About This File
FS2004/FSX Blackburn Skua. The Blackburn Skua was a British-built Royal Naval dive bomber and fighter. The first prototype flew in 1937 fitted with a Bristol Mercury radial engine. It first enered service in 1938 - by then all subsequent production of 190 were fitted wth the Bristol Perseus engine. Armament conisted of four wing mounted machine guns and one rearward facing m/c gun on a flexible mount in the rear cockpit. Provision was made for the fitting of a 500 lb bomb on a carriage swinging forward when required. Instead, up to 8 x 20 lb or 4 x 40 lb bombs could be carried on under-wing racks. Although reasonably sucessful initially, it soon proved an easy target to later fighters and so were withdrawn from front-line service in 1941. They were then used as advanced trainers and target tugs until struck off in 1945. Modelled by Dave Molyneaux.