The Boulton Paul Balliol and Sea Balliol are

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 confi ...

advanced

trainer aircraft A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristi ...

designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer

Boulton Paul Aircraft Boulton Paul Aircraft Ltd was a British aircraft manufacturer that was incorporated in 1934, although its origins in aircraft manufacturing began earlier in 1914, and lasted until 1961. The company mainly built and modified aircraft under co ...

. On 17 May 1948, it became the world's first single-engined

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. Fuel ...

aircraft to fly. The Balliol was operated primarily by both the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

(RAF) and 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 F ...

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). Developed during the late 1940s, the Balliol was designed to fulfil

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the Secretary of State ...

Specification T.7/45, replacing the wartime

North American Harvard The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engined advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and other air forces ...

trainer. Unlike previous trainer aircraft, which were powered by

piston engine A reciprocating engine, also often known as a piston engine, is typically a heat engine that uses one or more reciprocating pistons to convert high temperature and high pressure into a rotating motion. This article describes the common featu ...

s, it was specified for the aircraft to use newly developed turboprop propulsion instead. On 30 May 1947, the Balliol performed its

maiden flight The maiden flight, also known as first flight, of an aircraft is the first occasion on which it leaves the ground under its own power. The same term is also used for the first launch of rockets. The maiden flight of a new aircraft type is alwa ...

; the first preproduction aircraft would fly during the following year. Production examples were powered by the

Rolls-Royce Merlin The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled V-12 piston aero engine of 27-litres (1,650 cu in) capacity. Rolls-Royce designed the engine and first ran it in 1933 as a private venture. Initially known as the PV-12, it was later ...

engine, while various prototypes and pre-production aircraft featured alternative powerplants such as the

Rolls-Royce Dart The Rolls-Royce RB.53 Dart is a turboprop engine designed and manufactured by Rolls-Royce Limited. First run in 1946, it powered the Vickers Viscount on its maiden flight in 1948. A flight on July 29 of that year, which carried 14 paying passe ...

and

Armstrong Siddeley Mamba The Armstrong Siddeley Mamba was a British turboprop engine produced by Armstrong Siddeley in the late 1940s and 1950s, producing around 1,500 effective horsepower (1,100 kW). Armstrong Siddeley gas turbine engines were named after snak ...

engines. The Balliol entered service with the RAF during 1950 and proved to be a relatively trouble-free trainer. However, a shift in attitudes towards

turbojet The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and ...

-powered trainer aircraft would see orders being curtailed for the type by 1952. Despite this, a navalised version of the aircraft, the Sea Balliol, was also introduced for deck landing training. The type also saw some use in other capacities, such as for experimental flights. Only a single export customer, the

Royal Ceylon Air Force The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) ( si, ශ්‍රි ලංකා ගුවන් හමුදාව, Śrī Laṃkā guwan hamudāva; ta, இலங்கை விமானப்படை, Ilaṅkai vimāṉappaṭai) is the air arm and the yo ...

, would procure the type.

Development

Origins

During March 1945, the

issued Specification T.7/45, which sought a new advanced trainer to succeed the

's (RAF) fleet of

. Amongst the requirements specified was the use of the newly developed

engine, as it was felt that the new generation of advanced trainers would better prepare pilots for flying

jet-powered Jet propulsion is the propulsion of an object in one direction, produced by ejecting a jet of fluid in the opposite direction. By Newton's third law, the moving body is propelled in the opposite direction to the jet. Reaction engines operating o ...

combat aircraft such as the newly emerged

Gloster Meteor The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies of World War II, Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turb ...

fighter aircraft. As a fallback measure in case of difficulties being encountered with engine development programmes, the envisioned trainer was also to readily accommodate a more conventional

Bristol Perseus The Bristol Perseus was a British nine-cylinder, single-row, air-cooled radial aircraft engine produced by the Bristol Engine Company starting in 1932. It was the first production sleeve valve aero engine. Design and development In late 192 ...

radial Radial is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Mathematics and Direction * Vector (geometric), a line * Radius, adjective form of * Radial distance, a directional coordinate in a polar coordinate system * Radial set * A bearing f ...

engine as well.Brew 1993, p. 277. A further stipulation by the ministry was the fitting of a three-seat cockpit in a configuration roughly akin to the contemporary

Percival Prentice The Percival Prentice was a basic trainer of the Royal Air Force in the early postwar period. It is a low-wing monoplane with a fixed tailwheel undercarriage. Front seating was in a side-by-side configuration with a rear seat provided. Desi ...

basic trainer. The pilot and instructor were sat in a side-by-side arrangement, while a second student could be accommodated in a third seat to the rear, positioned as to enable them to closely observe the pilot and the instructions being issued. The trainer was to be configured to perform various forms of training, being suitable for both day and night operations, featuring both guns and bombs for armament training, a

glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...

-towing capability, and a general design that would be compatible with navalisation measures, such as a strengthened

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 ...

and the fitting of

arrestor gear An arresting gear, or arrestor gear, is a mechanical system used to rapidly decelerate an aircraft as it lands. Arresting gear on aircraft carriers is an essential component of naval aviation, and it is most commonly used on CATOBAR and STOBA ...

. Within a month of the specification's issuing,

had opted to produce multiple proposals in response, as large orders had been anticipated. Boulton Paul's ''P.108'' proposal, which would become the Balliol, was that of a conventional low-wing monoplane, featuring retractable main undercarriage and a fixed tailwheel.Thetford 1957, pp. 94–95.Brew 1993, p. 108. Towards the end of August 1945, Boulton Paul received an order from the Air Ministry, calling for the production of a batch of four

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

s, which were to be powered by the

turboprop engine. During August 1946, this was followed by a larger order for 20 pre-production aircraft, with ten each to be powered by the Dart and the

turboprop, with delays to development of the Dart meaning that the prototypes would now be fitted by the Mamba.Brew 1993, pp. 278–279. Competing proposals from other manufacturers were also submitted, including

Avro AVRO, short for Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep ("General Association of Radio Broadcasting"), was a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system. It was the first public broad ...

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of ...

in particular.Brew 1993, p. 283.

Into flight

As the Mamba was not flight-ready at the time of the first prototype's completion, it was instead powered by a Bristol Mercury 30

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ca ...

during its initial test flights.Brew 1993, pp. 109–110. Thus powered, it first flew on 30 May 1947, after teething issues with the undercarriage had been resolved during ground testing. The second prototype, powered by the intended Mamba engine, first flew on 17 May 1948, becoming the world's first single-engined turboprop aircraft to fly. Early handling trials at

MOD Boscombe Down MoD Boscombe Down ' is the home of a military aircraft testing site, on the southeastern outskirts of the town of Amesbury, Wiltshire, England. The site is managed by QinetiQ, the private defence company created as part of the breakup of the Def ...

revealed the aircraft to possess relatively gentle and easy flight characteristics across all typical circumstances, with only minor suggestions for improvements being produced, such as the lack of a port-side walkway and directional snaking unbecoming to a gun platform.Brew 1993, p. 279. Meanwhile, the Air Ministry had second thoughts about its training requirements thus, in 1947, it issued a new specification, T.14/47, requiring a two-seat trainer that was powered by a

piston engine. This engine which was available in large numbers from surplus stocks leftover from the war, rather than expensive turboprops that would have to bought in new.Brew 1993, pp. 110–111.Brew 1993, p. 278. On 10 July 1948, the first Merlin-powered Balliol, designated ''Balliol T.2'', performed its first flight. The observer's seat of the Mk 1 was removed, the side-by-side seats remaining. Following an extensive evaluation, the Balliol was chosen as the victor over the rival Athena, leading to sizable orders being promptly placed to replace some of the Harvards in RAF service.Donald 1997, p. 180. The RAF naming conventions for various types preferred that pure trainers, not conversion type trainers, should have names related to education or places of learning e.g.

