FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1958
1958 - 0611.PDF
FLIGHT, 9 May 1958 627 NA.39 Blackburn s Naval Bomber: A First Analytical Study By THE TECHNICAL EDITOR The first NA.39 coming in to land after its 39-minute flight at the R.A.E. Bedford, on April 30. The photograph gives an excellent indication of the geometry of the aerodynamic surfaces and airbrakes. Finish of the aircraft is a glossy "roundel blue" and white. FOR more than forty years, Blackburn and General Aircraft,Ltd. (originally Blackburn Aircraft), of Brough, East York-shire, have been one of the principal suppliers of aeroplanes to the Royal Navy. Their historic lineage of carrier-based typestemporarily came to an end when the Firebrand went out of production in 1949 and was replaced by the gargantuan Beverleytransport for the R.A.F. Now, however, Blackburn are firmly back at their old trade, with a remarkable machine which bearsthe Admiralty specification number NA.39. The emergence of a completely new type of British militaryaeroplane is today an event of real consequence, since—unfor- tunately—it is perforce born into a climate of opinion whichtends to regard piloted weapon systems as remnants of a bygone age. Aldiough such a contention cannot withstand even cursoryexamination, it is nevertheless a fact that, now that the NA.39 has flown, not a single type of British combat aeroplane for which anorder has been placed remains on the drawing boards or in the experimental departments of any British company. The Blackburnaeroplane is, therefore, worth as detailed an appraisal as security will permit at this stage. It must be admitted that superficial examination of the newmachine could lead a lay observer to wonder what it has got that the others haven't. It looks, in fact, much like a Scimitar whichhas been subjected to the attentions of an area-ruling maniac. But the Government has assigned a substantial proportion of itshard-pressed financial strength to the design and construction of this aeroplane, and this alone must reassure the onlooker that theNA.39 is, in fact, a remarkable aircraft, with capabilities unmatched by anything else either flying or in prospect. To find out why thisis so, one has to probe beneath the NA.39's tough hide, and apply a great deal of die Sherlock Holmes practice of observation anddeduction. Perhaps the starting point should be the specification itself.Publication of any part of the NA.39 specification is obviously prohibited, but certain facts can reasonably be assumed. Amongthese are the following: the ability to operate from ships such as Victorious, Eagle and Ark Royal; provision for a crew of two, andsufficient equipment to make possible all-weather operation; ability to carry, both internally and externally, the greatest possible rangeof stores, including a variety of nuclear weapons; the maximum possible range, the radius of action being at least 500 nauticalmiles; a fair all-round performance, including a cruising speed of over Mach 0.9; and a structure suitable for operation at highindicated airspeeds, so that "under-the-radar" attacks can be made from exceedingly low altitude. Most of these logical requirementspose no more than minor engineering problems; but three of them 5re critical and must have demanded every ounce of effort andingenuity from the Blackburn design team. These requirements are the intimately related ones of range, low-altitude (includingtake-off and landing) performance and structural stiffness. It seems likely that die specification was formulated about threeyears ago. The requirement was put out to tender, and the result- ing competition was undoubtedly exceedingly keen among dienumerous firms who submitted proposals. Eventually Blackburn were awarded die contract. The chairman of the company, mendie late Robert Blackburn, said in his annual address in July 1955, "I am very happy to be able to inform you mat an importantand challenging aircraft development contract, for which a number of odier major firms in the industry competed, is being placed withyour company." It is logical to suppose diat this contract must have covered die construction of a sizeable batch of developmentaircraft; die choice of twenty in the case of die P.I programme may, perhaps, be a guide in this respect.Anticipating their success, Blackburn rapidly expanded dieir resources, and augmented their technical strengdi to meet theenormous challenge posed by this difficult aeroplane. Actually, as an accompanying graph shows, die company's technical staff hasbeen increasing steadily since N. E. Rowe became technical direc- tor six years ago. The following year Barry Laight was appointedchief designer (aircraft), and in 1954 Bert Smidi came to head die aerodynamics department, a particularly important one atdiat time. In diat year, as the graph shows, die build-up of staff was rapid, particularly in the fields of electrics and structures.Roy Boot became deputy head of aerodynamics, and Harold Brumby was appointed project designer for the aircraft itself. Blackburn are not a particularly large aircraft company, evenby European standards, and several of die competing designs in die NA.39 contest must have come from companies widi muchgreater technical staffs and equipment. The placing of the con- tract at Brough must have been due simply to the superiority ofdie design submitted, wim which Blackburn must also have given an earnest of their intention to strengdien dieir ability to "engineer"and manufacture such a machine. In the event, diey have not only done diis but diey have also produced die hardware ahead of avery competitive schedule—and very much sooner than many people believed possible. (In passing, it is also worth noting diatevery production Beverley has also come off the line on schedule.) To a considerable degree, the basicsize and shape of a machine designed to such a specification is setded beforeit has begun. Even Victorious, the most modern of our carriers, imposes fairlystringent limits on die type of aero- plane which can be operated from her 4O°deck. In die beginning, dierefore, the factors determining gross weight are thestrength of a carrier deck, the perform- ance of the present steam catapult and 3OOthe wire arresting system. Of these, Growth of Blackburn technical staff since 7952; the increase is depicted on a per- 2oo centage basis, as actual figures are secret. IOO AA r / r / / - '-952 .53 -54 -55 -56
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
