A Surprising Success...For A Blackburn | Blackburn Kangaroo [Aircraft Overview #89]

Today we're taking a look at the Blackburn Kangaroo, a WW-era biplane that enjoyed some much needed success in the early postwar years.
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Sources:
Jackson.A.J (1989), Blackburn Aircraft Since 1909.
Mason, F. (1994), The British bomber since 1914.
wilkinsfoundation.org.au/rese...

[@RexsHangar]

Testing out an updated, cleaner thumbnail style :) F.A.Q Section Q: Do you take aircraft requests? A: I have a list of aircraft I plan to cover, but feel free to add to it with suggestions:) Q: Why do you use imperial measurements for some videos, and metric for others? A: I do this based on country of manufacture. Imperial measurements for Britain and the U.S, metric for the rest of the world, but I include text in my videos that convert it for both. Q: Will you include video footage in your videos, or just photos? A: Video footage is very expensive to licence, if I can find footage in the public domain I will try to use it, but a lot of it is hoarded by licencing studies (British Pathe, Periscope films etc). In the future I may be able to afford clips :) Q: Why do you sometimes feature images/screenshots from flight simulators? A: Sometimes there are not a lot of photos available for certain aircraft, so I substitute this with digital images that are as accurate as possible.

[@wacawkrol1824]

Its not an aircraft but the french after the ww2 had a project of sending tanks on the battlefield with v2 rockets

[@plasmaburndeath]

Rex I will be emailing you the photo / link of Prop you mentioned in video :-) so expect my Plasmaburndeath email I swear I am not spam... 😀 *Edit* I Just emailed you, and did a new comment post for everyone that would like to see this now 🙂 take care and Cheers.

[@gargolus.]

Any idea when part two of the balloon/airship series will be released?

[@MakotoAtava]

Hope for a video about the Heinkel He-280 jet fighter in the future.

[@akmzd6938]

Requesting a video on the Republic XF-84H Thunderscreech that certainly lived up to its name if nothing else. Great video, thank you again and keep up the good work!

[@migueldelacruz4799]

Blackburn is the company that stuck around almost out of spite.

[@lokikinch]

Avro, Lockheed Martin Grumman etc: WHY CANT YOU JUST BE NORMAL?! Blackburn: *Autistic screeching*

[@wbertie2604]

It was just hanging on until the Buccanneer.

[@DidMyGrandfatherMakeThis]

@@wbertie2604 was just about to comment and then at very low level, comes the buc

[@madbrowndog4887]

Total fantasy on my part, but I'm imagining some apprentice draughtsman at Blackburn in the 20's/30's doodling a sleek, swept-wing monoplane on the back of some discarded paper. No bracing, not a propeller in sight, just two tube thingies on the sides of the fuselage. Boss tells him to get back to work, then looks at the drawing and says "What the hell is that?" Apprentice replies "Just an idea."

[@nickthompson9697]

Can't become a legend by giving up.

[@nemilyk]

Air Board: "You are without a doubt the worst aircraft manufacturer I've ever heard of." Blackburn: "But you *have* heard of me..."

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

🤭🤭🤭

[@eyo8766]

"Let this be the day that you almost closed down Blackbur-" *Breaks the sound barrier in a Buccaneer*

[@nemilyk]

@@eyo8766 Historians: "This is either brilliance, or madness." Blackburn: "Funny how often those two traits coincide."

[@samuelhof8968]

G jeje

[@johnnyappleseed6415]

Other aviation channels, when faced with a lack of supporting information, will resort to showing, unrelentingly, unrelated aircraft and even engines being placed into Model A Fords on the assembly line. Your honesty and content is... refreshing...

[@Colt45hatchback]

I take it the channel you are referring to tries to sound like the guy from the "unsolved mysteries" tv show from the 90"s?

[@gusty9053]

Cough dark skies cough. I noticed that when they were doing a video on the F5 Tiger 2 and kept using F4 Phantom 2 video over Vietnam.

[@gusty9053]

I noticed an overall increase in quality though, if you look around a bit. Not only this channel but Bismark, Greg's, Ed Nash and Millenium all do better "documentaries" that even some of the old Discovery stuff (the good Discovery not the reality Tv it devolved into later).

[@davidelliott5843]

I can put up with “illustrative” videos and stills but prefer the Drachinifel and Rex approach with extended shots of stills where video does not exist. This one would have benefitted by showing the typical bungee cord suspension used on aircraft of the period.

