Description and History of Site:-
Now a Tesco supermarket.

Robert Blackburn, who built his first aeroplane in 1908 at workshops in Balm Road and Benson Street Leeds, set up the Blackburn Aircraft Company and acquired premises on Roundhay Road, previously a skating rink, which became the 'Olympia Works'. By 1916 the company had expanded to include a site at Brough, near Hull, to manufacture aircraft, engines and run a flying school. The company remained on the Roundhay site until 1929.

One aeroplane built here would have been a Blackburn Monoplane Type 'D' of 1912. This is the oldest original aeroplane of British origin anywhere in the world, and is maintained in airworthy condition at the Shuttleworth Collection near Biggleswade. http://www.shuttleworth.org/collection/blackburnmonoplane/ (includes a video of the aeroplane in flight)

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Key Words :- aeroplane aircraft engines

Viewing the Site :- Public footpath alongside road.

Address :- Roundhay Road, Roundhay, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS8 4BU
Grid Ref :- SE 323 364
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.822875 , Long -1.510819
Local Authority :- Leeds Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site demolished or no longer extant
Site Condition :- Site redeveloped to industrial / commercial use
Site Dates :- 1914 - 1929
Record Date :- 07 July 2018

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © Nick Nelson