Blackburn Skua

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Blackburn Skua

Type	Dive bomber
Manufacturer	Blackburn Aircraft
Maiden flight	1937-02-09
Introduced	November 1938
Retired	1941 (withdrawn from front line)
Primary user	Fleet Air Arm
Number built	192

The Blackburn Skua was a naval combat aircraft operated by the British Fleet Air Arm and combined the dual functions of dive-bomber and fighter. It took its name from the seabird Skua.

1 Development and design
2 Service
3 Production
4 Operators and units
- 4.1 Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm
- 4.2 Royal Air Force
5 Specifications (Skua Mk. II)
6 References
7 External links
8 Related content

[edit] Development and design

Built to Air Ministry specification O 27/34, it was a radical development for the Fleet Air Arm, being of all-metal construction and their first service monoplane. Its retractable undercarriage and enclosed cockpit were also new to a service that was primarily equipped still with open cockpit biplanes such as the Fairey Swordfish. Performance for the fighter role was compromised by the aircraft's low speed and relative lack of power. But the aircraft's armament of four fixed wing machine-guns and a single rearward-firing weapon were certainly effective in situations where crews were able to close with the enemy. For the dive-bombing role, a single 250 or 500-lb bomb was carried on a special swinging crutch under the fuselage which enabled the bomb to clear the propeller arc on release. Four 40-lb bombs or eight 20-lb 'Cooper' bombs could also be carried in racks under each wing. It had large 'Zap' type airbrakes/flaps which helped both in dive bombing and landing on aircraft carriers at sea.

[edit] Service

Skuas are credited as the first British aircraft to shoot down an enemy aircraft in the Second World War: a Dornier Do 18 flying boat was downed over the North Sea on September 26, 1939 by three Skuas flying from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. On April 10, 1940 16 Skuas flying from the Orkney Islands sank the German cruiser Königsberg in Bergen harbour during the German invasion of Norway. This was the first large warship to be sunk by Allied forces in the war. However, the two most experienced Skua squadrons, 800 NAS and 803 NAS were decimated during an attempt to bomb the battlecruiser Scharnhorst at Trondheim on June 13, 1940. Of fifteen aircraft on the raid, eight were shot down and the crews killed or taken prisoner. Among the latter were both squadron commanders, Captain R.T. Partridge (Royal Marines) and Lieutenant-Commander John Casson (Royal Navy).

Though it fared reasonably well against Axis bombers over Norway and in the Mediterranean, the Skua suffered heavy losses when confronted with modern fighters, particularly the Messerschmitt Bf 109, and they were withdrawn from front-line service in 1941. The aircraft was largely replaced by another two-seater, the Fairey Fulmar which doubled the Skua's forward armament and also boasted a speed advantage. A number of aircraft were converted to target tugs following withdrawal from frontline service. Others were in fact completed as target tugs from the factory and used by the RAF and Fleet Air Arm in this role ('Fleet Requirements'). They were also used as advanced trainers for the Fleet Air Arm. The last Skua in service was struck off charge in March 1945.

The Blackburn Roc was a very similar aircraft developed as a "turret fighter" (its armament was in a dorsal turret) and the Roc was expected to serve alongside the Skua though in practice it only did so as land based squadrons.

[edit] Production

Skua Mk I : 2 Prototypes.
Skua Mk II : Two-seat fighter and dive bomber for the Royal Navy - 190 built by Blackburn at Brough Aerodrome

[edit] Operators and units

[edit] Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm

755 Naval Air Squadron
757 Naval Air Squadron
758 Naval Air Squadron
759 Naval Air Squadron
760 Naval Air Squadron
767 Naval Air Squadron
769 Naval Air Squadron
770 Naval Air Squadron
771 Naval Air Squadron
772 Naval Air Squadron
774 Naval Air Squadron
776 Naval Air Squadron
778 Naval Air Squadron
779 Naval Air Squadron
780 Naval Air Squadron
782 Naval Air Squadron
787 Naval Air Squadron
788 Naval Air Squadron
789 Naval Air Squadron
791 Naval Air Squadron
792 Naval Air Squadron
794 Naval Air Squadron
797 Naval Air Squadron
800 Naval Air Squadron
801 Naval Air Squadron
803 Naval Air Squadron
806 Naval Air Squadron

[edit] Royal Air Force

RAF Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Units

[edit] Specifications (Skua Mk. II)

Data from Fleet Air Arm Archive^[1]

General characteristics

Crew: 2
Length: 35 ft 7 in (10.8 m)
Wingspan: 46 ft 2 in (14.1 m)
Height: 14 ft 2 in (4.3 m)
Wing area: 312 ft² (29.0 m²)
Empty weight: 5,490 lb (2,490 kg)
Loaded weight: 8,228 lb (3,730 kg)
Powerplant: 1× Bristol Perseus XII radial engine, 905 hp (675 kW)

Performance

Maximum speed: 225 mph (195 knots, 360 km/h) at 6,500 ft (2,000 m)
Range: 800 mi (700 nm, 1,300 km)
Service ceiling: 20,200 ft (6,150 m)
Wing loading: 26.4 lb/ft² (128 kg/m²)
Power/mass: 0.11 hp/lb (180 W/kg)

Armament

Guns:
- 4× 0.303 in (7.7 mm) forward-firing Browning machine guns
- 1× rear-firing Lewis gun or Vickers K gun
Bombs: 1× 500 lb (230 kg) semi-armour piercing bomb or 1× 250lb (115 kg) semi-armour piercing/ General Purpose bomb and 4× 40lb bombs or 8× 20 lb bombs