[@davidelliott5843]

That passenger cabin would have made the rear fuselage stiffer. It seems odd the canopy was not extended all the way forward.

[@Ensign_Cthulhu]

"...Blackburn, whose chief had clearly offended some sort of aviation deity..." It can be argued that Blackburn's chiefs went on offending the same deity over and over again until they finally got it right with the Buccaneer. Speaking of disastrous Blackburn aircraft, have you done the Botha yet?

[@thedigitaldummy3098]

The Botha?

[@anzaca1]

@@thedigitaldummy3098 Blackburn Botha.

[@thedigitaldummy3098]

@@anzaca1 oh, I was genuinely under the assumption that was a “Botha deez nuts” joke before looking it up.

[@Ensign_Cthulhu]

@@thedigitaldummy3098 The legend. Reportedly the test pilot commented on the poor placement of the entry door by writing "Getting into this aircraft is difficult. It should be made impossible."

[@moblinmajorgeneral]

The Botha literally couldn't even train pilots correctly. If a trainer is dangerous for a novice pilot to fly, how are bomber pilots supposed to be trained?

[@chandarsundaram1394]

I'm an aircraft buff from childhood. At 5, I could tell the difference between a DC-3 and a Vickers Viscount, which helped me skip kindergarten. An, as a historian, I consider myself very rational. But something spooky just happened. Just before you mentioned the rumour of a Kangaroo hidden in a Cretan cave, I thought: wouldn't it be cool if someone found a Kangaroo in a cave or something? So maybe it's still out there? ALL your videos are great. accurate and entertainingly and wryly narrated.

[@robertguttman1487]

Although the Kangaroo bears a superficial resemblance to the Handley-Page O-400 it should be kept in mind that the Kangaroo was designed for a very different purpose. Rather than a heavy strategic bomber, the Kangaroo was designed to perform the sort of over-water missions later carried out by RAF Coastal Command. In that sense one might think of it as a WW-I equivalent to the Bristol Beaufort or Short Sunderland rather than of the Avro Lancaster or Handley-Page Halifax.

[@guidor.4161]

I especially like that forward passenger "cabin", I'd certainly book that...👍

[@anzaca1]

I know. Fantastic view.

[@Colt45hatchback]

Me too, be like getting a cab ride on a train, except way more exciting after 5 min

[@elgato9445]

Rex...love when you cover anything created by Blackburn. I can't imagine flying over miles of open ocean in one of these things. The white knuckled terror that would overcome one while flying this bird over the north sea in a stiff gale is too frightening to contemplate.

[@anzaca1]

Your creativity with your jokes continues to amaze me.

[@pbyguy7059]

I propose the following: If you are able to appreciate the weird wonderfulness of interwar Blackburns then you are an aviation aficionado. If not, you are merely an airplane dork.

[@anzaca1]

I love that Blackburn were always trying something new. Innovation comes through experimentation, after all.

[@Colt45hatchback]

I cant remember, where did they get all the money to make so many "mistakes" but still stay in business for so long?

[@394pjo]

This looks exactly like the plane featured in the opening credits of "Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines"

[@lafeelabriel]

*sings* Stop the pigeon, stop the pigeon..

[@guidor.4161]

Looks pretty ok for a Blackburn...

[@petesheppard1709]

Talk about an aviation grail! That Kangaroo on Crete...

[@BitchinSpectre]

0:33 Hey man. Some of the greatest inventors of our time where huffers.

[@PaperworkNinja]

All of Blackburn's sins were forgiven with the Buccaneer.

[@stevetournay6103]

Blackburn's early thirties Shark torpedo bomber was relatively successful, and a rather striking looking craft also. It was the first of its genre to be operated by the RCAF, and a small batch was built under license in Canada by the Canadian division of Boeing. Unfortunately only a few small parts remain today. On the subject of Blackburn-built torpedo planes, Blackburn built quite a good proportion of the total run of Fairey Swordfish.

[@robertwilloughby8050]

The Baffin was quite good too, a quote about it by a test pilot "The Baffin is safe, reliable and comfortable. Sadly, it is also slow. If it was any faster than the Swordfish, I could back it completely."

[@LukeBunyip]

Don't worry about PwrPntesqueness. Some of us regularly watch Perun's hour long offerings.

[@chrismaguire3667]

🤔?

