what is it?
The Blackburn B-24 Skua was a carrier-based low-wing, two-seater, single-radial engine aircraft by the British aviation company Blackburn Aircraft. It was the first Royal Navy carrier-borne all-metal cantilever monoplane aircraft, as well as the first dive bomber in Fleet Air Arm (FAA) service. The aircraft took its name from the sea bird which dives on any potential predators that come too close to its nest.
How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 14.1 m wingspan
base stats
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 89 years ago, in 1937.
- Top speed is 2.8× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 14.1 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
- 1937-02-09
- introduced
- 1938
- retired
- 1945
- status
- retired
- number built
- 192
- role
- carrier-based fighter-bomber
- makers
- Blackburn Aircraft
- engines
- 1× Bristol Perseus XII / Bristol Perseus
- crew
- 2
- length
- 10.9 m
- wingspan
- 14.1 m
- height
- 3.8 m
- max take-off weight
- 3,732 kg
- top speed
- 362 km/h
- cruise speed
- 301 km/h
- range
- —
- ceiling
- 6,157 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q536742, Wikipedia: Blackburn Skua (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.