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Introduction: The Blackburn Skua was an interesting aircraft from a historical perspective, fulfilling two very different roles quite decently. The aircraft also took part in some interesting Second World War firsts, despite it being almost being forgotten in the public eye.
Description: The Skua originated from a need to replace the Hawker Osprey and Nimrod, a naval dive-bomber and fighter respectively, with a single aircraft under requirement O.27/34. Blackburn’s aircraft, an all-metal, low-wing monoplane with a retractable undercarriage, with a crew of two, was chosen to progress to the production stage. This was quite an ambitious requirement, that was quite new for the Royal Navy, being one of their first carrier-based monoplanes, in addition to the multirole nature of the aircraft. The aircraft first flew on 9th February 1937, appearing at Hendon Air Display later that year, eventually being christened Skua. The aircraft was described as “pleasant and easy to fly and land” during trials, with 190 aircraft being ordered, the first entering service in 1938. Armament consisted of four 0.303in (7.7mm) machine guns in the wings (which can be folded manually to lie alongside the fuselage) and a flexibly-mounted Lewis gun fired from the rear cockpit. The bombload consisted of a single semi-recessed 500lb bomb underneath the fuselage on a swinging ejector crutch.
Service: The Skua was on the frontline at the beginning of the Second World War. Whilst outclassed as a fighter by both other Allied and Axis types, the aircraft served decently well as both a fighter and a dive-bomber. On 25th September 1939, the Skua scored Britain’s first air-to-air kill of the entire war, downing a Dornier Do 18 flying boat. The type would go on to shoot down various other aircraft both in the air and on the ground during its service life. On 10th April 1940, Skuas attacked the German cruiser Konigsberg in Bergen harbour, sinking it, making it the first major surface vessel to be sunk during the war by dive bombing attack. The Skua would take part in the Evacuation of Dunkirk in June 1940, providing air cover for Allied forces. The Skua would also take part in the bombing of the French battleship Richelieu after the Fall of France. The Skua was withdrawn from frontline service in 1941, as it was rapidly being outmoded by enemy aircraft, though it would stay on in second-line duties until the end of the War.
Performance:
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| Powerplant | One 890 hp Bristol Perseus XII |
|---|---|
| Span | 46 ft 2 in |
| Maximum Weight | 8,228 lb (dive bomber), 8,124 lb (fighter) |
| Capacity & Armament | Two crew; four forward-firing Browning guns in wings, rear Lewis gun, one 500 lb bomb on an ejector arm under the fuselage. Up to eight 30 lb practice bombs on wing racks. |
| Maximum Speed | 225 mph (fighter) |
| Max cruise speed | 187 mph |
| Range | 435 miles |
Conclusion: The Skua would be an interesting aircraft for the UK naval fighter line. Ideally, the Gladiators and Sea Gladiators would become the reserve aircraft, as the Nimrod is significantly challenged at that rank and other nations have Gladiators as their reserve aircraft now. The Skua could be added in the naval fighter line at about 1.3/1.7.
Sources:
Spoiler
“The British Fighter since 1912” by Francis K. Mason
https://www.baesystems.com/en/heritage/blackburn-b-24-skua
Blackburn Skua | Naval Air History
Blackburn Skua II - L2940 - Aircraft, Airfields and Airshows
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https://westlineschool.org/?s=blackburn-skua-wikipedia-zz-KAP5WzCy