Blackburn T.2 Dart | Aircraft Overview

Today we're looking at the Blackburn dart, which is something of an oddity as it represent a Blackburn design from the early 1920s that was actually successful!
Want to support the channel? Become a patreon member here - / rexshangar
Want to join the community? Visit our Discord - / discord
Recommended Reading:
Blackburn Aircraft Since 1909 - amzn.to/49Yl2X6
The British Bomber Since 1914 - amzn.to/4caQBiy

[@RexsHangar]

F.A.Q Section - Ask your questions here :) 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: How do you decide what aircraft gets covered next? A: Supporters over on Patreon now get to vote on upcoming topics such as overviews, special videos, and deep dives. 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.

[@chrismoule7242]

Siemens-Shuckert DIII & DIV, please.

[@GleichUmDieEcke]

I would love to see something on the Bugatti 100P.

[@theinfernollama8564]

Fokker D.XXIII?

[@liambrooks2330]

Blackburn Skua

[@steveshoemaker6347]

Thanks very much.... Shoe🇺🇸

[@IntrospectorGeneral]

Looks like they named this one when the usual Naming Manager in the Blackburn Naming Department was on holiday, otherwise it would have the Blackburn Bargearse, or worse.

[@nos9784]

What's a Bargearse? I can only find it as a name in an obscure show.

[@stuarthannay3370]

It could be a new game. Name your own fictitious Blackburn aeroplane. I'll start with the Blackburn Brontosaurus and the Blackburn Bolognese

[@IntrospectorGeneral]

@@stuarthannay3370 Blemish? Blunder? Bilious?

[@ericpode6095]

Blackburn Bluebottle?

[@grabham59]

Blackburn Bagpuss

[@sleeplessindefatigable6385]

See, Blackburn? You can do it. You can build a good aircraft. You just have to believe in yourself.

[@mkendallpk4321]

Yes, they could! Almost thought it would act like a lawn dart in the beginning, but was a good aircraft.

[@Ibuki01]

Was going to say; they actually built something that wasn't ugly as sin!

[@jmulnick]

😂😂😂🎉🎉🎉

[@HeX64]

Sadly the ground attack variant was canceled. The Blackburn Lawndart.

[@nadermansour7487]

F.A. Bumpus is so suitable for a Blackburn aircraft designer.

[@andrewrobinson5837]

Quite good performance, and an appearance that got better the further it was away from you. Thank you for another terrific vid.

[@Farweasel]

Kind of hitting the main point on the head of the nail there sir - Good point, well made

[@EffequalsMA]

That's definitely a Blackburn design. Completely gorping, as always. The slickest part of the design is forced only by the cooling on the Napier Lion.

[@eyo8766]

The Dart walked so the Swordfish could run

[@judet2992]

😂

[@zainmudassir2964]

Flew* or Taxied

[@judet2992]

@@zainmudassir2964 it was a joke, don’t be a prick

[@JZsBFF]

Not sure whether "The Swordfish" and "to run" make sense in the same sentence.

[@judet2992]

@@JZsBFF it’s an expression

[@rolanddutton]

Rex - singlehandedly demonstrating that Blackburn aircraft weren't all disasters. There were a few decent, even great, aircraft amongst the madcap failures.

[@OddBallPerformance]

The Dart and the Warthog are birds of a feather. Not the prettiest thing on the runway, but a darn good airframe.

[@RemusKingOfRome]

Another great video, funny the Dart looked like it already had a crash ? nose pointing up ?

[@old_guard2431]

Bending it in the factory so you don’t have to. . .

[@MM22966]

In the 1920's and 30's, an aircraft was lucky to see ten years service before being replaced. Meanwhile, up in the first quarter of the 21st century, they are refurbing and re-engining B-52's for another twenty years service, an aircraft that originally flew in...1952.

[@TexJester-no8th]

I've seen where the grandson of an original B-52 pilot flew the very same airframe.... I've also read that they plan on using it until at least 2050.. There's a funny meme where the retirement of the final B-1 and B-2 was constantly being interrupted by a B-52 doing touch-n-go's...

[@MM22966]

@@TexJester-no8thHeh. I saw an article a few years back where an Eagle driver got assigned not just to the same squadron but the same PLANE his dad flew in the 80's.

[@rednaughtstudios]

@@MM22966How much of that plane is the same? Is it like Grandad’s axe that has had 2 heads and 5 handles? I mean there are only so many pressure cycles a frame can do…

[@MM22966]

@@rednaughtstudios I only know a little about the subject, but all of the current B52 airframes were manufactured in the 1980's. Who knows how much "cell renewal" has happened since.

