Blackburn B.44
Historical Background
The Blackburn B.44 was an interesting concept drawn up in 1942 in response to growing concerns that, with the fall of Nazi Germany, the UK would have to fight Japan. A British campaign in the pacific would have been difficult due to the lack of available resources and infrastructure such as airfields. To minimize the use of these, the design was based heavily on the Blackburn Firebrand and was to utilize a retractable float design to solve the performance issues that traditional floatplanes suffered. Work began with the Blackburn B.20. A full size twin engine craft built to test the feasibility of this novel retractable float. The B.20 flew well, but crashed due to aileron flutter totally unrelated to the float design. Wind tunnel tests on a scale version of the B.44 yielded promising results. The retractable floats, combined with a 2,200 horsepower Napier-Sabre engine and contra-rotating props was predicted to give the B.44 a top speed of 360mph. An elliptically shaped wing was chosen to maximize wing efficiency and increase maneuverability. Although perfectly suited to the Pacific conflict, the project was cancelled due to British policy of using aircraft carriers and wheeled aircraft.
Controls
AG-7 activates gyro to improve control on the water.
AG-8 turns Nav lights on off.
TRIM is trim (shocking)
VTOL down for flaps.
To slow down on the water/reverse press BRAKE.
Other than that normal flight controls.
Notes
This beautiful aircraft has the highest part count of anything else I've made I think, and is also the first rendition of this plane on this site! 1:1 scale of course.
Edit: oh man it's me first feature boi
Gallery
Blackburn B.20
Wind Tunnel Model
Specifications
Spotlights
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- BaconRoll 11 months ago
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- LiamW one year ago
- MethaManAircraft one year ago
- GhostHTX one year ago
- Tang0five one year ago
- Valiant2017 one year ago
- Griffinthedragon one year ago
- ThePilotDude one year ago
General Characteristics
- Predecessor RAF Challenge (Closed)
- This plane has been featured
- Created On Windows
- Wingspan 48.9ft (14.9m)
- Length 42.7ft (13.0m)
- Height 19.0ft (5.8m)
- Empty Weight 12,448lbs (5,646kg)
- Loaded Weight 13,342lbs (6,052kg)
Performance
- Power/Weight Ratio 0.252
- Horse Power/Weight Ratio 0.104
- Wing Loading 28.6lbs/ft2 (139.5kg/m2)
- Wing Area 466.9ft2 (43.4m2)
- Drag Points 3497
Parts
- Number of Parts 420
- Control Surfaces 2
imean it looks like a fat whale when its gear is up but its cool
5 months ago420 parts, was that planned??
10 months agoRATING
Looks : 4/5 Stars
Performance : 3.5/5 Stars
Details : 4/5 Stars
Weaponry : 4/5 Stars
Bonus : 4.5/5 Stars
OVERALL RATING : 4/5 Stars
Clever work on those floating blocks!
11 months agoAhh yess, that yellowish color I’ll need in a while after I finish up my line of Korean war aircraft
11 months ago@BACconcordepilot I see what you mean! the sr.a1 was actually born out of this project I believe. Saunders got all the data that Blackburn had and used that to make the a1.
11 months agoso a fairey firefly and a saunders roe sr.a1 had a baby and
+1 one year ago@Zippy6 Stunning! I always loved these types of designs and see them a LOT in RC comps :)
one year ago@JelloAircraftCorporation shhhhh ;)
one year agolol part count is 420
one year agoI have always loved this concept
one year agoSpin as in spin. One wing is stalling and forcing her out of controlled flight. But its ok - its the low speed handling that is sketchy. Once up to speed she handles quite nicely - if a little heavy. But overall this is an awesome build! @Zippy6
+2 one year ago@GhostHTX spin as in roll?
one year agoI like this a lot! But I have one or two comments; 1- the trim is reversed from what one would usually expect. 2- with even a little positive elevator input she wants to enter a spin. Is this happening for anyone else?
one year ago@AircraftoftheRedStar this man. I got a celeb build on the way too.
one year agoCongrats on gold!!
one year ago@LotterCrafts nah go ahead.
one year agoHaving done the B.20 the B.44 was on my radar - don’t think I could have done half as good a job as you’ve done here, this really is beautiful and the functionality is damn good! BZs all round!
one year agoWOW!
one year ago@Zippy6 Do you mind if I borrow your float?
one year ago