Airspeed Oxford The Airspeed AS.10 Oxford is a twin-engine monoplane aircraft developed and manufactured by Airspeed. It saw widespread use for training British Commonwealth aircrews in navigation, radio-operating, bombing and gunnery roles throughout the Seco ...

Avro Tutor The Avro Type 621 Tutor is a two-seat British radial-engined biplane from the interwar period. It was a simple but rugged basic trainer (aircraft), trainer that was used by the Royal Air Force as well as many other air arms worldwide. Design ...

and

, the

and Provost and

De Havilland Dominie The de Havilland DH.89 Dragon Rapide is a 1930s short-haul biplane airliner developed and produced by British aircraft company de Havilland. Capable of accommodating 6–8 passengers, it proved an economical and durable craft, despite its rela ...

. Balliol is an Oxford University College and it alliterated with 'Boulton Paul'.

Further development

A specialised model for the

(FAA), designated ''Sea Balliol T.21'', was also developed. Various design changes were made to the aircraft as to better adapt it for shipboard use on board the service's

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

s. These included the fitting of an

arrestor hook A tailhook, arresting hook, or arrester hook is a device attached to the empennage (rear) of some military fixed-wing aircraft. The hook is used to achieve rapid deceleration during routine landings aboard aircraft carrier flight decks at s ...

, which was necessary for landings at sea.Brew 1993, pp. 291–292 While the Balliol was successfully introduced to service during 1950, its fortunes had dramatically changed within a single year. This was largely due to attitudes amongst staff at the Air Ministry having shifted once again on the topic of training requirements, with the RAF now wanting a jet-powered advanced trainer aircraft instead. This would result in the procurement of the rival

de Havilland Vampire The de Havilland Vampire is a British jet fighter which was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland, de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force, RAF, after the Gloster Meteor, and ...

T.Mk11 at the Balliol's expense.Brew 1993, pp. 288–289

Design

The Boulton Paul Balliol is an advanced

, being configured for use by military operators. In terms of its basic configuration, it was relatively traditional, featuring a

conventional landing gear Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

, of which the two main gear were retractable but the tailwheel was not.Brew 1993, pp. 280-281. Having anticipated student pilots being particularly rough on the aircraft, it was designed to be both durable and as easy to maintain as possible, featuring around 40 inspection hatches, typically secured by quick-release fasteners, across the fuselage to facilitate this. For greater simplicity of maintenance, wherever feasible, components were designed to be interchangeable, such as the fin, tailplane, wing tanks, main gear oleos, and other elements.Brew 1993, pp. 281-282. Structurally, the Balliol comprises seven main sections, three of which form the fuselage, two for the wing sections, and the remaining two for the tail unit. The majority of exterior covering was light alloy stressed-skin, supported by a combination of subframes and

longeron In engineering, a longeron and stringer is the load-bearing component of a framework. The term is commonly used in connection with aircraft fuselages and automobile chassis. Longerons are used in conjunction with stringers to form structural ...

s, while the rear section incorporated a

monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

approach. Fuel was accommodated within a mixture of wing tanks and a single fuselage tank, the former being easy to remove while the wing was folded. For additional safety, various measures to reduce potential accident-related damage were incorporated into the design, such as the strengthened crash-resistant structure around the cockpit, and the three

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

crash skids on the underside of the fuselage to minimise damage from a wheels-up landing.Brew 1993, pp. 280-281. The wings of the Balliol feature two-spar construction within an uninterrupted rigid torsion box. Most of the wing's structure comprised pressed light alloys, while an auxiliary spar was used to support the trailing edge skinning and flaps and the forward section accommodated the steel box wells for the retractable main undercarriage. The outer wings were fitted with simple

dive brake Dive brakes or dive flaps are deployed to slow down an aircraft when in a dive. They often consist of a metal flap that is lowered against the air flow, thus creating drag and reducing dive speed.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, ...

s, along with conventional inner and outer split flaps that ran as far as the

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. While the starboard wing featured a single G45 cine-camera, the port wing featured a single .303 Browning machine gun. The wings were designed to be manually foldable, needing only two bolts to be removed, without affected the control runs.Brew 1993, p. 281. Production Balliols were powered by a single

engine, which was fitted to the front of the aircraft. The engine compartment featured distinctly different construction from the rest of the aircraft, being composed of light

alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductility, ...

