It's time for another truly great British disaster and I'm afraid it's Blackburn in the firing line again. I know I will lay off them soon! (In their defence the firebrand was a neat looking aircraft) The Botha was conceived as a light bomber/torpedo/reconnaissance aircraft and in every one of those aspects it was a disaster. Severely underpowered coupled with bad handling led to a plethora of incidents especially for inexperienced pilots. Despite this flaw the air Ministry, in all its wisdom, decided to issue it to trainee pilots which resulted in further inevitable fatalities. It was spectacularly inept at recon as well - it had poor range and the crew could only look forward due to the engines being by the side of their heads. The Botha was swiftly demoted from frontline service and relegated to the ignoble role as a glider tug. History has quite rightly, forgotten its name!
Specifications
Spotlights
- SpartanAirplanes 7.2 years ago
- ChiChiWerx 7.4 years ago
- InternationalAircraftCompany 7.4 years ago
- GhostHTX 7.4 years ago
- EpicPigster1 7.2 years ago
General Characteristics
- Successors 2 airplane(s) +7 bonus
- Created On iOS
- Wingspan 55.4ft (16.9m)
- Length 45.1ft (13.8m)
- Height 17.1ft (5.2m)
- Empty Weight 12,531lbs (5,684kg)
- Loaded Weight 14,882lbs (6,750kg)
Performance
- Horse Power/Weight Ratio 0.134
- Wing Loading 27.2lbs/ft2 (132.7kg/m2)
- Wing Area 547.7ft2 (50.9m2)
- Drag Points 13294
Parts
- Number of Parts 123
- Control Surfaces 5
- Performance Cost 507
Yup, still nice to potter around in though! @BACconcordepilot
Thanks for your support! @GhostHTX I am drawn to Blackburn and all their might-have-been work.
@Tang0five
Very cool.
Please dont forget to mention that the Botha, originally designed for RAF Coastal Command as a maritime recon bomber, had very limited fields of vision for not only the pilot, but the navigator and the observers too... Oh, and the underpowered engines, the vicious spin and almost impossible recovery... And the tendancy to sink rapidly when ditched, a characteristic that was spot on for an aeroplane that would spend 99.9% of its operational life flying over water...
Im a big fan of your work and your subject material! Keep it up! Do something by Miles next!!
Cheers @ChiChiWerx! I like doing the atrocious planes it gives me something to talk about! With that said I think Blackburn did some really interesting and sometime pioneering things. Thanks again for your support!
Great commentary!
@Tang0five no problem!
Thank you @MrSilverWolf!
Awesome!
VTOL up for wheels up Thanks @heliover03 that was quick!