AP 118 · No. 10 Section II · Aircraft Plate 10 / 211

Plate 10 of 211 · Pioneers · Single-seat monoplane

Blackburn Mercury

Mercury (1911), replica, painted as BAPC.130, the Blackburn Mercury replica at the Yorkshire Air Museum, Elvington, built in 1979 for Yorkshire Television’s ‘Flambards’ and restored in 2000: Robert Blackburn’s 1911 single-seat monoplane in its Gnome-engined Mercury II/III form, a wire-braced monoplane with a deeply cambered wing warped for roll control, a triangular-section fuselage with its apex underneath, veneered forward and fabric-covered behind, a single kingpost carrying the landing wires, triangular rudders above and below the tail post, a 50 hp Gnome rotary driving a two-bladed propeller and a tall chassis of two long ash skids, each carried by a pair of spoked wheels, shown standing tail-down on its wheels: cream doped linen with the ash girder showing through the rear fuselage, polished mahogany veneer forward, light varnished ash struts and skids, a dark-stained pylon frame round the cockpit, a black tank on the forward decking, a bare-steel engine and a dark propeller, with no markings on the airframe (the side profile follows Flight’s 1911 side elevation, the span and length are Jackson’s Mercury II/III figures, and the engine, wing, tail and chassis details follow photographs of BAPC.130).

3D model

Turn it over

A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as BAPC.130, the Blackburn Mercury replica at the Yorkshire Air Museum, Elvington, built in 1979 for Yorkshire Television’s ‘Flambards’ and restored in 2000: Robert Blackburn’s 1911 single-seat monoplane in its Gnome-engined Mercury II/III form, a wire-braced monoplane with a deeply cambered wing warped for roll control, a triangular-section fuselage with its apex underneath, veneered forward and fabric-covered behind, a single kingpost carrying the landing wires, triangular rudders above and below the tail post, a 50 hp Gnome rotary driving a two-bladed propeller and a tall chassis of two long ash skids, each carried by a pair of spoked wheels, shown standing tail-down on its wheels: cream doped linen with the ash girder showing through the rear fuselage, polished mahogany veneer forward, light varnished ash struts and skids, a dark-stained pylon frame round the cockpit, a black tank on the forward decking, a bare-steel engine and a dark propeller, with no markings on the airframe (the side profile follows Flight’s 1911 side elevation, the span and length are Jackson’s Mercury II/III figures, and the engine, wing, tail and chassis details follow photographs of BAPC.130). Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (494 KB)

Data plate

Specification

First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (replica); engine, crew and dimensions are for the Mercury (1911), replica modelled here.

History

The Mercury

Robert Blackburn was a Leeds engineer who caught the flying bug in France in 1908, watching Wilbur Wright and the early French aviators. His first monoplane of 1909 barely left the sands at Marske-by-the-Sea, but he learnt from it, and his second design, the Mercury, was ready for the Aero Show at Olympia in March 1911. It was a clean single-seat monoplane with a wing warped for roll control, a fuselage of triangular section with its apex underneath, veneered in polished wood at the front and covered in fabric behind, and a tall chassis of two long ash skids, each carried on a pair of wheels. The first machine had a 50 hp Isaacson radial engine.

Blackburn set up a flying school on the sands at Filey, on the Yorkshire coast, and the Mercury became its mount. His pilot there was Bentfield Hucks, who had joined him as a mechanic and learnt to fly on the type. For the Daily Mail Circuit of Britain race in July 1911 Blackburn built two improved Mercury IIs with 50 hp Gnome rotary engines, smaller wings and a single kingpost for the landing wires. Neither finished the 1,010-mile course, but the race put the Leeds firm on the map. Further Mercury IIIs followed for the school, which later moved to Hendon, and for private customers.

Only a handful of Mercuries were built, and none survives. They led directly to the Blackburn Type D of 1912, now the oldest British aeroplane still flying, and to the Blackburn Aeroplane and Motor Company, formed in 1914. That company moved to Brough on the Humber and went on to build the Skua, the Beverley and the Buccaneer.

This airframe

Blackburn Mercury replica BAPC.130

BAPC.130The airframe modelled

BAPC.130 is a full-size replica of the Gnome-engined Mercury, built in 1979 for Yorkshire Television’s drama series ‘Flambards’, in which it taxied under the power of a car engine. It came to the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington in January 1995 and was restored there in 2000. It does not fly, and it is usually hung from the roof. The model shows it as photographed standing tail-down on its wheels: cream doped linen with the ash girder showing through the rear fuselage, polished mahogany veneer forward, light varnished ash struts and skids, a dark-stained pylon frame round the cockpit, a black tank on the forward decking, a bare-steel Gnome and a dark propeller, with no markings on the airframe. The side profile follows Flight’s 1911 side elevation, the span and length are A. J. Jackson’s Mercury II and III figures, and the engine, wing, tail and chassis details follow photographs of the replica.

See it at Yorkshire Air Museum

Where to see one

In the gazetteer

The gazetteer records the Mercury in one UK collection. The airframe modelled here is marked.

Every airframe and serial All 211 plates

Profiles and models are procedural interpretations built in Blender from published dimensions, three-view drawings and photographs of each airframe. Treat the museum aircraft as the reference.