Blackburn Firebrand

what is it?

The Blackburn Firebrand was a British single-engine strike fighter for the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy designed during World War II by Blackburn Aircraft. Originally intended to serve as a pure fighter, its unimpressive performance and the priority allocation by the Ministry of Aircraft Production of Napier Sabre engines to the Hawker Typhoon caused it to be redesigned with an alternative engine as a strike fighter to take advantage of its load-carrying capability. Development was slow and the first production aircraft was not delivered until after the end of the war.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 15.6 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 550 km/htop speed
• size 7,575 kgmax take-off weight
• built 193made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 84 years ago, in 1942.
• 🏎️Top speed is 4.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 15.6 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1942

introduced

1943

retired

1953

status

retired

number built

193

role

strike fighter

origin

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

makers

Blackburn Aircraft

engines

1× Bristol Centaurus IX

crew

1

length

11.8 m

wingspan

15.6 m

height

4 m

max take-off weight

7,575 kg

top speed

550 km/h

cruise speed

412 km/h

range

—

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.