Grandson returns to honour pioneer of flight who found fame in just a minute

AVIATION pioneer Robert Blackburn only left the ground for a minute and his craft was damaged beyond repair in a crash – but his experiment marked an historic moment in aviation history.

A century after he took his first flight from the sands of Marske, in North Yorkshire, his grandson was in Hull to open the refurbished entrance to the university building, which is named in his honour.

Prof Robert Blackburn, who performed the ceremony with one of his grandfather's surviving daughters, Janie Rayne, delivered a lecture on his grandfather's achievements.

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

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

However after the crash he set about a redesigned monoplane which he successfully flew along the beach at Filey in April 1911, just 50ft off the ground and at a heady 50mph.

He went on to found the Blackburn Aircraft Company which designed and built more than 80 aircraft, including the Skua, Beverley and Buccanneer - aircraft which were all famous in their day. His original workshop was in Leeds, but in 1916 he founded the factory at Brough, now the home of BAE Systems.

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The Robert Blackburn Building, home to Hull University's Departments of Engineering, Computer Science and Physics, is also hosting a display of the aviator's career.

Prof Blackburn said: "My granddad was a very famous character in Yorkshire in the first half of the century, from about 1910 to 1950.

"He was the first Yorkshireman to design and build an engine-powered aeroplane and it is wonderful that the University of Hull has chosen to honour his memory and achievements with its display and the refurbished building that bears his name."