s supported by steel tubing; the engine itself was mounted on three struts attached to the firewall between the compartment and the cockpit. The jet pipe was angled downwards, running beneath the cockpit to an exhaust on the lower starboard side of the fuselage, somewhat counteracting the

torque In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational equivalent of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). It represents the capability of a force to produce change in the rotational motion of th ...

generated by the aircraft's three-bladed propeller as well as contributing roughly 20 percent of the aircraft's total static thrust. Access to the engine compartment was provided via numerous detachable hatches on the sides and lower portions.Brew 1993, p. 280.

Operational history

During 1950, several pre-production Balliols were delivered to the RAF's

Central Flying School The Central Flying School (CFS) is the Royal Air Force's primary institution for the training of military flying instructors. Established in 1912 at the Upavon Aerodrome, it is the longest existing flying training school. The school was based at R ...

for evaluation purposes. However, due to the change in air training policy, the Balliol was only ever delivered to a single Flying Training School, No. 7 at

RAF Cottesmore Royal Air Force Station Cottesmore or more simply RAF Cottesmore is a former Royal Air Force station in Rutland, England, situated between Cottesmore and Market Overton. On 15 December 2009, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth announced that the ...

, where the type promptly replaced their Harvards. Numerous examples were also operated at the RAF College, Cranwell, until it was replaced there by the

T.Mk 11 in 1956. The Balliol also saw limited squadron service from 1953 with No. 288 Squadron, based at

RAF Middle Wallop Middle Wallop is a village in the civil parish of Nether Wallop in Hampshire, England, on the A343 road. At the 2011 Census the population was included in the civil parish of Over Wallop. The village has a public house, The George Inn, and a pet ...

. Operations with the type continued until the squadron was disbanded in September 1957. The Sea Balliol served with 781 squadron at Lee-on-Solent and 1843 Squadron RNVR at Abbotsinch. The final example was delivered during December 1954.Thetford 1978, p. 378 The last remaining active Sea Balliols stationed at Abbotsinch with withdrawn around September 1963. "Boulton Paul Balliol T. 21."
''RAF Museum''. Retrieved: 10 August 2009. In addition to its primary use as a trainer aircraft, several Balliols were operated for other purposes, including as test aircraft. In this capacity, one aircraft participated in the flight testing of radar absorbent coatings. The majority of Balliols were delivered to the domestic military services, however export arrangements were also sought out by the manufacturer. The

were ultimately be the only export customer for the type, opting to procure a batch of 12 Balliol Mk.2s for its training purposes; of these, seven were drawn from cancelled contracts for the RAF and the remainder from RAF reserves, the latter being replaced by a further five production aircraft.

Variants

;P.108 Balliol T.Mk 1 :Prototypes, three built. Powered by the Armstrong Siddeley Mamba

engine. ;Balliol T.Mk 2 :Two-seat advanced training aircraft for the RAF; 196 built (166 built by Boulton Paul, and 30 built by

Blackburn Aircraft Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north- ...

). ;Sea Balliol T.Mk 21 :Two-seat advanced training aircraft for the FAA. A total of 30 built by Boulton Paul.

Operators

; *

Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment The Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) was a research facility for British military aviation from 1918 to 1992. Established at Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, the unit moved in 1939 to Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, where its work ...

Empire Test Pilot's School The Empire Test Pilots' School (ETPS) is a British training school for test pilots and flight test engineers of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft at MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, England. It was established in 1943, the first of its type. ...

** No. 288 Squadron at Middle Wallop **

No. 228 Operational Conversion Unit No. 228 Operational Conversion Unit was a Royal Air Force Operational conversion unit. It was formed in No. 12 Group at RAF Leeming from Nos. 13 and 54 OTUs in 1947. The tasking of the OCU was the training of night fighter crews and its aircraf ...

