Today we’re taking a look at the Blackburn Blackburd,
an aircraft that was designed to be built in large numbers – but never was,
and one that was designed to be easy to handle…which it also never was.
In late 1917 it was realised that the Sopwith Cuckoo, while an excellent plane,
lacked the punching power required of a torpedo bomber. Admiralty tests had
revealed that its 1,085lb Mk IX torpedo was not capable of sinking large warships,
and so in the Autumn of 1917 the Admiralty issued specification N.1B. This called for a single
seat aircraft capable of carrying the larger 1,423lb Mk VIII torpedo. In the near future,
this specification would be re-designated as the Type XXII when the RNAS was absorbed into the RAF.
In February of 1918, contracts were placed for the construction of six prototypes,
three would be built by Short Brothers Ltd, and three by Blackburn,
of whom Robert Blackburn went with the inventive strategy of naming the new torpedo bomber
by simple changing the last letter of his surname. Uninspiring naming strategies aside, Robert
Blackburn was determined to have his aircraft win the competitive trials against the Shorts.
He was so determined, in fact, that the company supplied their prototypes to the Admiralty
at a cost of just 2,200 pounds each – or, approximately, two thirds of their actual cost.
The Blackburd was designed by Harris Booth and intended for shipboard service aboard Britain’s
first aircraft carrier, the Argus. It was a large, three bay, unstaggered biplane with folding wings,
and it was designed on the simplest possible lines for cheap and rapid production. For this
reason the wings maintained a constant chord and uniform cross-section throughout their length,
so that, if the need required it, they could be ordered and produced en masse.
The same principle was applied to the fuselage, which was built up
from four rectangular spruce box longerons. It maintained a constant depth from nose to tail,
and this, combined with the uniform wing shape, made the Blackburd look like a glorified matchbox
with two rulers taped onto its top and bottom. Although it was designed to be built quickly,
it is doubtful that this could have been achieved with the fuselage;
it looked simple enough, however the man hours required to produce the struts and box longerons
was considerable, particularly as the latter tapered towards the rear, and it would have
likely been the main production bottleneck had the plane been ordered in large numbers.
Per the Admiralty specification, the Blackburd was to be powered by a 350hp Rolls Royce Eagle
VIII which drove a two-blade wood propeller. Fuel was pumped from a 74-gallon tank in the second
bay of the fuselage, and a 9 gallon oil was fitted approximately 2 feet behind the engine.
The weight of this engine, combined with that of the Mk VIII torpedo, presented a bit of a problem
in terms of the centre of gravity, and so during the design phase it was decided to install the
pilot’s cockpit considerably further back – to the tune of being 9 feet behind the centre section. In
fact it was approximately half-way between the trailing edge of the main wings and the tail.
With fourteen feet of fuselage in front of it this cockpit offered woefully bad visibility
for the pilot, and on top of that it was also incredibly basic, having a wicker chair for the
pilot which would have felt more at home in the summer of 1914 compared to the summer of 1918.
Not counting the unfortunate position of the cockpit, the strangest thing about the Blackburd
was its huge undercarriage. It was built in the form of a pin-jointed parallelogram with diagonal
main legs incorporating solid rubber shock absorbers. Upon closer inspection of some photos,
it would seem that this undercarriage would block the release of any torpedo that the
Blackburdd carried, seeing as its axle sat below the torpedo itself. However, the wheeled
portion of the undercarriage was designed to be jettisoned before the dropping of said torpedo,
and the Blackburd was to be landed on the carrier using a pair of skids that were
mounted inboard of the wheels, and just above the axle that was to be dropped.
The ability for the wheels to be jettisoned also had the added advantage of making emergency
water landings safer, as the wheels would not be there to act as a giant anchor which could flip
over the plane – a situation that’s not normally good for the pilot’s health.
The first Blackburd was completed in late spring of 1918, and at the end of May it was flown for
the first time. Then on the 4th of June it was delivered to Martlesham heath for performance and
handling trials. Here, it did not endear itself to the test pilots or Martlesham’s assessors,
and when you take a look at their reports its easy to see why.
Take-off and landing was an…interesting affair. The Blackburd featured innovative long-span
ailerons which could all be lowered to act as flaps to shorten the take-off run – something that
would be very suitable for carrier operations; however, not being double-acting when lowered,
they thus deprived the pilot of all lateral control – not so useful for carrier operations.
After take-off it quickly became apparent that the Blackburd was only stable laterally, and the
reports go on to say that it was incredibly nose heavy in almost every regard, be that climbing,
diving, or in level flight, a trait that persisted even after the heavy torpedo had been released.
Flying the Blackburd was exhausting, in fact it was so exhausting that
pilots had to use a rubber bungee to hold the control stick in place
so they could relieve their arms of the strain of holding the plane level on longer flights.
Not only was the Blackburd dangerous on take-off, and nose-heavy, but it was also
difficult during landing and taxiing. It quickly became apparent that the rudder was ineffective,
especially at slower speeds during landing. This made it difficult to keep the aircraft
facing into the wind during slow landings, and it made it impossible to taxi in winds that were
greater than 8mph. Considering that a bulk of British Naval operations during the war thus far
were to be found in the North Sea, which was more temperamental than a disgruntled sea Goddess, its
easy to understand why Martlesham had many, many reservations about the Blackburd’s effectiveness.
This was only worsened when the first prototype crashed before its trials could be completed.
Two more Blackburd prototypes were completed, per the initial contract. The second went to
Scotland for torpedo trials before returning to Martlesham for more performance tests.
By this point it had an enlarged rudder to improve its landing performance,
however its effectiveness was never confirmed as the aircraft was permanently grounded
due to concerns over weaknesses found in the fuselage structure.
The third prototype was completed at about the same time as the armistice in November 1918, after
spending some time at the Development Squadron at Gosport it was sent to HMS Argus to be operated
experimentally. By this point, however, the Admiralty had favoured the competition – the Short
Shirl – and in a case of extreme irony they then asked Blackburn to build 100 of these aircraft,
however this order was soon changed to 100 Sopwith Cuckoos as the admiralty’s requirements in a
post-war world had rapidly changed. In the end, neither of the competing planes were successful.
And so ends the Blackburd’s story. As always thank you all so much for watching,
and a special thank you of course to the Patreons, with a special shoutout to Delliardo,
Kevin, Bane, and FB for their support as wing commander tier patrons.
Thank you all so much, and I’ll see you all next time, goodbye.