Blackburn B-54

	A Blackburn B-88
Role	Anti-submarine warfare aircraft
Manufacturer	Blackburn Aircraft
First flight	20 September 1949
Primary user	Fleet Air Arm
Number built	3

The Blackburn B-54 and B-88 were prototype carrier-borne Anti-submarine warfare aircraft of the immediate post Second World War-era developed for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA). They shared a conventional monoplane design with a mid-mounted inverted-gull wing and tricycle undercarriage. The pilot and observer sat in tandem under a long canopy atop the fuselage. The B-54 had a piston engine and the B-88 a gas turbine driving a large contra-rotating propeller. The radar scanner was mounted in a retractable radome in the rear fuselage, behind a long internal weapons bay. The program was cancelled in favour of the Fairey Gannet aircraft.

History

The B-54, or Y.A.5, was designed to meet Specification "G.R.17/45" for an advanced carrier-borne anti-submarine aircraft by Blackburn Aircraft. Rivals Fairey designed their Fairey 17 to the same specification, which would eventually evolve into the winning design, the Fairey Gannet. The original Y.A.5 was designed to take the new Napier Coupled Naiad turboprop engine, consisting of two single Naiads driving a contra-rotating propeller through a common gearbox. This engine was ultimately cancelled, so the Y.A.5 flew as the Y.A.7 with a Rolls Royce Griffon 56 piston engine driving a contra-rotating propeller. This aircraft made its maiden flight on 20 September 1949 ahead of the compteting Fairey design. In 1950, the Admiralty added the requirement for a radar and radar operator to the specification. The Y.A.7 was further refined into the Y.A.8, first flying on 3 May 1950, with aerodynamic refinements to improve handling and the third crew position. The Y.A.8 design was used as the basis for the B-88 Y.B.1 which first flew on 19 July 1950. The B-88 had an Armstrong Siddeley Double Mamba engine similar in design to the original Naiad that was to be fitted to the Y.A.5. Development of this design was protracted and the FAA lost interest in favour of the promising Fairey Gannet, which had already flown with the Double Mamba and carried out landing trials, and which was to enter operational service fulfilling the original specification.

Design

The B-54 / B-88 shared a common airframe. It was a large, single-propeller conventional monoplane with a mid-mounted, inverted-gull wing and a mid-mounted horizontal tail-plane with considerable dihedral. Unlike the Fairey Gannet, it had a simple wing folding mechanism that split once at the angle of the gull-wing. The deep fuselage accommodated the engine(s), a large weapons bay and the crew of two were seated high up in tandem under a single canopy (the third crewman in the Gannet was specified after the cancellation of the Blackburn design). The undercarriage was a conventional tricycle type and a radar scanner was carried in the rear fuselage in a retractable dome, much like in the Fairey Gannet.

Engine

After the cancellation of the Napier Naiad programme, the prototype was fitted with the readily available Rolls-Royce Griffon 56 engine, delivering 2,000 hp (1,491 kW) to a 13 ft (4 m), six-blade (two three-bladed propellors) contra rotating propeller mechanism. In the B-88, an engine plant based on the Armstrong Siddeley Mamba gas turbine; the Double Mamba - also known as the "Twin Mamba" - driving an eight-blade counter-rotating propeller through a common gearbox. The ASMD.1 engine used on the B-88 was rated at 2,950 hp (2,200 kW).

Aircraft

Blackburn B-54/YA.5: intended to take Napier Naiad engine, converted to YA.7 before completion.
Blackburn B-54/YA.7: YA.5 airframe with Rolls-Royce Griffon 56 engine, one prototype WB781 first flown 20 September 1949.
Blackburn B-54/YA.8: Three-seat version with a Griffon 56 engine (later changed to Griffon 57), one prototype WB788 first flown 3 May 1950.
Blackburn B-88 YB.1: YA.8 with Armstrong Siddeley Double-Mamba engine, one prototype WB797 first flown 19 July 1950.

Specifications (B-88)

Data from Blackburn Aircraft since 1909 ^[1]

General characteristics

Crew: 3
Length: 42 ft 8 in (13.01 m)
Wingspan: 44 ft 2 in (13.47 m)
Height: 16 ft 9 in (5.11 m)
Loaded weight: 13,091 lb (5,950 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Armstrong Siddeley Double Mamba ASMD.1 turboprop, 2,950 shp (2,213 kW)

Performance

Maximum speed: 320 mph (278 knots, 515 km/h)

Armament

bombs or depth charges in internal weapons bay

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Blackburn B-54.

Notes

↑ Jackson 1968, p. 461.

Bibliography

Jackson, A.J. (1968). Blackburn Aircraft since 1909. London: Putnam. ISBN 0-370- 00053-6.
Williams, Ray (1989). Fly Navy: Aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm since 1945. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing. ISBN 1-85310-057-9.

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[Jackson_p461-1] Jackson 1968, p. 461.

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