12 Blackburn Skua & Roc

Blackburn Skua first prototype. 1/72 scale.

Blackburn Skua second prototype. 1/72 scale. 14 Blackburn Skua & Roc the cowling. (BAE Systems) lector ringinthefront of exhaust exiting from acol type. Notethesubstantial photographs oftheproto seen when compared with to K5178canbeclearly poppet-valve Mercury fitted Bristol Perseus over the heads ofthesleeve-valve differences inthecylinder production SkuaMkII,and over theprototype) ofthe (which hasgained a‘bay’ nose andenginemount construction. Thelonger Production Skuaunder - - Captain A.M. ‘Dasher’ Blake,February‘Dasher’ 9th CaptaingotA.M. on public first The its 1937. forair atfirstthe time the to Blackburn’s took of hands chiefthe pilot, test that theaircraft couldbereadily converted for target towing. carried was a 250lb general purpose device. The Air Ministry also requested machineIII Mk rearthe in gun cockpit. At stagethis largestthe Lewis be to bomb a and gun, per rounds 600 with wings the in guns machine .303in valve designs for power and reliability. The order also specified four Browning Following successful model tests by the RAEthe prototypeFollowingby B-24 tests the model K5178 successful gesting thepilotmissedwires. ThisSkua,oneof the carriage andport -thearrestor hook isintactsug geous before theoutbreak ofwar, damagingtheunder L2870 following alandingaccidentaboard HMS Coura ing trialsin1938and1939.(Author’s collection) early production machines, was employed incarrierland - - - - Blackburn Skua. 1/72 scale. 19 Blackburn Skua & Roc to allowthegunstraverse. shaped fairing aft of the turret lowered into the rear fuselage was trainedwhenever forwards to createnecessary room for the guns to traverse. Similarlyturretwheneverloweredautomatically the a was wedge- cabin this of roof The turret. housing the radio equipment and the observer when he was not manning the ‘cabin’ tiny a place its in and Skua the of opening cavernous the was Gone A Mk II electrically driven turret, and the cockpit aft of the pilot was changed. PaulType Boulton accommodatethe to rearfuselagewidened The was guns. similar, but had 2° dihedral, no upturn in the tips and lacked the four machine (BAE Systems) here about to‘unstick’. as afloatplane, seen L3059 carryingouttests A very rare image ofRoc ard. (BAE Systems) points fittedasstand Rocs, which hadpick-up to beeasilyfittedall The floats were designed of L3059duringtesting. this headonphotograph floats canbeviewed in The attachment ofthe - 25 Blackburn Skua & Roc on floats. 1/72 scale. 29 Blackburn Skua & Roc 72 Blackburn Skua & Roc Systems Brough Heritage) graphs, courtesyofBAE (Central Press Photo of theSkua,canbeseen. lacking thebomb recess flat undersideoftheRoc, page, August 1940.The mation asontheprevious The samefive Rocsinfor - - Bf109s, and two of the dive were shot down, though not without a without not though down, shot divewerebombers the of Bf109s,two and foreshore andagain scored direct hits. on this. A second sub-flight of three Skuas attacked two piers on the Nieuport North-North-Westcanal a in island scoredand Nieuport, of several direct hits bridge)an cut on partially a (actually ‘pier’ divea instead none,bombed and areathe in attackto movementthe up hold to troops.German of They found road junction at Westende. 801 latera and Squadronbombs, 250lb with harbour the formeanwhile went Albacores the Nieuport; looked for pontoon bridges dive-bombedsquadronstargetsaround Both Squadron. 826 of Albacores ten was tobetheonly ‘destroyed’ claim for theRocinitscareer. down one of the ‘ up on the bombers as they were intent on their dives, the Roc was able to shoot and a Roc attacked Ju88s which were bombing the ships off the coast. Sneaking lunchtime, the clouds cleared and the Luftwaffe was there in force. Two Skuas low cloud cover, which rendered their Ju87 Stukas virtually useless. However, at On the way back to Detling, the Skuas were attacked by Messerschmitt Messerschmitt by attacked were Skuas the Detling, to back way the On alongside action in part took Squadron 801 of Skuas nine May 31st On Schnellbombers ’ while a Skua claimed another damaged. This 118 Blackburn Skua & Roc operated. (BAE Systems) to allow theguntobe had tobeswungforward guns. Therear canopy ‘K’ GasOperated machine ficially procured Vickers but manycrews unof pictured is a Lewis MkIIIE, of theaircraft. Thegun torn from thefirewall incrashes. (BAE Systems) arrangement tendedtomeantheenginewas often to bebolted together toform aspaceframe. This with castattachments at eitherendtoallow them construction. Thiswas formed from steeltubes A detailpicture ofthetubularenginemount’s - back intoaposition tocover therear the guntobeswungupwards and and thepivoting mountingallowed that canbeseenintherear fuselage, in usethebarrel rested intherecess rear cockpit. Whenthegunwas not machine gunmountingintheSkua A rare shotoftheFairey pillar Museum. (Author) at theFleet AirArm where itisdisplayed structure ofSkuaL2940 A close upoftheinterior landed in1940.(Author) Grotli where the Skua force submerged beneath Lake be seendespite35years wing. Thesecanclearly Stencils onL2940’sport gear casing. (Author) showing thereduction propeller spinner, also A close-up ofL2940’s 131 Blackburn Skua & Roc 146 Blackburn Skua & Roc

Skua L2925, which was shot down on the 14th May 1940 while being flown by Lieutenant William Paulet Lucy. Lucy was the ’s first ‘ace’ with seven shared victories, and the Distinguished Service Order after leading the squadron in the sinking of the Könisgberg on the 10th . Lucy and his observer, Lieutenant Michael Hanson, were killed. Bottom: Skua L2928 was reputed to be one of the original aircraft to form 801 Squadron at Donibristle in April 1939, but most known photographs show the aircraft in the scheme worn by Fleet Air Arm advanced trainers - extra dark sea grey and dark slate grey upper surfaces (with a low demarcation unlike the earlier naval scheme) and sky undersides. This suggests the aircraft passed to a second-line squadron. Above: This unidentified Roc was photographed at Eastleigh in late 1939 or early 1940, and appears to be in an all-over black colour scheme in common with several other aircraft including Skuas and Gladiators, but retaining Type A roundels on fuselage and wing undersides. The reason for the colour scheme is unknown. Below: Roc L3084 was captured in a pre-war photo-shoot. The first Rocs left the factory in the same all-over silver scheme as all Skuas, though most were camouflaged by Boulton Paul where they were built. L3084 displayed some variations on the standard silver scheme with Type A1 fuselage roundels instead of type A, and an unusual full-height, narrow chord fin flash. 155 Blackburn Skua & Roc