again visited on 10, 13 and 15 September - on the last occasion carrying Mrs Leigh, a local septuagenarian. Exhibition flying with steep turns took place at Doncaster and Wetherby on 20 and 21 September and a week or so later, on 2 October, Harold Blackburn secured the firm's first racing success by winning a challenge cup offered by the Yorkshire Evening News. In bad visibility and carrying Christie in the front seat, he groped his way to York, Doncaster, Sheffield, Barnsley, and back to Leeds in a 100-mile 'Wars of the Roses' air race against a Lancastrian entry in the shape of the Manchester-built Avro 504 prototype piloted by F. P. Raynham and carrying H. V. Roe as passenger.
   After the 'Roses Race' the Type I monoplane was modified in two stages. To improve engine cooling and air supply to the carburettor, two large holes were cut in the nose cowling, and a hinged inspection panel was also provided, probably to facilitate engine priming. At the same time the inclinometer was removed and refitted internally and the inscription 'The Blackburn Aeroplane Co, Leeds. Type I' appeared on the rudder in bold capitals. In December 1913 the aircraft reached its final configuration when the large single cockpit was covered in by a sheet-metal decking to form two separate open cockpits with padded edges.
   A second Type I monoplane which followed was a single-seater with a small freight compartment replacing the front cockpit, and a single vertical kingpost, encased in a wide-chord streamlined fairing, in place of the inverted V structure used for wing bracing on the previous machine. In this and two other respects it was a throw-back to the Blackburn Mercury since the cowling over the 80 hp Gnome was entirely open at the front, and it was controlled by means of the old 'triple steering column'.
   Harold Blackburn flew it continually throughout the winter, and no better testimony to its strength and airworthiness can be found than the readiness with which he braved first fog and then gales in flying from York to Moortown, Leeds, in two attempts on 8-9 January 1914. An ovation from 10,000 spectators in pouring rain is a measure of the enthusiasm he generated, and from 29 March to 4 April he took part with this machine in a "Sheffield Aviation Week' organized by the Sheffield Independent and delivered copies of the early morning edition to Chesterfield on the last day. Passengers were also carried in Christie's Type I throughout the meeting. The 'single kingpost' machine was then exhibited at the Yorkshire Show but was damaged beyond repair in an accident at York later in 1914.
   The success of these aircraft prompted the construction of a similar but somewhat improved two-seater which was the only monoplane of British design at the Aero Show which opened at Olympia on 16 March 1914. Then referred to as the Improved Type I, it differed significantly from its predecessors and can be distinguished from them quite easily in photographs. The 80 hp Gnome was more completely cowled and the engine bearers were modified to give a better nose shape in planform, while in side elevation the fuselage was noticeably deeper in the region of the undercarriage. The tailplane was cut back so that it did not extend forward of the fin, the tail skid consisted of two steel rods instead of one, and there were no wedge-shaped strengtheners where the front undercarriage struts were bolted to the skids. A small but useful identifying detail, not found on either of the other Type I machines, was a small brass engraved plate bolted to the nose cowling above the airscrew hub. Internally there were ash instead of Cottonwood flanges to the wing ribs. The aircraft type and the manufacturer's name were inscribed on the rudder, though less boldly than on Christie's machine.
   On 18 April 1914, Harold Blackburn took the Christie Type I to Saltburn, and during the first week in June was at South Shore, Blackpool. On 22 July he opened the first scheduled service in Great Britain by flying in it with the Lady Mayoress of Leeds on the first of the day's every-half-hour runs between Leeds and Bradford. He also tried out his old adversary the prototype Avro 504 biplane, and at the end of the month, when at Southport, took delivery of one of the first four production Avro 504s, but his plans for a flying circus ended at Harrogate in the following month when war was declared and both machines were commandeered by the Government. Guarded by Guy Wilton, one of Blackburn's pupils, they remained inert until a few days later saboteurs (local German waiters were suspected) soaked them in petrol and set fire to their canvas hangar. Somehow Wilton got both aircraft out safely but was badly burned for his trouble.
   The first flight of the Improved Type I went unrecorded, but it is known to have been flown at the Knavesmire aviation ground, York, on 9 July 1914 in the hands of the Australian pilot Sydney Pickles, who left next day for West Auckland with a passenger, two suitcases and a two gallon tin of castor oil for the engine. Fog forced him to land in a small field at Darlington and the flight was completed next day. After demonstration flights sponsored by the Yorkshire Post, the name of which was painted under the mainplane, he returned to York on 13 July where one of his passengers was R. W. Kenworthy, destined to be Blackburn's chief test pilot before the 1914-18 war was over. On 22 July he flew Col Brotherton, the Lord Mayor of Leeds, from Leeds to Bradford on the day that Harold Blackburn inaugurated his half-hourly service by conveying the Lady Mayoress.
   On Sunday, 26 July, Pickles flew the Improved Type I the 32 miles back to Knavesmire in 18 min at an average speed of 105 mph, and when war broke out this machine was also commandeered. It was taken to Scarborough in September and housed in the hangar built for the Blackburn Type L seaplane (q.v.). Obviously it was of little military value and in the following year was acquired by the Northern Aircraft Co, successors to the Lakes Flying Co of Windermere, for whom Blackburns rebuilt it as a floatplane trainer. They fitted an uncowled 100 hp Anzani radial, enlarged the cockpit openings, installed dual control, removed the wheels and axle and clamped the skids to the float spreader bars with U shackles. A small cylindrical float was fitted at the tail. Reconversion to landplane was only a matter of a few minutes so that in this form the aircraft was known as the Land Sea monoplane. In actual fact the wheels were never re-fitted.
   It was erected at Windermere by the Northern Aircraft Company and the first flight was made from the firm's slipway at Bowness by W. Rowland Ding on 26 October 1915. Despite the major engine change and the makeshift undercarriage, it needed no adjustments whatever although it was found expedient to remove the exhaust collector ring from the engine early in 1916. With Ding's name painted large on the underside of the mainplane, the aircraft was used for the initial training of a large number of RNAS pilots, and J. Lankester Parker, afterwards Short's famous test pilot, who also instructed on this aircraft, recorded an undated 2hr 39 min on it with pupils, as well as a climb, two up, to 4,050 ft in 31 min. On Saturday, 18 March 1916, he flew it from Windermere to Coniston Water and, although the trip took only a few minutes, climbed to 2,900 ft. The machine was tied up at Waterhcad Pier while the aviators lunched at a local hotel and on the return journey reached a height of 3,400 ft. It was the first seaplane to alight on Coniston where it attracted considerable attention, but a fortnight or so later on 1 April it capsized at Bowness and was written off.
   Designs prepared in 1914 for a pure seaplane based on the Improved Type I were not proceeded with, probably because float drag and the 100 lb weight penalty would have made it underpowered with an 80 h p Gnome, the estimated maximum speed being a mere 60 mph.

