Bland
Lilian Emily Bland (b. 22 September 1878 in Maidstone,
Kent – d. June 1971, Penzance, Cornwall) was a British aviator who, in 1910-11, became one of the first women in the
world to design, build, and fly an aircraft.
Born to a family of Anglo-Irish gentry, in 1900 she and her father
moved to Tobercorran House in Carnmoney, north of Belfast, In 1909, inspired by a postcard of the Blériot monoplane,
Bland decided to take up flying, which involved building a machine herself. Bland successfully built a flyable model biplane,
and from this, she progressed to a full-scale glider, which was built from spruce, bamboo and canvas, and completed early
in 1910. The resulting, satirically named Mayfly was tested by gliding it from Carnmoney Hill, being progressively strengthened
and tested with heavier loads, until Bland felt it was strong enough to take an engine. She ordered a light 20 horsepower
two-stroke engine from A. V. Roe & Co., and after some delays brought it to Carnmoney in July.
In August
of 1910, Lilian Bland piloted her first successful flight of the Mayfly, Ireland's first powered biplane.
Having
proved her ability, Lilian Bland was to take no further part in aviation. She ran a Ford agency in Belfast, but family disapproval
of such "unladylike" activities resulted in her accepting an offer of marriage from a cousin in Canada. Helping
him to establish a farm on virgin land near Vancouver, her adventurous and inventive spirit found full scope.
She returned to England in 1935, to spend some years at Penshurst, Kent, before retiring to Cornwall in 1955, where she
died in June 1971.
Company References - Flight 23 January, 1964
Project Data
Project
No | Type No | Name | Alternative Name(s) | Year | Spec | Status | Qty | Description | References | | | Mayfly | | 1910 | | Proto | 1 | 1S
glider | 1,2,3,4 | | | Mayfly | | 1910 | | Proto | (1) | 1S,
1E biplane | 1,2,3,4 | | | Mayfly 2 | | 1911 | | Proj | 0 | 1S,
1E biplane | 1 |
Project References - British Aircraft
Before The Great War, Michael H. Goodall and Albert E. Tagg (Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2001)
- British
Aircraft 1809-1914, Peter Lewis (Putnam, 1962)
- Flight 17 Dec 1910
- Flight 23
Jan 1964
Total Bland Production 1
|