Andrew Blain Baird

Andrew Blain Baird (1 January 1862 – 9 September 1951) was a Scottish blacksmith and aviation pioneer. He made the first attempted all-Scottish heavier-than-air powered flight in the Baird monoplane on 11 September 1910. Baird was also one of the founding members of the Scottish Aeronautical Society.

Early life

Childhood Andrew Blain Baird was born in Sandhead on Luce Bay in the Rhinns of Galloway, Scotland. One of three sons, his father was a fisherman and handloom weaver. He became an apprentice to a blacksmith in Sandhead, worked as a lighthouse keeper on the island of Lismore, and then as an ironworker at Smith and McLean's on the Clyde shipyards. In 1887, when he was 25, he before opened his own smithy at 113 High Street in Rothesay, Isle of Bute.

Development of the Baird monoplane The excitement generated by the Wright Brothers' successful flight in 1903 piqued Baird's interest in aviation. He corresponded with the early aviators Louis Bleriot and S. F. Cody and exchanged information about aircraft design. Inspired by a visit to Blackpool for England's first ever Aviation Week in October 1909, he returned to Rothesay ready to design and build his own sophisticated monoplane similar to Bleriot's, with a four-cylinder, air- and water-cooled engine built by the Alexander brothers in Edinburgh.

In operating the monoplane, Baird was assisted by his friend Ned Striven, an electrical engineer with the Burgh of Rothesay who had contributed to the construction of the engine and design of the aircraft. while the tribute read "A valiant Scotsman with a creative mind. His hand was ever open and against no man. A man of mettle". thumb