Olympia Works
On 17 December 1903 Orville Wright flew the first powered aircraft just 37 metres in a flight lasting 12 seconds. In July 1909 Louis Bleriot became the first person to fly across the English Channel
Robert (Bob) Blackburn had been born at Kirkstall, Leeds on 26 March 1885 and, after attending Leeds Modern School, graduated in engineering at the University of Leeds. He proved to be a man of great drive and imagination
Robert’s father was George Blackburn manager of the Smithfields ironworks of Thos Green & Son, North Street, Leeds who were famous for producing lawnmowers, steam tramway engines, road rollers and many other more mundane products
Robert had no capital of his own but George lent Robert money and practical help in the shape of a pattern maker / joiner called Jack Rhodes and the loan of a gifted apprentice Harry Goodyear. By April 1910 they had taken premises on Balm Road in Hunslet, Leeds
By 1910 the earliest Blackburn aircraft had been designed, built and flown by Robert Blackburn, though it crash-landed on a beach near Saltburn, North Yorkshire only a minute after take- off
He set about preparing a redesigned monoplane, which in 1911, piloted by B.C. Hucks, successfully flew along the beach at Filey to a height of 50ft, averaging 50 mph
In 1911, at the age of 26, he established the Blackburn Aeroplane Company; and, having rented an existing flying school at Filey, he renamed it ‘The Blackburn Flying School’
In 1914, aged 29, Robert married his first wife Jessica Tryphena Thompson who had inherited a fortune, set up home at Gledhow Lodge on Gledhow Wood Road, founded the Blackburn Aeroplane and Motor Company with £20,000 capital half provided by Jessica and half by George and opened the Olympia Works at Roundhay Road in the former Olympia Roller Skating Rink
In the middle of their wedding reception, a telegram arrived for Robert from Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, with news of Robert's first government contract to build aircraft
Blackburn’s tested aircraft on Soldiers Fields (Roundhay Park) and gave regular demonstration flights for local crowds until the closure of the ‘Roundhay’ aerodrome in 1920
Jessica was one of the first women to fly in a British monoplane before the First World War, taking her first flight from Roundhay. She would also prove to be a major driving force in the success of the business
Many aircraft types were built at the rapidly expanding Olympia Works including over 100 BE2C army and navy biplanes and the famous Kangaroo, Swift and Sopwith Baby planes
In 1916 Blackburn built a new factory at Brough near Hull. The company flourished through the war years and the proximity of the River Humber meant the Brough factory was ideally situated for the launching of seaplanes
After World War One ended Robert tried to sustain his aircraft
manufacturing business by kick-starting commercial aviation. he introduced the first scheduled air service in Great Britain, offering half-hourly flights between Leeds (Roundhay) and Bradford. The Lord Mayor of Leeds was one of his first passengers
In 1919 he set up the North Sea Aerial Navigation Company, using ex-World War One war planes, which operated a regular passenger service between Leeds and Hounslow (London) and between Leeds and Amsterdam, as well as cargo flights
In 1917 he and Jessica had purchased Bowcliffe hall at Bramham near Wetherby. It was their home until their marriage was dissolved on 23 March 1936. On 9 April 1936 Robert married Phyllis Margaret Kirton
In 1936 The Blackburn Aeroplane and Motor Company changed its name to Blackburn Aircraft Ltd
The Olympia Works closed in the late 1920’s but was reopened for aircraft manufacturing in 1934
The aircraft most associated with Leeds is the Swordfish torpedo bomber. In May 1941, a Swordfish strike from HMS Ark Royal was vital in disabling the German battleship Bismarck.
In 1950 Robert retired, left Bowcliffe Hall and moved to Devon where he died on 10 September 1955 aged 70
In 1960 Blackburn Aircraft Ltd’s production facilities became part of Hawker Siddeley. The Olympia Works finally closed in 1961 and the Blackburn product name was dropped in 1963
In 1977 Hawker Siddley became a founding part of British Aerospace (now BAE Systems)
Notes
Download
Aircraft in Peace and War PDF 12.0 Mb
Jessica Blackburn Obituary PDF 0.1 Mb
Articles
Robert Blackburn
by Sharon Donaldson
Oak Leaves ODHS
Part Three - Summer 2002
by Hilary Dyson
Part Four - Spring 2003
Letter from one of our Readers. re Blackburns by Vera Agar
Related
Part Eight - Autumn 2008
Roland Ding, Dare-devil Pilot of Soldier’s Field by David Hanson
Links
BAE Systems Heritage > Blackburn
Graces Guide - British Industrial History
FLIGHT - 2 November 1944 p.471
Contact
Colleen Kitching “My father was General Manager of Blackburn Aircraft...so that was quite exciting, going round the factory and the grounds, which we were allowed to...with my father shooting foxes in the grounds, where there was a wooded area.” |