The Blackburn TB (for "Twin Blackburn") was a long-range twin-engined anti-

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

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 tec ...

. It was Blackburn's first multi-engine aircraft to fly.

Design and development

The first attacks by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

bombing airships on the United Kingdom in the winter of 1914–15 resulted in the

British Admiralty The Admiralty was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy until 1964, historically under its titular head, the Lord High Admiral – one of the Great Officers of State. For much of it ...

issuing a requirement for a two-seat aircraft with long endurance to attack

s by dropping incendiary

Ranken dart The Ranken Dart was an anti-Zeppelin weapon developed during the First World War. It was an air-dropped explosive flechette-type of missile-shaped bomb which was long and wide while being of a steel and wood construcation. It was developed for ...

s onto the airships in the hope of igniting their gas envelopes, with an order for nine Blackburn TBs being placed in March

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ...

.Mason 1994, p. 42. The TB was a seaplane with twin fuselages, situated 10 ft (3.35 m) apart, with the pilot in one fuselage and the observer in the other, having no means of communication other than hand signals.Mason 1994, p. 43. Each of the twin fuselages was a wooden structure with fabric covering, with a tractor engine in front of each fuselage. It had fabric-covered, wooden unstaggered, unswept and unequal-span wings. The upper wing extension was wire braced to steel pylons above the wing. The Blackburn had

aileron An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

s on the upper wings only.Jackson 1968, p. 94. Although it was intended that the TB would be powered by two 150 hp (112 kW) Smith Static radial engines, which promised low weight and good fuel consumption, these proved to be unsatisfactory, and 100 hp (75 kW) Gnome Monosoupape 9 Type B-2 had to be substituted, this allowing the first aircraft to fly in August 1915.Mason 1994, pp. 42–43. Testing showed that the two Gnome engines gave insufficient power, with the aircraft being unable to climb above 8,000 ft (2,438 m) carrying the required three canisters of 24 1 lb (.5 kg) Ranken darts. The weapon load was therefore reduced to two canisters. The ninth (and final) TB was fitted with 110 hp (80 kW)

Clerget Clerget-Blin (full name being ''Société Clerget-Blin et Cie'') was a French precision engineering company formed in 1913 by the engineer and inventor Pierre Clerget and industrialist Eugène Blin. In 1939, the company was absorbed into the ''G ...

engines with the hope of improving performance. This modification was found to have little effect.

Operational history

Seven TBs were delivered to the Royal Naval Air Service. They did not see much action, four serving for a short time at

RNAS Killingholme The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

in 1917. All seven, together with the remaining two that were held in store, were broken up in 1917.Jackson 1968, pp 96–97.

Operators

; *

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

Specifications (TB)

References

Sources

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External links

Blackburn T.B.
at the British Aircraft Directory {{Blackburn aircraft Twin Blackburn 1910s British fighter aircraft Floatplanes Twin-fuselage aircraft Rotary-engined aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1915 Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft