#monoplane

[angliacambria]

G-AVRS Gardan GY-80-180 Horizon Socata Monoplane Light Aircraft

[postcard-from-the-past]

Aviator Durafour on a Chesnay monoplane

French vintage postcard

[nocternalrandomness]

A 1928 Bleriot XI at Zeltweg Air power 2009

[scotianostra]

On 17th September 1910 Andrew Blain Baird, working as a blacksmith in Rothesay, made the first flight by an entirely Scottish designed and built aeroplane.

Andrew Blain Baird was born in 1862 in Sandhead on Luce Bay in the Rhinns of Galloway, Scotland. One of three sons, his father was a fisherman and handloom weaver. He became an apprentice to a blacksmith in Sandhead, worked as a lighthouse keeper on Lismore, then as an ironworker at Smith and McLean’s on the Clyde shipyards before finally setting up on his own as a blacksmith at 113 High Street in Rothesay, Isle of Bute, when he was 25.

Baird was a daring thinker, a pioneer and innovator. He created many improvements to the plough, built a unique model of the triple expansion engine powered by electricity and was one of the original members of the Scottish Aeronautical Society.

Eager to expand his knowledge of aviation, Baird corresponded with the early aviators Louis Bleriot and S. F. Cody and exchanged information about construction of aircraft and their flight. Inspired by a visit to Blackpool for England’s first ever Aviation Week in October 1909,.

Baird returned to Rothesay ready to design and build his own sophistocated monoplane similar to Bleriot’s but with an engine built by the Alexander Brothers in Edinburgh that was 4-cylinder, air-cooled and with water-cooled valves. The control system he would design for his aircraft would be unlike anything that had been developed at the time. His wife sewed brown trussore silk for the wings.

The Baird monoplane, once completed in his own shop in the summer of 1910, went on show at an exhibition in the Esplanade Flower Garden at the front of Bute. and then to the amazement and excitement of all it was moved to the Bute Highland Games on 20th August 1910.

From there it was taken for storage and readying directly to a barn owned by Willie Dickie at his farm at Cranlasgvourity, Bute.

Scottish aviation history was about to be made when in the very early morning on this day in 1910, the Baird Monoplane was taken by a Mr Scott on his horse-drawn wagon to Ettrick Bay - with its wide expanse of sand reminiscent of the Kitty Hawk N.C. site chosen by the Wright Brothers for their historic flight.

In the sunshine and amid the wide golden sands of Ettrick Bay the first entirely Scottish designed and built plane sat ready to make history.

Andrew Baird was, on that day, assisted by his friend Ned Striven who was an Electrical Engineer with the Burgh of Rothesay and who had assisted him with the engine and related design considerations.

There on the wide expanse of Ettrick Bay beach, Baird and Ned Striven started the engine. All was ready. Hearts raced with anticipation. A small crowd looked on in amazement. And the flight into history began.

Flight Magazine on 24th September 1910,[ described it as follows:

“Mr Baird was seated in the machine and on the engine being started the plane travelled along the sands at good speed. Naturally, on clearing the ground, the swerving influence of the axle ceased and the influence of the steering wheel brought the machine sharply round to the right causing it to swoop to the ground. The contact was so sharp that the right wheel buckled and the right plane suffered some abrasion by scraping along the beach.”

Andrew Blain Baird had realised his dream - he had flown in an aircraft of his own design and construction.

His was the first entirely Scottish flight of a heavier than air powered craft.

Noted pioneer aircraft manufacturer Tommy Sopwith sailed his yacht into Rothesay Bay in 1910 to visit the Marquess and to attend the Highland Games and there viewed the Baird monoplane. whish was on display, Very impressed, he was given permission to incorporate some of Baird’s innovations into the aircraft he was designing and which would have such a great impact on the course of World War I.

Over the years, many others from around the world involved in aviation consulted Andrew Baird and learned from his pioneering experience and innovative mind.

[monkeyssalad-blog]

Salon de Locomotion Aerienne, 1909 Grand Palais Paris by Chris Protopapas Via Flickr: Found this amazing photo on Wikipedia and could not resist posting it here. Public Domain.

[scrimpswrites]

Tf sona mini dump including his human art, mostly sketches, I love him (he thinks about cow tools)

[toppyflygon]

Idk what scarier, the fact that Kai has full set of teeth or that this is the happiest I ever drawn him!!

Fun fact, Kai was a Fokker eindecker pilot, he wasn't the greatest one especially compare to what Kai achieves but still skill enough to fly one to them and not crash...maybe

[iwannakissasopwithcamel]

Hugo's Ganzmetall Wunderflugzeug! - "The All-Metal Wonderplane"

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Voting ended onMay 1, 2024

Role: Prototype Served With: None First Flight: 1589 Strengths: Metal Plane Weaknesses: Metal Plane Inspiration: Junkers J.1 (1915)

Description:

Exactly who Hugo Bennhold was is a mystery. An aircraft designer prolific in the last years of the war, his nationality, education, and personal history are all unknown. It is speculated that he was a Junker in some small western principality, but even that is uncertain. What is known is that the man was absolutely obsessed with steel aircraft.

The All-Metal Wonderplane was the first of Hugo’s designs, shipped by sky-line or zeppelin carriers to a number of large cities in a sort of advertisement scheme. The machine was sluggish, slow, and impractical, though technically impressive, and so they were usually left to moulder or put on display.

That said, many engineers took note of the wings, which stayed on without external means of support. These cantilever wings were soon copied by a variety of designers, though none of them were as robust as the Bennhold designs.