The Blackburn B-54 and B-88 were prototype

carrier-borne Carrier-based aircraft, sometimes known as carrier-capable aircraft or carrier-borne aircraft, are naval aircraft designed for operations from aircraft carriers. They must be able to launch in a short distance and be sturdy enough to withstand ...

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are t ...

aircraft of the immediate post-

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

era developed for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...

(FAA). They shared a conventional

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

design with a mid-mounted inverted-

gull wing The gull wing is an aircraft wing configuration, known also as ''Pulaski wings'', with a prominent bend in the wing inner section towards the wing root. Its name is derived from the seabirds which it resembles. Numerous aircraft have incorpora ...

and

tricycle undercarriage Tricycle gear is a type of aircraft undercarriage, or ''landing gear'', arranged in a tricycle fashion. The tricycle arrangement has a single nose wheel in the front, and two or more main wheels slightly aft of the center of gravity. Tricycle g ...

. The

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

and observer sat in tandem under a long canopy atop the fuselage. The B-54 had a piston engine while the B-88 had a

gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directio ...

driving large

contra-rotating propellers Aircraft equipped with contra-rotating propellers, also referred to as CRP, coaxial contra-rotating propellers, or high-speed propellers, apply the maximum power of usually a single piston or turboprop engine to drive a pair of coaxial propell ...

. The

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, we ...

scanner was mounted in a retractable

radome A radome (a portmanteau of radar and dome) is a structural, weatherproof enclosure that protects a radar antenna. The radome is constructed of material transparent to radio waves. Radomes protect the antenna from weather and conceal antenna e ...

in the rear fuselage, behind a long internal weapons bay. The program was cancelled in favour of the

Fairey Gannet The Fairey Gannet is a carrier-borne aircraft that was designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer the Fairey Aviation Company. It was developed for the Royal Navy, being the first fixed-wing aircraft to combine both the search an ...

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

. The original Y.A.5 was designed to take the new Napier Coupled Naiad turboprop engine, consisting of two single Naiads driving contra-rotating propellers 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 contra-rotating propellers. This aircraft made its maiden flight on 20 September 1949 ahead of the competing Fairey design. In 1950, the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

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 Armstrong Siddeley was a British engineering group that operated during the first half of the 20th century. It was formed in 1919 and is best known for the production of luxury vehicles and aircraft engines. The company was created following t ...

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 tailplane 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), and 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 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 The Napier Naiad is a British turboprop gas-turbine engine designed and built by D. Napier & Son in the late 1940s. It was the company's first gas turbine engine. A twin version known as the Coupled Naiad was developed but both engine projec ...

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 propellers) contra rotating propeller mechanism. In the B-88, an engine plant was based on the Armstrong Siddeley Mamba gas turbine, the Double Mamba - also known as the "Twin Mamba" - driving two four-blade contra-rotating propellers through a common

gearbox Propulsion transmission is the mode of transmitting and controlling propulsion power of a machine. The term ''transmission'' properly refers to the whole drivetrain, including clutch, gearbox, prop shaft (for rear-wheel drive vehicles), differe ...

. 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)

References

Bibliography

* * * {{Blackburn aircraft B-54 1940s British anti-submarine aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft with contra-rotating propellers Carrier-based aircraft Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United Kingdom Inverted gull-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1949