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#Post#: 12584--------------------------------------------------
Plane of the Week: Blackburn Skua
By: vonofterdingen Date: September 21, 2020, 3:32 pm
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[img width=1024
height=529]
HTML https://i.postimg.cc/RFkF1prJ/Screen-Hunter-421.png[/img]
I felt that it was time that we celebrate a Fleet Air Arm
aircraft for our plane of the week, so I chose a relatively
recent addition to the game, the Blackburn Skua. The Skua was
widely used by the FAA in carrier operations, but does not seem
to get as much press as its torpedo-carrying cousin, the Fairy
Sowrdfish. To some extent I think it suffered from a design that
tried to fulfill too many roles, and subsequently performed none
of them very well.
From Wikipedia
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 sea bird.
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 force that was primarily equipped with open-cockpit
biplanes such as the Fairey Swordfish.
Performance for the fighter role was compromised by the
aircraft's naval requirements for folding wings, large fuel
capacity, heavy armament with large ammunition supply, rear
gunner and lack of power of contemporary aircooled engines,
resulting in a relatively low speed; in common with contemporary
marks of Japanese and United States Navy Aircraft Carrier borne
fighters along with the Royal Navy's Gloster Sea Gladiator.
These naval fighters compared unfavourably with land based
fighters such as the Messerschmitt Bf 109 which reached 290 mph
(470 km/h) at sea level over the Skua's 225 mph (362 km/h) and
the Gloster Sea Gladiator's 209 mph (336 km/h The 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 250 lb (110 kg) or 500 lb (230 kg) bomb
was carried on a special swinging "trapeze" crutch under the
fuselage (somewhat like that of the Junkers Ju 87), which
enabled the bomb to clear the propeller arc on release. Four 40
lb (18 kg) bombs or eight 20 lb (9.1 kg) Cooper bombs could also
be carried in racks under each wing. It had large Zap-type air
brakes/flaps, which helped 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
prototypes 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.
The first unit to receive the Skua was 800 Naval Air Squadron
in late 1938 at Worth Down. By November the squadron had
embarked on HMS Ark Royal and was followed in 1939 by 801 and
803 squadrons. With the start of the Second World War, Skuas
were soon in action and on 14 September three took off 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 safety. 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 Skuas, who became the first
naval airmen to be prisoners of war in the conflict.
HTML https://i.postimg.cc/pLCmNBj3/Screen-Hunter-420.png
Skuas were originally credited with the first confirmed kill
by British aircraft during the Second World War: a Dornier Do 18
flying boat was shot down over the North Sea on 26 September
1939 by three Skuas of 803 Naval Air Squadron, flying from Ark
Royal. (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 the Orkney
Islands, sank the German cruiser Königsberg in Bergen harbour
during Operation Weserübung, the German invasion of Norway.
Königsberg was the first major warship ever sunk in war by
air attack and the first major warship ever to be sunk by dive
bombing. Lucy later also became a fighter ace flying the Skua.
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. Most
Skuas were 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.
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In game…
Like most of you, I imagine, I prefer to fly fighter aircraft
most of the time in IL-2. When not in a fighter though, I like a
ground attack plane, and most of all I like to attack my targets
with a plane capable of dive bombing. I have never had much
success with level bombing but I can be deadly accurate with a
dive bomber, especially when I have a fairly large target such
as a ship. The Skua is a nice addition to early war naval
missions over the channel, Norway, and as remote a location as
Dakar.
#Post#: 12587--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Blackburn Skua
By: Beowolff Date: September 21, 2020, 5:10 pm
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Oh my... GREAT idea for a POTW article! And yeah, the old Skua
is a much beloved plane to me. Very good reading. Thank you as
usual!
S!
Beo
#Post#: 12589--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Blackburn Skua
By: JG51_Ruski Date: September 21, 2020, 6:14 pm
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Great article Von Thank You
#Post#: 12594--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Blackburn Skua
By: cafs Date: September 22, 2020, 6:00 am
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Great PoW choice, the first FAA's all metal monoplane, a good
design but, like many early to mid 30s aircraft, she got a weak
engine for her weight and for the fighter part of her job.
#Post#: 12598--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Blackburn Skua
By: larsresult Date: September 22, 2020, 11:19 am
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I created a dogfight with Bf110Cs a while ago and the Skua
fought well, if a bit slowly. The rear gunner is yet to be
modelled though, and I do like to jump in the gunner cockpit
every now and then. Usually the enemy sits directly behind your
tail and you can't tell the Autopilot to bank to give you a
clear shot, darn it.
There is a good book on the Skua written by Peter C Smith, a
naval aviation historian, and also a personal history of the
Skua by an ex-pilot whose name I think is Partridge. Both worth
a read. Also recommended is the Skua/Roc book by Matthew Willis,
which I have not read yet.
#Post#: 12601--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Blackburn Skua
By: DHumphrey Date: September 22, 2020, 12:57 pm
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Another hit Von !!! A great article. I didn't know very much
about this aircraft, I enjoyed the read very much. I learned
something. :)
#Post#: 12606--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Blackburn Skua
By: vonofterdingen Date: September 22, 2020, 3:39 pm
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I had not heard of this plane myself until I played a campaign
by Cracken called "Vultures of Dakar." That was long ago and we
had no Skua in game so he used a Russian R-10 as a stand-in. It
was a great campaign about an interesting event in history.
#Post#: 12615--------------------------------------------------
Re: Plane of the Week: Blackburn Skua
By: ben_wh Date: September 22, 2020, 6:17 pm
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von,
Another great choice. As you stated already, despite
performance limitation the Skua scored a number of 'firsts' for
the Fleet Air Arm, and gave a preview of the threat of aircraft
- even with modest performance - could pose to major warships.
Captain Eric Brown piloted a Skua early in his career and danced
with some Bf-109s in Norway, which was covered briefly here
HTML https://navalairhistory.com/2016/02/25/captain-eric-brown-a-personal-reflection/.
HTML https://www.studio88.co.uk/acatalog/small_gic_m412_eric_brown_skua.jpg
In game: even with the large number of mod planes available, the
Skua was a relatively recent addition to the sim. Only in the
last year or so could we recreate the attack of the
[font=sans-serif]Königsberg in IL-2 1946 with proper Skua and
Königberg models.[/font]
Cheers,
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