Centenary of pioneer aviator's triumph marked with plaque

A century after Robert Blackburn took his first flight from the sands of Marske, in North Yorkshire, people will today gather at the company he founded on the banks of the River Humber to celebrate the aviation pioneer's achievements.

His grandson, Professor Robert Blackburn, will later deliver a lecture about him and a plaque will be unveiled at the entrance to the giant BAE Systems site at Brough. An internal road on the site is also being renamed Robert Blackburn Centenary Way.

When Blackburn first took flight few took the prospect of engine-powered flying machines seriously.

Blackburn himself later recalled his first flight saying the one minute aloft seemed "ages when I eventually pulled myself together and looked at the wreckage."

He wrote: "Thus terminated my first attempt at flight, with no personal injuries other than bruises and cuts but with the total wreckage of months of laborious work."

The Brough factory was founded in 1916, merging with General Aircraft in 1948. After Blackburn's death the company became part of Hawker Siddeley.