BLACKBURN SKUA I

BLACKBURN B-24 SKUA I - Designed by G E Petty to Specification 0.27/34, the Blackburn Skua was the first deck-landing monoplane fighter-bomber produced for the Fleet Air Arm. The prototype, with 840 hp Mercury IX, flew on February 9, 1937, and production aircraft to Specification 25/36, with the 890 hp Perseus XII engine, began to appear in 1938, the first being flown on August 28. Production totalled 190 and was completed by March 1940. The Blackburn Skua had an arma-ment of four 0.303-in (7.7-mm) Browning machine guns in the wings plus one Lewis gun of the same calibre on a pillar mounting in the rear cockpit, and carried one 500-lb (227-kg) bomb on a retractable ejector arm under the fuselage for dive bombing plus eight 30-lb (13.6-kg) practice bombs under the wings. First deliveries were made to Nos 800 and 803 Sqns in late 1938, and Nos 801 and 806 equipped on the type in 1939, but the Blackburn Skua was withdrawn from front-line service by August 1941, whereafter several continued in use for advanced training and for target-towing, for which latter role the final production batches were equipped from the outset.

Max speed, 225 mph (362 km/h) at 6,500 ft (1,980 m). Cruising speed, 114-187 mph (183-301 km/h). Initial rate of climb, 1,580 ftlmin (26.3 tn/sec). Service ceiling, 20,200ft (6,157 m). Max range, 435 mis (700 km). Empty weight, 5,496 Ib (2,495 kg). Gross weight, 8,124 Ib (3,688 kg). Span, 46ft 2 in (14.07 m). Length, 35 ft 7 in (10.84 m). Wing area, 319sqft (29.64 m2).