Blackburn YA.7 from the front |
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The Blackburn B-48 was an improved version of the Blackburn Firebrand single seat torpedo bomber, but only reached the prototype stage.
When work on the Blackburn Firebrand began in 1939 it was to have been a cannon armed carrier borne two seat fighter aircraft, to replace the obsolescent Blackburn Skua and Fairey Fulmer. However over the next few years the specification changed, first to a single seater, then in 1943 to a fast carrier-borne torpedo bomber. The first Firebrand T.F.Mk II made its maiden flight in March 1943. It was followed by a small number of T.F.Mk IIIs then by the Mk 4, which was the main production version (alongside the very similar Mk 5), and eventually saw service with two squadrons, serving from 1945 until 1953.
The Firebrand Mk 4 was a very large low wing single engine monoplane, with a large horn balanced rudder on a vertical tail mounted just ahead of the horizontal tail surfaces. It was powered by a 2,400hp Bristol Centaurus VII two-row eighteen cylinder radial engine. The wing had a straight leading edge and a tapered trailing edge.
Work on the Blackburn B-48 began in October 1943. Four months later, on 26 February 1944, an official specification for it was issued. Specification S.28/43 called for a ‘Firebrand T.F. with redesigned wing and improved pilot’s view’. The new aircraft was the B-48 in Blackburn’s system, and Y.A.1 in the Society of British Aircraft Constructor’s system. It was based on the Firebrand Mk 5 and Blackburn also gave it the unofficial name Firecrest.
The B-48 was an all metal low wing monoplane. It was powered by a 2,475hp Bristol Centaurus 59 engine, with a Coffman cartridge starter. In order to improve the pilot’s view the cockpit was moved forward and raised, giving the pilot a much better view over the nose. The biggest change was on the wing. This was a new design – an inverted gull wing with a thin laminar flow section, a tapering leading edge and almost straight trailing edge. The wing folded hydraulically in two places. They carried four Fowler high lift flaps with auxiliary flaps on the outer flaps. This allowed it to take off in 430ft into a 25 knot wing. The wings also carried hydraulically operated dive brakes above and below the wings.
The B-48 carried 236 gallons of fuel, 52 in fuselage tanks and 92 in each wing. It could also carry a 45 gallon drop tank under each wing and a 100 gallon tank in place of the torpedo. It carried the torpedo under the fuselage. Each wing had a mounting point that could carry either a 500lb bomb, rockets or a .5in machine gun.
Two prototypes were ordered, but the first of them, RT651, didn’t make its maiden flight until 1 April 1947, by which point there was very little chance of it entering production in its original configuration. It made its first public appearance at the Naval Air Command Display at Lee-on-Solent on 26 June 1947 and appeared again in public at the Radlett SBAC show on 9-11 September 1947.
The second prototype, RT656, wasn’t completed. However a third aircraft, VF172, was built to test new power boosted ailerons that were to be introduced on the Firebrand T.F.5A. This aircraft also made two public appearances, at a garden party held by the Brough branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Farnborough air show, both in 1948.
Although the B-48 itself never entered production, it did become the basis of the later Blackburn B-54/ Y.A.5/ Y.A.7, a two seat strike aircraft designed to be powered by turbo-prop engines.
Engine: Bristol Centaurus 59
Power: 2,475hp
Crew: 1
Span: 44ft 11.5in
Length: 39ft 3.5in
Height: 14ft 6in
Tare weight: 10,513lb
All-up weight: 15,280lb
Maximum take-off weight:
Max speed: 380mph at 19,000ft
Climb Rate: 2,500ft/ min
Service ceiling: 31,600ft
Absolute ceiling: 33,500ft
Endurance:
Range: 900 miles at 213mph at 15,000ft, 750 miles at 272mph at 10,000ft with torpedo
Armament: Two .5in machine guns under
Bomb load: One torpedo under fuselage, two 500lb bombs or rockets under wings