The Blackburn T.R.1 Sprat was a British single-engine two-seat

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

trainer, built in 1926 for advanced training, deck-landing and

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...

experience. Just one was built.

Development

The Sprat was designed to Air Ministry Specification 5/24 as an RAF advanced trainer and

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, RN fighting arms. it is a primarily helicopter force, though also operating the Lockhee ...

deck-landing trainer. It was specified that the aircraft should be readily convertible to a

, again to be used as a trainer. The specification produced contracts for three machines, the Vickers Vendace, the Parnall Perch and the Sprat. The Sprat, though a smaller aircraft, had strong family resemblances to the earlier Velos

torpedo bomber A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the World War I, First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carryin ...

. The Sprat was a staggered, single-bay biplane with equal-span wings that could be folded for carrier stowage. The

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

centre section was built around a tubular-steel structure which linked the engine mounting and the wooded-framed rear fuselage. The two dual-control open cockpits were both behind the trailing edge of the wing for optimum visibility. Unusually, the instruments were placed on the rear spar of the upper wing centre section, where they could be read from both cockpits. The

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

area was large compared to that of the fin, and a braced

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabilizer, is a small lift (force), lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters ...

was placed on top of the rear fuselage. The main

undercarriage Undercarriage is the part of a moving vehicle that is underneath the main body of the vehicle. The term originally applied to this part of a horse-drawn carriage, and usage has since broadened to include: *The landing gear of an aircraft. *The ch ...

was a robust split-axle construction, with the legs joining the wings at the bottom of the X-form centre-section struts. Braced stub axles carried the arrester claws required by the longitudinal arrester wires of

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

aircraft carriers up to 1926. The undercarriage assembly was designed so that it could be easily removed with the aircraft on trestles, and replaced with a pair of

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

single-step, V-bottomed round-topped floats. These carried water rudders for manoeuvring afloat. The Sprat was powered by a water-cooled 275 hp (210 kW) Rolls-Royce Falcon III engine with a nose radiator, driving a four-bladed wooden propeller. As on the Velos, the upper engine cowling dropped smoothly away from the upper wing leading edge.

Operational history

The Sprat first flew at Blackburn's works at

Brough Aerodrome Brough Aerodrome was a private use aerodrome located at Brough, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is now disused with the last known flight out of the airfield occurring in 2011. The airfield closed in 2013. The site is now crossed by ...

, then went to

Martlesham Heath Martlesham Heath is a village in Suffolk, England. It is east of Ipswich, This was an ancient area of heathland and latterly the site of Martlesham Heath Airfield. A "new village" was established there in the mid-1970s and this has developed in ...

for comparative trials with the other two contenders. In the end, though the Vendace was selected as the best aircraft for the specification, no orders were placed with any manufacturer because of economy cuts. The Sprat last appeared in public at the

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient Manorialism, manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has ...

RAF display in July 1926.

Specifications (landplane)

Blackburn Sprat 3 view NACA Aircraft Circular No

References

* {{Blackburn aircraft

Sprat Sprat is the common name applied to a group of forage fish belonging to the genus ''Sprattus'' in the Family (biology), family Clupeidae. The term also is applied to a number of other small sprat-like forage fish (''Clupeoides'', ''Clupeonella ...

1920s British military trainer aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Carrier-based aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1926 Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear Floatplanes Single-engined piston aircraft