Lilian Bland

Lilian bland

born in 1878, birthday on 28 September

Lilian Bland was born into an Anglo-Irish family. She became interested in photography and, as a woman, had unusual hobbies for her time. She smoked, wore trousers and took part in hunting. She went on to become a sports journalist and press photographer for the London newspapers. In 1908 she was sent a postcard of Louis Blériot’s aeroplane, which sparked her interest in aviation.

She started building her own aeroplane. First she built a simple biplane, and after a successful glide she decided to build a proper aeroplane. She was not sure the aeroplane would actually fly. That is why she named it Mayfly (as in: “it may fly”).

After her first successful flight, Bland kept improving the aeroplane and started selling small scale-model aeroplanes to fund her project. In the end, her father persuaded her to sell her aeroplane and trade it in for a Model T Ford, and she taught herself to drive.

Source: Wikipedia.nl

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