Royal Navy Stinson Reliant FK878, similar to the Reliant flown by the author, at the ATA Pageant at White Waltham in September, 1945.

The prototype Bluebird on the Brough compass base in January 1925.

TWO BLACKBURN SCHOOL MACHINES: On the left, the "Dart" seaplane, with Napier "Lion" engine; and on the right, the "Bluebird" light 'plane, with Blackburne engine.
The two-seat Blackburn Dart seaplane G-EBKF, and the prototype Blackburn Bluebird, G-EBKD at Brough early in 1925.

The prototype Blackburn R.1 Blackburn N150, first flown in 1922.

TWO BLACKBURN SCHOOL MACHINES: On the left, the "Dart" seaplane, with Napier "Lion" engine; and on the right, the "Bluebird" light 'plane, with Blackburne engine.
The two-seat Blackburn Dart seaplane G-EBKF, and the prototype Blackburn Bluebird, G-EBKD at Brough early in 1925.

The Blackburn Cubaroo was probably the largest aeroplane in the world in its day, and a single engined biplane at that. The Cubaroo could carry two tons of fuel and its 3 1/2 ton useful load included a 1 1/2 ton torpedo. The 1,000 h.p. Napier Cub 16-cylinder water-cooled engine weighed more than a ton and the all up weight of the bomber was nine tons. P. W. S. Bulman is seen here flying the prototype Cubaroo at Brough on August 21, 1924, the same month that the author began his apprenticeship.

The figures sheltering under the starboard wing of the prototype Cubaroo at Brough in August 1924, give the bomber scale.

Bulman flying the Cubaroo N166 at Brough on August 21, 1924.

The Blackburn Sprat, on which the author worked, seen taking off from Brough in 1926. This deck landing aircraft was first flown on April 24, 1926 by P. W. S. Bulman.
The Blackburn "Sprat" (Rolls-Royce "Falcon") The "Sprat," designed and built by the Blackburn Aeroplane and Motor Company of Leeds, is a training machine of relatively low power, and a feature of it is that it can be used either as a land aeroplane or as a twin-float seaplane, the two undercarriages being interchangeable. A particularly good view from both cockpits is obtained, as they are placed aft of the trailing edge of the top plane, a feature of value in all machines, but particularly in a training type, especially as the "Sprat" is also to be used for training in the landing on the deck of a ship, where a very small divergence from the correct spot may easily spell disaster.

View of the first Blackburn aeroplane, built in 1909.