[@jlvfr]

It shouldn't be a suprise it was a success. After all the Kangaroo is a good hopper...

[@robertdragoff6909]

I heard the newer landing gear with shocks was further modified with bungee cords….. I’ll let someone else come up with the punch line …..

[@jlvfr]

@@robertdragoff6909 yeah, that one just jumps off...

[@chrismaguire3667]

@Roger Dragoff, yeah, I'll bounce that back to you, once I get something good...😂

[@yes_head]

I look at that thing and just imagine how much wood and fabric were needed to build it. "Flying crate" is an apt description indeed.

[@davidfreiboth1360]

Thank you for your sympathetic description of the dock workers strike. It was a refreshing change from the usually uninformed and sometimes negative assessments of important collective attempts to address the difficult working conditions of blue collar workers.

[@davroshalfbeard8368]

Another great video I wondered if there was any chance of you doing a Halifax video really enjoyed the 2 part Wellington videos cheers

[@mattheweagles5123]

Buried treasure in Crete!

[@guidor.4161]

So the Minotaur is now guarding over this one...

[@bearcatracing007]

Great for short and long hops..

[@tedsmith6137]

It is interesting that the Kangaroo had engines with opposite rotation, which seemed to be unusual for time. That means that the engine start truck which appears at 12:20 must have had a reversing gear to be able to start both.

[@UnclePutte]

These Blackburn bits are my favourites. I've come around to strangely rooting for the company every time, as in vain as that may be.

[@RemusKingOfRome]

Looks like a stretched Vickers Vimmy.

[@JGCR59]

Maybe it was called a Kangaroo because due to lack of shock absorbers it bounced a lot on landing :P

[@kitsune3752]

Thank you so much for your videos, they are so much fun to listen to and are in my opinion some of the best when discussing specific aircraft that you generally don't see much on KZbin while also in an easily understandable format.

[@LukeBunyip]

NB: The Kangaroo at 7:26 has twin Lewis guns on the rear Scarff ring.

[@anzaca1]

Most likely an in-service modification, possbily to a single aircraft.

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

Blackburn Aircraft Company with another winner? cough splutter... 😁😁😁👍

[@rockyraab8290]

From the photos of the props, it appears that engines were counter-rotating. Interesting.

[@maddog2020tt2]

Finally in the first 50 lol. As usual great video bud

[@BearfootBob]

Rex, we have to find the Kangaroo of Crete, and fly it back through the Anomaly! It's the only way to restore the timeline!

[@Colt45hatchback]

Id be extatic if someone from there watches the video and thinks "hey i remember seeing a wooden thing in a cave that time on a walk with granddad before he told me to get the hell out from there... Wonder if its still there "discovers bowed mouse chewed blackburn kangaroo" welp, im set for life 👌 "hello england? I have something you may be interested in" 😂😂😂

[@rays5073]

Man's predicted the Indiana Jones Dial of Destiny plot before the movie came out, just got the island wrong damn

[@DonDiesel85]

@8:49 the customized model here with da enclosure is pretty dope... very cool.

[@petro00007]

Rare Blackburn W.

[@vitsirosh3722]

I like the flying canoe look

[@MarcWeertsMusic]

Great video, and don’t apologise for the absence of photos or video material if there isn’t any - your videos are always interesting and entertaining and I appreciate not showing irrelevant video material just to have something moving, like some documentaries sadly do.

[@ianmcguinness5029]

This is a beautiful and stately aircraft.

[@chrismaguire3667]

🤓

[@warhawk4494]

I love these videos on the early days of aviation

[@pieterex]

So many new videos! Thats amazing!

[@williamscoggin1509]

They had some really good looking aircraft. 👍🏻

[@mihalich7740]

Very interesting story from history of aviation and aviation building. Thanks to this lection!

[@davidclare4983]

Thanks!

[@Birdofprey341]

One of my favourite aircraft of the Great War, and one of the forerunners of land-based MPA (Marine Patrol Aircraft)

[@deepwoods_dave7368]

Best aviation history channel out there. Great job Rex!

[@drlawson]

Another fine video Rex. And one can never get too much Blackburn!

[@marvintpandroid2213]

For the Dick Dastidly maritime patrol service, got to stop that pigeon.

[@chrismaguire3667]

Built by Klunk, no doubt. Drat, drat, and double drat!

