Blackburn Skua

The Blackburn B-24 Skua was a carrier-based low-wing, two-seater, single-radial engine aircraft operated by the British Fleet Air Arm which combined the functions of a dive bomber and fighter. It was designed in the mid-1930s, and saw service in the early part of the Second World War. It took its name from the seabird.

Design and development
Built to Air Ministry specification O.27/34, it was a low-wing monoplane of all-metal (duralumin) construction with a retractable undercarriage and enclosed cockpit. It was the Fleet Air Arm's first service monoplane, and was a radical departure for a service that was primarily equipped with open-cockpit biplanes such as the Fairey Swordfish.

Performance for the fighter role was compromised by the aircraft's bulk and lack of power, resulting in a relatively low speed; the contemporary marks of Messerschmitt Bf 109 made 290 mph (467 km/h) at sea level over the Skua's 225 mph (362 km/h). However, the aircraft's armament of four fixed, forward-firing 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns in the wings and a single flexible, rearward-firing .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers K machine gun was effective for the time. For the dive-bombing role, a single 250 lb (110 kg) or 500 lb (230 kg) 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 (20 kg) bombs or eight 20 lb (9 kg) Cooper bombs could also be carried in racks under each wing. It had large Zap-type air brakes/flaps which helped both in dive bombing and landing on aircraft carriers at sea.

Two prototypes were ordered from Blackburn in 1935 and the first serial number K5178 first flew on 9 February 1937. Both protoypes were powered by the Bristol Mercury XII radial engine but following trials when a production order for 190 aircraft was placed they were to have Bristol Perseus XII engines.

Operational history


The first unit to get the Skua was 800 Naval Air Squadron in late 1938 at Worth Down, by November the squadron had embarked on HMS Ark Royal (91), it was followed the following year by 801 and 803 squadron.

With the start of the Second World War Skuas were soon in action and on 14 September three were launched from Ark Royal to go to the aid of the SS Fanad Head which had been attacked by a U-boat. When they arrived the Fanad Head was being shelled by U-30 and all three dived to attack the submarine which quickly dived to safely. Two of the Skuas were damaged by the blasts and had to ditch. U-30 returned to Germany with the crews of the two ditched Skua who became the first naval airmen to be prisoners of war in the conflict.

Skuas were credited with the first confirmed "kill" by British aircraft during the Second World War: a Dornier Do 18 flying boat was downed over the North Sea on 26 September 1939 by three Skuas of 803 Naval Air Squadron, flying from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal (91); however, an earlier victory by a Fairey Battle on 20 September 1939 over Aachen was later confirmed by French sources. On 10 April 1940, 16 Skuas of 800 and 803 NAS led by Lieutenant Commander William Lucy, flying from RNAS Hatston in Orkney Islands sank the GERMAN CRUISER Königsberg in Bergen harbour during the German invasion of Norway. This was the first major warship ever to be sunk by dive bombing, indeed the first major warship ever sunk in war by air attack. Lucy later also became a fighter ace flying the Skua. However, these two mostly Skua squadrons suffered heavy losses during an attempt to bomb the GERMAN BATTLESHIP Scharnhorst at Trondheim on 13 June 1940; of 15 aircraft in the raid, eight were shot down and the crews killed or taken prisoner. Among the latter were both squadron commanders, Captain R. T. Partridge (RM) and Lieutenant Commander John Casson (RN).

Although 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 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 had a speed advantage of 50 mph (80 km/h). A number of aircraft were converted to target tugs following withdrawal from front line service. Others were 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 Roc was a very similar aircraft developed as a "turret fighter" with all its armament in a dorsal turret. The Roc was expected to serve alongside the Skua. Rocs were attached to Skua squadrons to protect the fleet anchorage at Scapa Flow in early 1940, and briefly from HMS Glorious and Ark Royal during the Norwegian Campaign. Skuas and Rocs flew both fighter sweeps and bombing sorties over the English Channel during Operation Dynamo, and Operation Ariel, the evacuation of Allied forces from Dunkirk and other French ports.

Variants

 * Skua Mk.I : two prototypes. Powered by the Bristol Mercury, it had distinctive fairings to the engine cowling over the tappet valves of the Mercury. The first prototype, K5178, had a much shorter nose while K5179, the second prototype, had a lengthened nose to improve longitudinal stability.


 * Skua Mk.II : Production aircraft powered by the sleeve valved Bristol Perseus. Long nose as per K5179 but with a shorter, smooth cowling. Two-seat fighter and dive bomber for the Royal Navy; 190 built by Blackburn at Brough Aerodrome.

Recovery
In April 2007, the only known nearly complete Blackburn Skua was discovered in Orkdalsfjorden in Norway at 242 metres depth. Due to an engine failure, the Skua, flown by John Casson, leader of 803 Squadron, had to make an emergency water landing in the fjord. Both crew members survived and spent the next five years as prisoners of war. Despite efforts to get the aircraft to the surface as gently as possible, the tail broke off. The engine had become detached in the original ditching. The fuselage, cockpit and wings were salvaged. The Skua will be restored at Norway's aviation museum in Bodø.

In 1974 the L2940 was recovered from Breidalsvatnet lake near Grotli in Skjåk municipality. The above mentioned Captain R. T. Partridge (RM) shot down a Heinkel He 111 and then made an emergency landing on the ice-covered lake on April 27, 1940. Survivors from both planes independently made their way to a mountain lodge where they encountered one another. This incident serves as the basis for the film Into the white.

Operators and units

 * Fleet Air Arm
 * 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


 * Royal Air Force
 * RAF Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Units