RAF Leeming Royal Air Force Leeming or RAF Leeming is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located near Leeming, North Yorkshire, England. It was opened in 1940 and was jointly used by the RAF and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). Between 1950 and 1991, it ...

''Air-Britain Aeromilitaria'' Autumn 2005, p. 119 ** No. 233 Operational Conversion Unit at

RAF Pembrey Pembrey Sands Air Weapons Range is a Ministry of Defence air weapons range located near the village of Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, northwest of Burry Port and south of Carmarthen, Wales. Adjacent to the weapons range site was a Royal Air Force ...

** No. 238 Operational Conversion Unit at

RAF Colerne Royal Air Force Colerne or more simply RAF Colerne is a former Royal Air Force station which was on the outskirts of the village of Colerne in Wiltshire, England, and was in use from 1939 to 1976. The site is now known as Azimghur Barracks and ...

No. 2 Flying Training School No.2 Flying Training School is a Flying Training School (FTS) of the Royal Air Force, Royal Air Force (RAF). It is part of No. 22 Group RAF, No. 22 (Training) Group that delivers glider flying training to the Royal Air Force Air Cadets. Its head ...

RAF Ternhill Royal Air Force Tern Hill or RAF Tern Hill was a Royal Air Force station at Ternhill in Shropshire, England, near the towns of Newport and Market Drayton. The station closed in 1976, with the technical and administrative site transferring t ...

** No. 6 Flying Training School,

No. 7 Flying Training School No. 7 Flying Training School (7 FTS) is a former Royal Air Force flying training school that operated between 1935 and 1994. From 1948 to 1954, No 7 Flying Training School was located at RAF Cottesmore, flying Tiger Moths, Harvards, Prentices an ...

** No. 3/4 Civilian Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit at

Exeter Airport Exeter Airport , formerly ''Exeter International Airport'', is an international airport located at Clyst Honiton in East Devon, close to the city of Exeter and within the county of Devon, South West England. Exeter has a CAA Public Use Aero ...

''Air-Britain Aeromilitaria'' Autumn 2005, p. 118 **

Central Gunnery School Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

RAF College Cranwell The Royal Air Force College (RAFC) is the Royal Air Force military academy which provides initial training to all RAF personnel who are preparing to become commissioned officers. The College also provides initial training to aircrew cadets and ...

''Air-Britain Aeromilitaria'' Autumn 2005, p. 120 *

702 Naval Air Squadron 702 Naval Air Squadron (702 NAS) was a naval squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was based at RNAS Yeovilton in Somerset and earlier at RNAS Portland in Dorset. As a training Squadron it trained all ground and air crew for the sister ...

703 Naval Air Squadron 703 Naval Air Squadron of the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy was formed as a long-range catapult squadron on 3 March 1942 at RNAS Lee-on-Solent. During the Cold War, it was reformed as an experimental trials unit, and then as a helicopter traini ...

727 Naval Air Squadron 727 Naval Air Squadron is a squadron of the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm. It was formed in 1943 as a Fleet Requirements Unit, being disbanded in December 1944. It was reformed twice in the 1940s and 1950s to provide flying experience for naval offi ...

765 Naval Air Squadron 765 Naval Air Squadron (765 NAS) was a List of Fleet Air Arm aircraft squadrons, Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It formed at RNAS Lee-on-Solent, in May 1939, as a Seaplane School and Pool squadron. The squadron moved to R ...

781 Naval Air Squadron 781 Naval Air Squadron (781 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. Aircraft operated The squadron operated a variety of different aircraft and versions between 1947 & 1981: * North American Harvard T.2b & T.3 * Hawker ...

796 Naval Air Squadron 796 Naval Air Squadron (796 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's 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 a ...

1831 Naval Air Squadron 1831 Naval Air Squadron (1831 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. The squadron was formed in 1943 in Rhode Island as a fighter squadron, before being disbanded, reformed and disbanded again after its return to Britai ...

(Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve) ** 1832 Naval Air Squadron (Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve) ** 1834 Naval Air Squadron (Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve) ** 1840 Naval Air Squadron (Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve) **

1844 Naval Air Squadron 1844 Naval Air Squadron (1844 NAS) was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's 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 ...

(Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve)

Survivors

Boulton Paul Sea Balliol T21 (27889102391)

Sri Lanka

;On display * Balliol T2 ''CA310'' is on static display on the parade ground at SLAF Ground Combat Training Unit at Diyatalawa. ;Stored or under restoration * Balliol T2 ''CA303'' is in storage at the

Sri Lankan Air Force Museum Shri (; , ) is a Sanskrit term denoting resplendence, wealth and prosperity, primarily used as an honorific. The word is widely used in languages of South Asia, South and classification schemes for Southeast Asian languages, Southeast Asian lan ...

, Ratmalana Air Base.

United Kingdom

;On display * Sea Balliol T21 ''WL732'' former Royal Navy and

A&AEE The Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) was a research facility for British military aviation from 1918 to 1992. Established at Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, the unit moved in 1939 to Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, where its work ...

aircraft on display in Hangar 1 as part of the transport and training collection at the

Royal Air Force Museum Cosford The Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, located in Cosford in Shropshire, is a free (currently, 2022) museum dedicated to the history of aviation and the Royal Air Force in particular. The museum is part of the Royal Air Force Museum, a non-departme ...

."Individual History – Boulton Paul P.108 Sea Balliol T Mk 21 WL732."
''

Royal Air Force Museum The Royal Air Force Museum is a museum dedicated to the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom. The museum is a non-departmental public body of the Ministry of Defence and is a registered charity. The museum is split into two separate sites: * ...

'', 2007. Retrieved: 10 October 2009.Ellis 2008, p. 176. * Balliol T2 ''WN149'' at the Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre at

Newquay Airport Cornwall Airport Newquay is the main commercial airport for Cornwall, United Kingdom, located at Mawgan in Pydar, northeast of the town of Newquay on Cornwall's north coast. Its runway was operated by RAF St Mawgan before 2008, and is now o ...

. The aircraft was restored to display standard by the Boulton Paul Association at Wolverhampton, West Midlands, and delivered to Newquay on 7 January 2021.Ellis 2008, p. 155.

Specifications (T.Mk.2)

Boulton Paul Balliol T2 3-view silhouette

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Brew, Alex. ''Boulton Paul Aircraft since 1915''. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1993. . * Brew, Alex. "Database: Boulton Paul Balliol". ''

Aeroplane An airplane or aeroplane (informally plane) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spectr ...

'', Vol. 50, No. 12, December 2022. pp. 91–104. . * * Bridgman, Leonard. ''Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1953–54''. London: Jane's All The World's Aircraft Publishing Co. Ltd., 1953. * Donald, David, ed. ''The Encyclopedia of World Aircraft''. London: Aerospace Publishing, 1997. . * Ellis, Ken. ''Wrecks & Relics, 21st edition''. Manchester, UK: Crécy Publishing, 2008. . * Jefford, C.G. ''RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912''. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing, 2001. . * Sturtivant, Ray and Ballance, Theo. ''The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm''. Tonbridge, Kent: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1994. . * "The Balliol in the Royal Air Force". ''Air-Britain Aeromilitaria'', Autumn 2005, Vol. 31, Issue 123. pp. 117–120. . * Thetford, Owen. ''Aircraft of the Royal Air Force 1918–57''. London: Putnam, First Edition 1957. * Thetford, Owen. ''British Naval Aircraft since 1912''. London: Putnam, Fourth edition, 1978. .

External links

Balliol at British Aircraft Directory

– a 1948 ''

Flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...

'' article on flying the Balliol Mercury-engined prototype {{Authority control Balliol 1940s British military trainer aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Low-wing aircraft

Boulton Paul Sea Balliol The Boulton Paul Balliol and Sea Balliol are monoplane advanced trainer aircraft designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Boulton Paul Aircraft. On 17 May 1948, it became the world's first single-engined turboprop aircraft to ...

Aircraft first flown in 1947