Blackburn Skua

Purpose:
Two-seater Fleet dive-bomber-fighter. Built to specification 0 4/34.

Origin & Development:
Prototype appeared in 1937. It had a Bristol Mercury motor. Second prototype with poppet-valve motor was also built, but when the machine went into production the Bristol Perseus sleeve-valve motor was installed.

Power Plant:
One Bristol Perseus XII motor. Maximum power, 905 h.p. at 2,750 r.p.m. at 6,500 ft. Cruising, 715-745 h.p. at 2,400 r.p.m. at 6,500 ft. Take off, 815 h.p.

Construction:
Wings;Two Alclad box spars with Z-section stringers and stressed-skin covering. Water-tight compartments and Zapp flaps. Folding type. Fuselage, Metal monocoque structure in two sections joined just forward of fin. Alclad frames and stringers, carrying flush-riveted plating. Two water-tight compartments. Tail unit-Metal framework, metal covering, but control surfaces fabric.

Dimensions:
Span, 46 ft. 2 in (Roc 46ft). Length, 35 ft. 7 in. Height, 14 ft. 2 in. (Roc 12ft. 1in.) Track, 9 ft. 7 in.

Areas:
Wings, 312 sq. ft. Flaps, ]S'5 sq. ft. Tail-plane, 49 sq. ft. Elevators, 24 sq. ft. Fin, 9.7 sq. ft. Rudder, 9'9 sq. ft.

Performance:
Two-seater fighter version-Maximum speed, 225 m.p.h. at 6,500 ft. Sea-level speed, 204 m.p.h. Landing speed, 75 m.p.h. Service ceiling, 20,200 ft. Cruising speed, 187 m.p.h. at 15,000 ft. Target-tower version-Maximum speed, 229 m.p.h. Cruising, 189 m.p.h. Landing, 68 m.p.h. Sea-level, 205 m.p.h. Service ceiling, 22,800 ft.

Armament:
Four fixed forward-firing machine-guns. Single movable rear gun on special mounting. One 500lbs bomb in recess behind the main wing spar & light bombs on racks beneath wings.

Remarks:
First monoplane ever used by Fleet Air Arm. Operating from the Orkneys, two formations of twelve Skuas attacked Bergen on April lOth, 1940, inflicting heavy damage.

History:
Conforming with standard practice, all Skuas uow being delivered are shadow-shaded green and brown like land machines on the top surfaces. Underneath they are painted pale grey. Shadow-shading on the fuselage meets the grey section just above the line of the wing fillet. Cockades on the wings are carried well in from the tips. Above the wing they are red and blue only, while below they are red, white and blue. On the fuselage sides the cockades have taken a number of different forms, pending the arrival of a standard scheme. All present machines have red, white and blue cockades, surrounded by a yellow ring, but previously red and blue cockades surrounded by a wide yellow ring have been carried. The rudder is shadow-shaded like the rest of the machine and carries no serial number, while the fin has the red, white and blue vertical stripes. A small identification letter is painted on the fuselage sides.

Target-towing machines are light grey all over and have wide ultramarine blue stripes at regular intervals above and below the wings and fuselage. The blue bands are broken to avoid cockades and serial numbers. The serial number beneath the wings is painted parallel to the trailing edge, in black. One target-tower has the number L 3007.

No. 800 Squadron was among the first to be equipped with the Skua, and these first production machines were left the natural silver finish of the Alclad covering. It was usual for F.A.A. machines in pre-war days to carry coloured bands on the fuselage, representing the aircraft carrier on which they were based, and Skuas were no exception. One squadron had three coloured bands painted diagonally just beneath rear cockpit, and unit marking A7-G painted over them in white. No cockades were carried on the fuselage when stripes were present.

Blackburn Skua MkII. The paint scheme represents one of No.800 Sqn aircraft, L2882, of November 1938. More textures will follow at a later date.

2D PaneI. Not much cop but it is one.

Aircraft of the Fighting Powers: Vol. 1, H.J. Cooper & O.G. Thetford, Edited by D.A. Russel, The Harborough Publishing Company. 1941
John Dell for his very informative website http://freespace.virgin.net/john.dell/blackburn_skua.htm
The Forums of www.CFS2.dogfighter.com (now www.netwings.org) and the Sim Outhouse
The 1% organisation at www.Avhistory.org for Jerry Beckwiths airfile & DP spreadsheets, and help in general.
I think I've got everyone if I've missed you off, please let me know.

FS2004 Blackburn Skua MkII V1.0: This comprises of the model, airfile, textures, XML gauge files and effects files. The 2D panel is a separate download, see below.
Size: 3.70Mb

CFS Blackburn Skua MkII V1.0: This comprises of the model, airfile, textures, XML gauge files and effects filesand includes the 2D panel. The converstion to CFS2 has been carried out by Buddha13 and the download link below redirects you to the Sim Outhouse download page.
Download now.

Blackburn Skua 2D Panel: For those that like em. Also contains modified gauge XML file.
Size:851kb