Aircraft/Loadouts British Dive Bomber - Blackburn Skua

[Nitebyte 21]

Something lacking from the British Research Tree, and I can't see one in the release tree is a Dive Bomber. Everyone else gets one, but the Brits don't, when in fact we had two (that I'm aware of) during the war; the Blackburn Skua and the Vultee A-31 Vengeance

 

I know there's a ton of people requesting a metric frack-tonne of planes, but amongst the requests I couldn't see a British Dive Bomber, and it is a hole in the trees as they don't currently have one.

 

Blackburn Skua

didn't perform well as either a fighter or a dive bumber, but does have the honour (if I have my facts right - go on ahead and correct me if I'm wrong) of claiming the first kill by a British aircraft in WWII (a Do 18), and the first sinking of an Axis capital ship (the Konigsburg) by air attack

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackburn_Skua

 

General characteristics

• Crew: 2
• Length: 35 ft 7 in (10.85 m)
• Wingspan: 46 ft 2 in (14.08 m)
• Height: 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m)
• Wing area: 319 sq ft (29.6 m²)
• Empty weight: 5,496 lb (2,498 kg)
• Loaded weight: 8,228 lb (3,740 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Bristol Perseus XII radial engine, 890 hp (664 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 225 mph (196 knots, 362 km/h) at 6,500 ft (1,980 m)
• Cruise speed: 187 mph^[15] (163 knots, 301 km/h)
• Range: 435 mi (378 nmi, 700 km)
• Service ceiling: 20,200 ft (6,160 m)
• Rate of climb: 1,580 ft/min (8.0 m/s)

Armament

• Guns: ^[16]
  • 4 × 0.303 in (7.7 mm) forward-firing Browning machine guns
  • 1 × 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis or Vickers K machine gun on flexible mount in rear cockpit
• Bombs: 1 × 500 lb (227 kg) semi-armour piercing bomb under fuselage or 8 × 30 lb (14 kg) practice bombs under wings

   

 

Vultee Vengeance

Built in America but only used operationally by the Fleet Air Arm, royal Air Force, RAAF, and Royal Indian Air Force, so definitely a British tree plane.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vultee_A-31_Vengeance

 

Data from British Warplanes of World War II^[26]

General characteristics

•  
• Crew: 2 (pilot, navigator/gunner)
•  
• Length: 39 ft 9 in (12.12 m)
•  
• Wingspan: 48 ft 0 in (14.63 m)
•  
• Height: 15 ft 4 in (4.67 m)
•  
• Wing area: 332 ft² (30.84 m²)
•  
• Empty weight: 9,725 lb (4,411 kg)
•  
• Max. takeoff weight: 14,300 lb (6,486 kg)
•  
• Powerplant: 1 × Wright R-2600-A5B-5 Twin Cyclone 14 cylinder radial air-cooled engine, 1,600 hp (1,193 kW)
•  

Performance

•  
• Maximum speed: 275 mph (239 kn, 443 km/h) at 11,000 ft (3,350 m)
•  
• Cruise speed: 235 mph (204 kn, 378 km/h)
•  
• Range: 1,400 miles (1,220 nmi, 2,253 km)
•  
• Service ceiling: 22,500 ft (6,860 m)
•  
• Wing loading: 43.1 lb/ft² (210 kg/m²)
•  
• Power/mass: 0.11 hp/lb (0.18 kW/kg)
•  

Armament

•  
• Guns:
  •  
  • 4 × fixed forward-firing .30 in (7.6 mm) Browning machine guns in the wing
  •  
  • 2 × flexible mount .30 in (7.6 mm) or .303 in (7.7 mm) machine guns in rear cockpit
  •  
•  
• Bombs:
  •  
  • 2 × internal 500 lb (230 kg) bombs
  •  
  • 2 × 250 lb (110 kg) bomb on wing racks

     

[BratwurstBob 3,855]

You are right, Sir! No dive bombers in the FAA tree so far.

[Nitebyte 21]

Here's hoping the Dev's see their omission and rectify it :)

[KilledChicken96 83]

I would like both of them. Altough the Vultee Vengance may have to be a premium.

[Nitebyte 21]

I would have no objection to the Vultee being premium if the Skua is in there normally, but without the Skua, that would mean only people willing to spend Eagles on a plane could get a British dive bomber, which in some ways defeats the point of my raising this.

If we can get both in game I'd be a very happy Brit pilot

[FIST_OF_DERP 250]

question is: what rank?

[Nitebyte 21]

To be honest I don't much care.

The Skua isn't a great plane, despite it's successes it's underpowered, and underperforms, probably somewhere Tier 3 ish.

The Vengeance is probably more like Tier 5 material.

[Nitebyte 21]

The Fulmar wasn't a dedicate Dive Bomber, it was offered up as one, competed with another (at that time unbuilt) plane, and lost out. (The other plane wound up as a target tug)

The Fulmar was primarily a fighter, and finished up as a Night Fighter.

[Eruantien697 1,098]

There's also the Fairey Barracuda. It was the first plane in the FAA to be made entirely of metal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairey_Barracuda

 

Data from Fairey Aircraft since 1915

General characteristics

• Crew: 3
• Length: 39 ft 9 in (12.12 m)
• Wingspan: 49 ft 2 in (14.99 m)
• Height: 15 ft 2 in (4.62 m)
• Wing area: 405 ft² (37.62 m²)
• Empty weight: 9,350 lb (4,250 kg)
• Loaded weight: 13,200 lb (6,000 kg)
• Max. takeoff weight: 14,100 lb (6,409 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Rolls-Royce Merlin 32 liquid-cooled V12 engine, 1,640 hp (1,225 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 228 mph (198 kn, 367 km/h) at 1,750 ft (533 m)
• Cruise speed: 195 mph (170 kn, 314 km/h) at 5,000 ft (1,524 m)
• Range: 686 mi (597 nmi, 1,104 km)with 1,620 lb (736 kg) torpedo
• Service ceiling: 16,600 ft (5,080 m)
• Wing loading: 32.6 lb/ft² (159 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.12 hp/lb (0.20 kW/kg)
• Climb to 5,000 ft (1,524 m): 6 min

Armament

• Guns: 2 × 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers K machine guns in rear cockpit
• Bombs: 1× 1,620 lb (735 kg) aerial torpedo or 4× 450 lb (205 kg) depth charges or 6× 250 lb (110 kg) bombs

[KilledChicken96 83]

You have my support and could we have the Skua's variant the Blackburn Roc. I know that it was not a dive bomber but it was based on the Skua's airframe. Also the Skua was the first RN aircraft to have wing flaps, retractable landing gear and a varible pitch propeller.

[Nitebyte 21]

The question is with its poor performance would enough people use it?  If not then I'd rather the Devs work on another plane people would use!

I know I sure as hell would. I love flying my Brit planes these days, but I sorely miss the dive bombers I use in the other countries. when playing Arcade, I never hit the skies without a dive bomber EXCEPt when playing Brit, because they just don't have one - and it feels like a hole in my set up as a result.

[Rautaa 5,801]

Suggestion passed to developers   :salute: