Blackburn Type I The Blackburn Type I was a single - engine civil two - seat monoplane built in Britain just before the First World War . Three were produced and used for flying demonstrations and training including seaplane pilotage . Development . The first Type I was built to the order of Dr . M . G . Christie as a two - seat version of the Type D . Dr . Christie was a student at the Blackburn School at Hendon but failed to obtain his Royal Aero Club pilot ' s brevet . He nonetheless remained deeply committed to aviation and the result was the brief for the Type I . The Type I was of identical construction to its predecessor but naturally longer to accommodate the extra seat , of greater span and with a modified fin and undercarriage . Both the passenger and pilot sat in a common extended cockpit , the former in front and over the centre of gravity so the aircraft could be flown by the pilot alone . For the first time , a Blackburn aircraft had the standard modern control combination of rudder bar and a column that moved fore and aft for pitch control . This column carried a wheel to control wing warping . The wings , braced from the undercarriage and from an inverted - V kingpost had the slightly rounded form of the modified Type D . The fin was shorter and less swept , not reaching the forward edge of the tailplane . The forward struts of the undercarriage were now forward sloping . The extra weight required more power , so a 80 hp ( 60 kW ) Gnome rotary was fitted , with an aluminium cowling surrounding all but the lower 135° of the engine . The Type I was first flown on or shortly after 14 August 1913 from the Yorkshire Aerodrome , Lofthouse Park , by Harold Blackburn . After the “ Roses Race ” described below , the cowling was modified with holes for carburettor air , and in December 1913 the double cockpit was converted into two by sheet - metal decking . A second Type I was built as a single - seater with a freight compartment in place of the passenger ’ s seat . It was externally distinguished by a single streamlined king post and by the absence of cowling in front of the engine . Surprisingly , this aircraft reverted to the “ triple steering wheel ” control of the Blackburn Second Monoplane . It was first flown by Harold Blackburn on 14 December 1913 . Since these two Type I machines had flown rather well , Blackburn produced the Improved Type I first seen at the Olympia Aero show in March 1914 . Its forward fuselage was deeper , the engine almost fully cowled and the leading edge of the tailplane cut back to meet the fin . It flew sometime before 9 July 1914 . This machine was modified in 1915 as a seaplane trainer , just 1 ft ( 31 cm ) longer than the landplane . It now had a 100 hp ( 75 kW ) uncowled Anzani radial engine and dual control . Twin main floats were supplemented with a small tail float . It was known as the Land / Sea monoplane , and could have exchanged its floats for wheels in a few minutes but was never called to do so . It first flew in this guise on 26 October 1915 . Operational history . The Type I was initially used in a mixed programme of demonstration flights and cross - country training flights , visiting Yorkshire towns , with him and the owner together . Typical of these flights were joy - rides offered at Bridlington in August and September 1913 . On one of these flights Harold Blackburn took 9 - year - old Miss Isla Tudor up to a height of 6 , 000 feet . On another occasion the noise of the engine caused a horse pulling one of Messrs . Ouston ’ s rullies [ carts ] to bolt , running over the cart driver . The Blackburn firm had its only air racing success with the Yorkshire built Type I in a 100 mi ( 160 km ) circuit via York , Doncaster , Sheffield , Barnsley and home to Leeds against the Lancastrian Avro 504 prototype for the Wars of the Roses trophy sponsored by the " Yorkshire Evening News " on 2 October 1913 . The Type I was piloted by Harold Blackburn with Dr . Christie as passenger ; the Avro 504 by F . P . Raynham with A . V . Roe as passenger . 29 March to 4 April 1914 was Sheffield Aviation Week , sponsored by the " Sheffield Independent " . Harold Blackburn offered joy - rides on the first Type I and , accompanied by a young lady known as " Little Miss Independent " , on 4 April he delivered the early edition of that paper to Chesterfield , some 16 mi ( 26 km ) south . In June 1914 the aircraft was flying at Blackpool and on 22 July Harold Blackburn inaugurated the first scheduled service in Britain with flights every ½ hour between Leeds and Bradford . This machine and an early Avro 504 bought to form a circus were commandeered by the Government on the outbreak of war and only narrowly escaped destruction by fire in Harrogate , supposedly at the hands of German saboteurs . The second Type I was flown by Harold Blackburn through the winter of 1913 - 4 . A trip from York to Leeds in fog , rain and gales brought out a crowd estimated at 10 , 000 . This aircraft also featured at the Yorkshire Show that year , but was later written off in York . The Improved Type I was also commandeered by the Government at the start of the war , but having no military potential was sold to the Northern Aircraft Co . at Windermere , successors to the Lakes Flying Company as the Land / Sea monoplane . Large numbers of RNAS pilots experienced their initial seaplane training on this aircraft before it capsized on 1 April 1916 .