[@jasonz7788]

awesome thanks rex

[@TheDkeeler]

How very amusing and interesting ! Thanks

[@joylunn3445]

Brilliant, I really enjoyed this one.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

*REX: **_"...decided to imitate the German economy of 1918..."_* Good one...🤭

[@chriscorker5634]

Thanks for the posts REX, as a middle aged aircraft nerd these are right up my street.

[@MartinWillett]

Was Blackburn's chief engineer Klunk from Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines?

[@majorbloodnok6659]

Thank you

[@lewiswestfall2687]

thanks

[@petelondon2490]

Nice images.

[@salvagedb2470]

How happy would you feel as a passenger stuck in that front Nose section ..

[@timweather3847]

I believe that the Beverley was quite successful, though little loved and remember it in my childhood as being referred to as a close formation of spare parts.

[@kylo-juju3796]

f4 phantom and mig 21 please

[@Guardias]

The difference between being innovative and a laughing stock depends entirely on whether you're successful.

[@thescotslair]

P61 Black Widow when?

[@toomanytoyotas2301]

do a video about the J7W Shinden

[@dariusz078]

Can you do video about PZL-37 Los. Polish 1937 bomber. Very manuverable so plans were to make it heavy fighter.

[@90lancaster]

When Chris says "Engine" something was making me think.... Hmmm Then I realised when he says Engines it sound like he's says in-juns like an old Cow Boy Movie character might. Unfortunately now I can't un-hear that link in my mind, but it does make the videos even more entertaining as a consequence.

[@andrewbranch4075]

Apart from the the buccaneer all of their airplanes looked like furniture with gun racks

[@dennismason3740]

I'm not a big fan of right angles but dang this is a pretty airplane.

[@alm5992]

No suspension whatsoever?! Every little bump would steer you off course if you landed or took off from the ground, meaning lots of rudder usage. Wow, this actually appears to be the case with that emergency landing during the England-Australia competition.

[@The_Modeling_Underdog]

What catches one's attention is how Blackburn sistematically incorporated what was required from the official specification into unorthodox designs. The guys just couldn't sit still.

[@jasons44]

I love All your videos, thanks for covering the enterwar yrs, maybe you could do a whole line of ww1-1946 aircraft piston engines v-type and air cooled 🆒🆒🆒🆒

[@copperator6649]

looks almost Caproni to me

[@jameslawrie3807]

I'd love to see a history of the Parnall aircraft

[@patrickstewart3446]

It’s not as if Blackburn made terrible aircraft… they were just terrible to look at. 😁

[@robertwilloughby8050]

What, even the Banana Jet? (half sarcasm, half real question)

[@fakshen1973]

There was no bailing out of that thing... you weren't ejecting. You were chumming the waters.

[@Skarry]

That's what that was in that cave?! We paid it no mind. Unfortunately, I've completely forgotten where that cave was exactly located.

[@kiwitrainguy]

Oh I found it after you. I didn't know what it was and it was a cold evening so we broke it up for firewood and used it to keep warm. What are those screams I can hear?

[@anzaca1]

14:08 So it could still be there.

[@garryferrington811]

Well, they did do some serious damage to the U-boats and initiated several commercial services, so this gawky aircraft didn't do too badly.

[@drstevenrey]

For the day and time of this kite, it's not that bad. We have seen worse from Rex.

[@russkinter3000]

Is it fair to say a U-boat would "rue" the day it was spotted by this aircraft?

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

At 00:32 in this video: Was that aircraft a 'competitor' to the _Fairey Gannet?_ At first I thought the aircraft pictured was a _Gannet,_ until I did a quick Google search. I could not remember the name of the _Gannet_ off the top of my head. That was when I realized I was thinking of the aircraft manufactured by _Fairey._

[@therealunclevanya]

Looks like a B54, but, yes very similar design to the wonderfully odd Gannet. My dad loved Gannets, they brought the mail while he was on board HMS Ark Royal. I have photos somewhere of both the Gannet and the first Harrier landings on Ark Royal.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

@@therealunclevanya >>> 👍👍

[@xet1sw156]

What is that.....object at 0:30? I'm not sure I want to know, but it might make a interesting posting

[@mikearmstrong8483]

He's done a video on it. The float retracts against the hull for streamlining.

[@hughjass1044]

Would LOVE to know what that engine is at the start of these videos.

[@kevinstevens8910]

Did the kangaroos flying from Raf seaton Carew have any involvement in the shooting down of the zeppelin over Hartlepool .

