1. Tryphena Jessica "Jessy" Blackburn was a British aviation pioneer and one of the first women to fly a British monoplane.
12 Facts About Jessy Blackburn
1. 2.
Jessy Blackburn was raised by her older brother Clarence and later by her sister Eugenie.
3.
Jessy Blackburn met her husband, the Yorkshire engineer Robert Blackburn, in 1912 and he introduced her to his love of aviation.
4.
Jessy Blackburn became an important asset in the sales and marketing of the company.
5.
Jessy Blackburn hosted RAF officials, politicians, media and aviation pioneers in their homes in Leeds and in Bowcliffe Hall, in Bramham.
6.
Jessy Blackburn learned to fly in Roundhay Park in Leeds, the test location for the company's new aircraft.
7.
Jessy Blackburn attended most of the major flying events of the next twenty years.
8.
Jessy Blackburn flew in the 1922 and 1928 King's Cup Air Races.
9.
Jessy Blackburn married again in 1941 to Group Captain Jack Noakes but again the marriage ended in divorce.
10.
Jessy Blackburn went on to marry Stanley Barton in 1953.
11.
Jessy Blackburn returned each time to using her first married name.
12.
Jessy Blackburn celebrated her 100th birthday in the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne and died in 1995, aged 101.