The 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) propeller was mounted just below the wing's leading edge and driven by a chain to the 35 hp (26 kW) Green engine below.

Designed during a stay in Paris, construction began at Thomas Green & Sons engineering works at Leeds, where Blackburn's father was general manager and was later relocated to workshop space in a small clothing factory.

The only flight – on 24 May 1909 – lasted for around one minute, and ended in a crash in which the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

Blackburn later recalled the incident thus: After racing along the sands what seemed a dizzy speed, the machine certainly did take off and then started a series of wobbles due to deviating from the straight and the low centre of gravity which I fear took charge....

Thus terminated my first attempt at flight, with no personal injuries other than bruises and cuts but with the total wreckage of months of laborious work.