SPECIFICATION AND DATA
   Manufacturers: The Blackburn Aeroplane Co, Balm Road, Leeds, Yorks.
   Power Plants:
   (Type I) One 80 hp Gnome
   (Improved Type I) One 80 hp Gnome
   (Land Sea) One 100 hp Anzani
   Dimensions:
   Span 38 ft 0 in Length 28 ft 6 in
   Length (seaplane) 29 ft 6 in Wing area 252 sq ft
   Weights:
   (Type I) Tare weight 950 lb All-up weight 1,500 lb
   (Land Sea) Tare weight 1,124 lb All-up weight 1,733 lb
   Performance:
   Maximum speed (Type I) 70 mph (Land Sea) 82 mph
   Initial climb 700 ft min. Endurance 4 hr
   Production :
   (a) Type I
   Two aircraft only:
   1. Two-seater for M. G. Christie, first flown August 1913.
   2. Single-seater, with freight compartment, for Harold Blackburn first flown about December 1913, extensively damaged in accident at York about May 1914, stored.
   (b) Improved Type I
   One aircraft only:
   Two-seater shown at Olympia, March 1914, commandeered September 1914, converted to Land Sea Monoplane 1915.
   (c) Land Sea Monoplane
   One aircraft only:
   Conversion of the Improved Type I, first flown on floats at Bowness-on-Windermere 26 October 1915, capsized at Bowness and written off 1 April 1916.

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Описание:

  • A.Jackson Blackburn Aircraft since 1909 (Putnam)
  • M.Goodall, A.Tagg British Aircraft before the Great War (Schiffer)
  • J.Bruce British Aeroplanes 1914-1918 (Putnam)
  • P.Lewis British Aircraft 1809-1914 (Putnam)
  • Jane's All The World Aircraft 1913
  • Журнал Flight