"During Easter week Mr. Harold Blackburn (no relation to the aircraft-constructor) has been giving exhibition flights at Leeds. On Good Friday and Saturday he made several ascents on Mr. Foggin's new 50 hp Gnome-Blackburn, rising on one occasion to a big altitude. This machine climbs exceedingly quickly and shows a speed of about 60 mph. At noon on Monday Mr. Blackburn made his first ascent, flying around Wakefield and the surrounding country. During the whole afternoon flying was in progress, no less than seven ascents being made by Mr. Blackburn.
The final flight was made by Mr. Foggin, who mounted his machine for the first time, and made a splendid flight of nearly 20 minutes. duration. He rose to a good altitude, and handled his machine in such excellent style that one could hardly believe that this was his first flight on this type of machine.
On Tuesday afternoon Mr. Blackburn made a long flight on Mr. Foggin's machine. He made some very fine banked turns with his usual skill, finishing off with a neat vol plané. The flights were witnessed by hundreds of spectators, who were very enthusiastic in showing their appreciation of the flights of Mr. Blackburn and Mr. Foggin."
Later in 1913, the Monoplane was modified to have rounded wing tips and was fitted with a new design of landing gear. Subsequently it was sold to Montague Francis Glew, who crashed the it at Wittering, Cambridgeshire in 1914. The Monoplane was abandoned at a farm, where it was discovered by Richard Shuttleworth in the late 1930s. Partly restored by the outbreak of WW II, the restoration was finished by Squadron Leader L.A. Jackson in 1949. The second maiden flight was made by Group Captain Allen H. Wheeler at RAF Hendon on September 17, 1949.
The aircraft was registered at the UK Register of Civil Aircraft of the CAA as the Blackburn Monoplane G-AANI on October 29, 1981."