AVIATOR

Today is the day ! The Royal Aeronautical Society Memorial to Robert Blackburn, an early Victorian aviator, who started a flight school in Filey, North Yorkshire UK more than a century ago. He operated the Blackburn Flying School from March 1911 to September 1912.

This sculpture is a 1/6 scale model of the Blackburn Mercury Mk2 areoplane. It was piloted by Bentfield C Hucks and flew from Filey beach on 17th May 1911 to Scarborough and back.

The distance of about 16 miles took 19 min, at an altitude of 1200 feet.

Robert Blackburn is regarded as one of the most important people in the history of flight. He tested his most successful plane, The Mercury, on the local sands.
Within 10 miles we also have the home and workshop of George Cayley, the father of flight.

Looks like a Wallace and Gromit job !