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Blackburn B.44

1942 WORLD WAR 2 X-PLANE

History of Blackburn B. 44

There was a period in the history of military aviation with a special focus on the "seaplane fighter", an offensive attack design that tried to retain the best qualities of both the seaplane (landing and takeoff at sea, range) and the fighter (stable weapons platform) , general performance, maneuverability). In November 1942, with the outbreak of World War II, the Air Ministry developed Specification No.

2/42 for this type of fighter, and Blackburn supplied what would become the "B.44".

In its earlier B. 20 and B. 40 projects, both of which were airships, the company designed around a retractable fuselage that could be lowered during landing and raised during flight, Thereby increasing the aerodynamic efficiency of the latter action. The B.20 prototype partially demonstrated the concept (detailed elsewhere on this website), but the aircraft failed in testing (three of its six crew members perished).

The development of the B.40 did not go beyond the drawings, as the Royal Air Force (RAF) interest in the model died down quickly.

The same concept is now being driven by a single-seat, single-engine fighter design that can operate close to the front line in areas where support systems are about to be provided - i.e., small islands (either natural or man-made) are all you can have.

The Air Force ordered two prototypes that would be powered by a Napier Sabre engine producing 2,240 horsepower and driving a pair of three-bladed counter-rotating nose propellers. To expedite development, most of the existing work on the Blackburn Fire land-based fighter (detailed elsewhere on this site) was used to build the B.44 seaplane fighter. The basic fuselage should have low-set monoplane wings, located forward amidships. The engines will be positioned forward in a conventional manner, and the rear will consist of a vertical stabilizer and low-mounted front horizontal stabilizers.

Since the hull design is built into the hull design (supported/retracted by the strut system), there is no need for complex landing gear assemblies. Two external (foldable) pontoons were added near the end of each wing to provide stability when walking on water. The pilot sits under the framed canopy amidships forward with the fuselage spine just aft of his position, the extra interior volume increases fuel storage for a longer operating range.

The armament is centered on a 4 x 20mm autocannon (two per wing) and is ready to carry 2 x 500 lb bombs under the wings.

As the war progressed and the economically minded "escort carriers" proved to be viable warships for transporting fighter jets back and forth, the need for the B.44 diminished. In addition, the ability to rapidly establish air bases in unlikely areas, as reflected in operations in the Pacific theaterprovides a forward theater of operations for future attacks or general attack support.

As a result, the B.44 was abandoned after only one full-scale model was completed.

Of particular note during the development of the B.44 seaplane fighter was the lack of confidence among RAF officials in the design, with concerns ranging from stability on water and spray on engine and propeller components to general control in flight factor. The work of the B.44 was only made public in the post-war period in 1947.