[@gregiles908]

G-EAIU is very close to the famous G-EAOU "God "Elp All Of Us"

[@antgiat]

Would you know,where,on crete it forcelanded?

[@chrismaguire3667]

Somewhere near Kon...

[@cloner8o]

I would love to see a video about the Supermarine Walrus sea plane. So many questionable decisions...

[@tobyrobson2939]

Eh? An aircraft with a long and successful service record....

[@johnhudghton2287]

The Supermarine Walrus was an excellent aircraft. Fully aerobatic if you did not mind the bilges sloshing into the cabin.

[@tobyrobson2939]

... one of the few aircraft to see service from before to AFTER WW2 (and thats the worlds definition of WW2, not the version which starts 2+ years after everyone else ;) )

[@CFG-eb3my]

12 May 24

[@alanmoss3603]

5:42 A better example would be to say The undercarriage imitated the British economy of 2023

[@anzaca1]

What are you talking about. The only economy collapsing right now is Russia's.

[@wazza7575]

@@anzaca1 really? With the British inflation rate at 10.5%? Nope, the Brits are in the sh*t.

[@Tuberuser187]

Not sure I agree interwar Blackburn aircraft where thinking outside the box, I think they accidentally stumbled out of the box after sniffing too many fumes.

[@mirthenary]

'Cause nothing says flying like a kangaroo🤨

[@wazza7575]

Hi Rex. I thought you said if the aircraft was an American plane the pronunciation would be "militerry" and all other nations' aircraft would be the correct English pronunciation of "military" (militree). I'm an Aussie by the way.

[@jaxpc]

What is the aircraft at 0:31?

[@DIREWOLFx75]

Floatplane with retractable centerline float. And after some googling, it's the Blackburn B-20. Go to Ed Nash's military matters and search for the video named "Neither Fish nor Fowl; The Blackburn B20, B40 and B44". He did a fine video on it and related aircraft.

[@jaxpc]

@@DIREWOLFx75 I looked again and it's the aircraft at 0:33.

[@moosifer3321]

Just HOW big is your Hanger, what other marvels lurk in it`s far recesses amongst the cobwebs? the progress over 100+yrs is amazing but littered with failures - nice to see they OCCASIONALLY got it (almost) right -should that have a `W` in front? Great Channel - cobwebby T Shirt req`d, please NOT designed by Blackburn! (Although the Buccaneer was Awesome!).

[@wazza7575]

British engineering at its best.....

[@bo7341]

"The Kangaroo was more of a conventional design" .....by what definition of the word "conventional"? Like, it had wings I guess.

[@geesehoward700]

wait a minute. this video feels a bit like a power point presentation. I hope he apologies in advance.

[@chrismaguire3667]

That was a bit... pointed, don'tcha think?😁

[@edwardfletcher7790]

If the metal fittings were machined, it's likely they were AVIATION alloy instead of steel. Edit : The word aviation had been added for pedantic trolls who have nothing better to do than irritate every single person they contact in the comments field about 100yr old Aircraft..😆

[@brokeandtired]

Almost all steels are alloys. Be it manganese added or otherwise.

[@edwardfletcher7790]

@@brokeandtired I was referring to aviation alloys....jeez

[@iffracem]

@@edwardfletcher7790 but what alloys are you referring to? Duralumin? Chrome-molly? Steel is often machined, it's normal to machine it, not uncommon, so that statement is irrelevant. Your comment is vague at best ... "jeez"

[@edwardfletcher7790]

@@iffracem Why don't you go research the history of Blackburn aviation and tell us then smart ass.... LoL I'm not an expert on what lightweight alloys were common in 100yr old Aircraft.

[@wbertie2604]

Vickers should offered a Vimy for the delivery of underwear and other clothing to Dutch ladies as the headlines could have virtually written themselves.

[@sergeipohkerova7211]

Well, the Buccaneer was okay, anyway.

[@wbertie2604]

It took a lot of sacrifices to that aeronautical deity to get that one working. There was probably quite a goat and/or virgin shortage around Tadcaster in the 50s.

[@johnholt890]

It was more than ok. The Buccaneer had incredible low level performance and if it hadn’t been for blatant corruption by Lockheed officials promoting the totally unsuited F 104 it should have been the standard ground attack aircraft for NATO in Europe from the 1960-80s.