Blackburn Skua
| Blackburn Skua | |
|---|---|
 Production version Skua Mk II |
|
| Type: | Fighter plane and dive bomber |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
February 9, 1937 |
| Commissioning: |
1938 |
| Production time: |
1938-1939 |
| Number of pieces: |
192 |
The Blackburn B-24 Skua was a British fighter aircraft . It was used in the early stages of World War II . Unsuitable as a fighter , the Skua was soon only used as a dive fighter before it was replaced by Fairey Fulmar and Hawker Sea Hurricane . It got its name after the great representatives of the skuas .
history
The Blackburn Skua was designed as a carrier-based fighter (parallel to the Blackburn Roc ) from 1935 . It was the first truly modern aircraft of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm in all-metal construction, with landing flaps , retractable landing gear and controllable pitch propellers . The Skua was intended for a crew of two men (pilot and observer).
The first flight of the first prototype took place on February 9, 1937, the first production aircraft flew for the first time on August 28, 1938. Since the originally planned Bristol Mercury IX - double radial engines were not available, was in the series machines of the slide-controlled XII Perseus -Doppelsternmotor the same manufacturer installed.
Even when it was commissioned before the outbreak of World War II, it was clear that the model for the planned use as a naval fighter was out of date; As a dive fighter aircraft, however, the Skua was able to prove itself - at least initially. During the invasion of Norway in the spring of 1940, they were able to sink the German light cruiser Königsberg ; They were also used in the Battle of France near Dunkirk , where they were sometimes even shot down by their own troops due to the unknown type of aircraft. As early as 1941, however, the Skua were replaced by the front-line units by the faster and better-armed Fairey Fulmar and Hawker Sea Hurricane .
A total of 192 copies of the Blackburn Skua were built.
Versions
- Skua Mk I.
- Prototype with 840 hp Bristol Mercury IX engine, two built.
- Skua Mk II
- Production version with 903 hp Bristol Perseus XII engine. The fuselage was elongated and the wing tips were pointed slightly upwards, 190 built.
commitment
A Skua was reportedly the first British aircraft to shoot down an enemy aircraft during World War II - a Dornier Do 18 of the Luftwaffe on September 26, 1939.
The Skua was used as a fighter over Norway. Some kills against Heinkel He 111 as well as Dornier Do 17 and Junkers Ju 88 were recorded. A Skua pilot, William Paulet Lucy, there was one by the firing of seven aircraft status ace reach.
Military use
- Fleet Air Arm
- Royal Air Force as a target tug
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Data |
|---|---|
| crew | 2 |
| length | 10.85 m |
| span | 14.07 m |
| height | 3.81 m |
| Wing area | 28.98 m² |
| Wing extension | 6.8 |
| Empty mass | 2490 kg |
| Takeoff mass | 3732 kg |
| drive | 1 × 9-cylinder radial engine Bristol Perseus XII with 903 PS (approx. 660 kW) |
| Top speed | 362 km / h at an altitude of 1980 m |
| Service ceiling | 6160 m |
| Range | 1223 km |
| Armament | 5 × 7.7 mm machine guns, one 227 kg bomb |
See also
literature
- Eric Brown, CBE, DCS, AFC, RN., William Green, Gordon Swanborough: Blackburn Skua and Roc. In: Wings of the Navy. Flying Allied Carrier Aircraft of World War Two. Jane's Publishing Company, London 1980, ISBN 0-7106-0002-X , pp. 29-40.
- AJ Jackson: Blackburn Aircraft since 1909. Putnam & Company Ltd., London 1968, ISBN 0-370-00053-6 .
- Alec Lumsden, Terry Heffernan: Probe Probare. Blackburn Skua and Roc Part Two. In: Airplane Monthly. March 1990, Vol. 18, No. 3. pp. 146-150.
- Major RT Partridge, DSO, RM: Operation Skua. Society of the Friends of the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Ilchester 1983, ISBN 0-902633-86-4 .
Web links
- Fleet Air Arm archive on the Skua (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ John Wellham: With Naval Wings. The Autobiography of a Fleet Air Arm Pilot in World War II. Spellmount Verlag, Chalford (England) 2007, ISBN 978-1-86227-379-5 , pp. 55, 72.
- ^ Andrew Thomas: Royal Navy Aces of World War 2nd Aircraft of Aces 75, Osprey Publishing.