Blackburn Aircraft - It's hard to mention Blackburn ("Blackburn Aircraft Limited" - and boy, isn't it) without bringing up anecdotes about terrible, tough, ugly or deadly aircraft. But does Blackburn deserve such a reputation? Matthew Willis knows this.
A few years ago, this author half-jokingly suggested using the #FirebrandFriday hashtag on Twitter, which was met with screams of horror a few minutes later: “But this is a terrible death trap!” — from a well-known defense expert completely unknown to this blog. Mentioning the skua always results in someone repeating "a sea bird that folds its wings and dives into the sea" for too long. Botha was one of the aircraft of which the mythical test pilot is said to have written, "Entering the aircraft is difficult." It must be impossible.
Blackburn Aircraft
Blackburn seems to be the only company with a very bad product reputation. No British aircraft manufacturer has escaped its share of ill-fated aircraft - many of Supermarine's latest models were clumsy, dangerous and had a loss rate that made them almost serviceable. Meanwhile, Avro proved its inability to design an aircraft larger than a regional feeder machine that would not kill a very large number of passengers. In most cases, this does not define the company. With Blackburn it seems like all the dirt is stuck.
British Heavy Transport Aircraft Blackburn Beverley. Mikromir 14
The company was one of the first and most successful manufacturers in the UK. Robert Blackburn was an engineer who became fascinated with aviation in the 1900s while working in France, spending more time on vacation than his employer intended to see the Wrights, Blériot and Hubert Latham in their "flying machines". On his return to England in 1908 he immediately decided to emulate this pioneer and built a monoplane which was completed the following year. This is a rather unconventional item with a few touches that indicate that this is the product of engineers, not aeronauts. First, it's built for durability - something Blackburn products will be accused of for the rest of the company's life - and includes cool features like front and rear sliding seats to adjust the center of gravity. The overall layout was modified to provide greater stability in the air, with all heavy equipment—pilot, engine, and fuel/coolant tank—suspended far below the wings. Blackburn did not understand that this could mean too much good. He made several jumps in this plane along the coast in Yorkshire, but when he tried to turn around, he skidded to the ground, against the backdrop of a mass trying to prevent the plane from rolling.
Undaunted and unflinching, Blackburn tried again, and this time created an elegant conventional monoplane that flew well. At this point, he ventured into the production of aircraft, offering to build aircraft according to someone else's designs, as well as putting up for sale the second successful monoplane. A larger development of this aircraft, called the "Mercury", was made in 1912, nine such aircraft were built in total - not a bad result for an aircraft before the First World War. Further aircraft along the same route were produced one and two at a time, each more advanced than the last, until the outbreak of war in 1914.
If Blackburn had continued to be unambitious, perhaps it would have been known as an interesting, if unimaginative aircraft manufacturer. However, with the outbreak of war, Blackburn's unconventional engineering mind reasserted itself. The admiral requested an aircraft of unparalleled endurance that could hunt zeppelins while remaining on board for hours, even at night, patrolling menacing aircraft. For his "TB" Blackburn came up with a layout not repeated on production aircraft until the P-82 Twin Mustang of 1945 - two fuselages, each with engines and a cockpit (although only one had controls).
The TB was supposed to be powered by a new 150 hp engine. with low fuel consumption, but, setting off a trend for the Blackburn, this power plant was not available and had to be paired with a smaller power unit. TB is arguably too ambitious and the worrisome kink between the two fuselages cannot be overcome. Undeterred, Blackburn returned to the drawing board and used the TB wing in a conventional twin-engine layout with a long, narrow fuselage. The resulting aircraft, known as the "Kangaroo", was quite good, and with good power (250 hp). , causing enough damage to make her an easy target when Royal Navy destroyers arrived on the scene.
Aviation Photographs Of Operator: Blackburn Aircraft
Blackburn was best known throughout the life of the company as a supplier of carrier-based aircraft. No wonder it all started with an aircraft that was as innovative as it was clumsy. Blackburn develops the ability to create elegant solutions from an engineering point of view, but at the same time look surprisingly inelegant. The Blackburd 1919—yes, that's what it was called, to be honest—the torpedo bomber was one of the most disgusting of the company's many unappealing products. The reason for this is mainly in its fuselage. Over the years, aircraft manufacturers have simplified the design of wings with fixed section main planes.
For the Blackburd, Blackburn applied this principle to both the wings and the fuselage. There are certain advantages to this - the four spars are equal to each other, as well as all vertical and horizontal elements. It's perfect for wartime mass production - the feature is pretty much useless now that the war is over - but exudes a brick aesthetic.
The Admiralty rejected Blackburd and Blackburn tried again in 1920. The result was the Dart, a very thin plane compared to the Blackburd and unattractive compared to others. But the Dart is a good plane. It handles beautifully and is a very practical transport aircraft. The small aircraft carrier of the early interwar period was easy to board, even at night, and served for ten years. Dart was replaced by an evolution of the concept, Ripon and Baffin, making Blackburn the sole supplier of torpedo bombers to the RN between 1921 and 1936.
With the sequel to Baffin, Shark, they almost did it again. The Shark was a very modern car at the time (more modern than its Fairey competitor). Unfortunately for Blackburn, things went wrong here. Blackburn wanted a Bristol Pegasus engine, but the Air Ministry insisted on an unreliable Armstrong Siddeley Tiger. Problems with the oil system and engine mounts were easy to fix, but created a bad reputation for the crew (not surprising, given that the engines on the Mk.I had a nasty habit of trying to break free in flight). The Shark was introduced in 1935 and discontinued in 1937 despite being mostly a good design.
Raf Empire Air Day, 1939
The next two services from Blackburn only added to this misfortune, although it was largely undeserved. The Skua dive bomber is, again, an excellent aircraft in many ways. It was an excellent dive bomber, but the Admiralty wisely decided that it needed the dive bomber to also be a fighter, and this was its most frequent use in the early years of World War II. Again, the Blackburn had no choice of engine, but a two-seat dive-bombing fighter with a 900 hp Bristol Perseus engine. would not shine in the air. In 1940, the idea of a fighter jet with a top speed of 225 miles per hour was laughable to anyone but the crew that had to fight in it. It didn't help that being the first monoplane in service with the Fleet Air Force meant a painful adaptation to the new characteristics. Skua can catch people who do not pay attention to his stall. In addition, there is the fact that obsolete machines have been converted into training fighters, and most pilots test them in such a state that potential aces are unlikely to like it. Skua's modern aircraft, Botha, was intended to be a coastal torpedo bomber flying along the same route as the Bristol Beaufort. Although Botha and Beaufort were both ultimately overweight, only Bristol received permission to use the more powerful engine. Botha left in disgrace faster than Shark.
Blackburn's actions following Skua are typical of the company in many ways. Innovative engineering, a solid - maybe too strong - design but lacking a better engine, hurt by official interference and poor timing. The Firebrand began life as a two-seat fighter and ended up changing the demands of the Admiralty and the dictates of the Air Ministry. The original Hercules-powered aircraft was to have a lightweight fixed undercarriage and twin tails.
The next iteration was more unconventional, with full length slotted flaps and spoiler type ailerons giving good carrier landing performance with smaller wings for higher performance. He was poked and poked into a Napier Saber powered single-seat fighter and then attacked the aircraft, now with conventional weapons.
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