Blackburn B-54/Y.A.7/Y.A.8 and B-88/Y.B.1
For a description of the format and data included in Production Tables, see here.
Contents
Type Description
- B-54/Y.A.5
- Two seat carrier-borne anti-submarine aircraft to Specification G.R.17/45 to meet the requirements of O.R.220. It was a large, single-propeller conventional monoplane with a tricycle undercarriage and a mid mounted inverted gull-wing, fitted with an effective high-lift flap system drawing upon experience with the Blackburn B-48 Firecrest, and a mid-mounted horizontal tailplane with considerable dihedral. It had a simple wing folding mechanism that split once at the angle of the gull-wing. The deep fuselage accommodated the engine(s), and large weapons bay and a radar system with a retractable radome under the rear fuselage. The crew of two, pilot and observer, were seated high up in tandem under a single canopy.The Y.A.5 was designed to take the Napier Coupled Naiad turboprop engine, consisting of two single Naiads driving contra-rotating propellers through a common gearbox. However, cancellation of the Naiad led to a change to a Griffon powerplant as the Y.A.7.
- B-54/Y.A.7
- Y.A.5 fitted with one 2000 h.p. Rolls-Royce Griffon 56 powerplant driving two, three-blade contra-rotating propellers.
- B-54/Y.A.8
- Three seat development of the Y.A.7 with increased leading edge sweep, a taller fin and a narrower rudder (which was mass-balanced) rather than the aerodynamically-balanced previously utilised.
- B-88/Y.B.1
- Development of the Y.A.8 fitted with one 2,950 h.p. Armstrong Siddeley Double Mamba turboprop powerplant.
| B-88/Y.B.1 Specification | |||||||||
| Span | Length | Height | Wing Area | Empty Wt | Max AUW | Cruise Speed | Maximum Speed | Range | Service Ceiling |
| 44 ft 2 in | 42 ft 8 in | 16 ft 9 in | 13091 lb | 320 mph/ 278 kn | |||||
| 13.46 m | 13 m | 5.11 m | 5938 kg | 515 km/h | |||||
Projected Variants
- B-96
- Development of the B-54 fitted with one Napier E.141 Double Eland powerplant.
- (none)
- AEW development of the B-54 to meet the requirements of Specification AEW.154
Production Details
| Serial Range | C/n | Type | Batch Qty |
Conv. | Canc'd | Notes |
| 3 aircraft ordered from The Blackburn Aeroplane and Motor Co. Ltd, Brough, Yorkshire, to Contract 6/Acft/822. | ||||||
| WB781 | 5615 | Y.A.7 | 1 | First flew 20 September 1949. | ||
| WB788 | 5616 | Y.A.8 | 1 | First flew 3 May 1950. | ||
| WB797 | Y.B.1 | 1 | First flew 19 July 1950. | |||
| Total Production | 3 | |||||
Production Summary
All Aircraft By Type
| Type | Built New | Conv | Canc'd | Total |
| B-54/Y.A.7 | 1 | 1 | ||
| B-54/Y.A.8 | 1 | 1 | ||
| B-88/Y.B.1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 3 | (0) | 0 |
Notes
- Blackburn used a series of Works Order Numbers rather than Constructors Numbers to identify individual airframes, but referred to here as C/n's for consistency.
Production References
- Blackburn Aircraft Since 1909, A.J. Jackson (Putnam, 1968 and 1989)
- Fleet Air Arm Fixed Wing Aircraft Since 1946, Ray Sturtivant with Mick Burrows and Lee Howard (Air Britain Publications, 2004)
Page Revision History
Revised at Version 2.0.0- Improved Type Description and added Specification details