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

😂 Blackburn's reputation was already in question. It was in question from first to last....

[@chpet1655]

Well I dunno the last was the Buccaneer and that was a damn fine aircraft anyway you cut it.

[@babboon5764]

First was the very innocavtive and successful Blackburn Monoplane series Last was the Buccaneer *Do you KNOW ANYTHING about the subject you're so glibly pontificating about* ?

[@WALTERBROADDUS]

@@babboon5764 Yes, I do jackass. And don't think much of either one.

[@LeafBoye]

​@@babboon5764pontificating? Really? Bro

[@Farweasel]

@@LeafBoye Admittedly I would have gone with 🐂 💩 ing rather than pontificating but Ol' Wally just right out and doubled down on the dumb so, hey, either term would seem on the money.

[@babboon5764]

It never got a mention - probably because the reports were lost in the mists of time BUT *There's a very clever feature in that design fo Carrier Ops - The sloped down nose* *Its not so easy for Pilots to see the carrier deck as it is for a ground runway - That looks a good solution* Curious maybe you don't see it so much with later designs?

[@Vespuchian]

I'm rather amused that I knew of this plane before, but only because I'd looked up 'has Blackburn ever had a successful aircraft' a few months ago!

[@daveharrison61]

At least two. The Dart and the frankly superb Buccaneer (the aircraft for pilots with a fear of heights).

[@Vespuchian]

@@daveharrison61Agreed. I knew of the Buccaneer, but I struggled to think of another that was any better than mediocre, hence the research. By reputation/meme, it's a wonder Blackburn lasted long enough to make the Buck, but they just kept doing just well enough to keep going.

[@daveharrison61]

@@Vespuchian by many accounts they were exceptional as a subcontractor building other company's designs during the second world war. And earlier in the mid 30s too.

[@greg5095]

Ah Blackburn. They don't make them for the aesthetics do they

[@aslamnurfikri7640]

Blackburn believes in brutalist aircraft design

[@peteranderson037]

4:11 Did they seriously not do a weight and balance on the airplane before the 1st test flight? Were the engineers huffing wing fabric dope?

[@teacherdude]

Velos means dart or arrow in Greek

[@puttyanimal3909]

I really enjoyed that, thank you. I'd be interested in hearing about the Hawker Horsley one day too if you get the chance! 🙏

[@bobroberts6155]

The beautiful and shapely Blackburn Dart with its adorable retroussé nose, said no one.

[@hlynnkeith9334]

Rex, Wanted to let you know that I enjoy your engine-noise intro. Gives me time to go full screen and get my headphones on. Thank you.

[@yakacm]

Only Fools and Horses themed episode, with Boycey, HMS Rodders and of course Grandad serving in the navy.

[@57thStIncident]

That Blackburd was really something special. I can see why Lockheed took it as inspiration a few decades later.

[@katrinapaton5283]

The night time carrier operations perfected with the Dart set up the attack on Taronto and could, if things had turned out a little differently, have given the Japanese a nasty surprise off the coast of Ceylon. Shame that latter never came to pass.

[@TexJester-no8th]

A Blackburn that was actually easy and a pleasure to fly?? A Blackburn that actually excelled at its job?? AMAZING!!

[@babboon5764]

*Said the bloke whose never heard of the Buccaneer* [Just one of the most formidable aircraft EVER]

[@TexJester-no8th]

Oh, yes! It seems, though, that most of their craft were subpar, at least from what I've seen here..

[@TexJester-no8th]

Oh, yes! It seems, though, that most of their craft were subpar, at least from what I've seen here..

[@Halinspark]

Every time I start to think "I musn't laugh at old British names", I learn of a funnier one. Poor Bumpus.

[@garryferrington811]

"I say, Bumpus, old chap..."

[@coreyandnathanielchartier3749]

It does somewhat resemble a dart, except the pointy-end is supposed to be in front.

[@AndrewGivens]

Good Lord! I'm so glad it was an acceptable aeroplane in terms of its performance, because it makes the RE 8 look elegant, shapely and undamaged by a hard landing by comparison.

[@ianbell5611]

Thanks Great video. Enjoy your holiday

[@haitianspaceprogram735]

i saw blackburn and got excited

[@stevetournay6103]

Too much information...🙄😁

[@williammorris584]

We got all kinds 😆

[@Lensman864]

A superb return to form! Very interesting and enjoyable, thank you. 👌

[@buckfaststradler4629]

Blackburn had a factory in my home town during WW2 - they built flying boats and you can still see where they launched them.

[@FieryCheeze]

The last time I was this early, the Great War still going on and I was about to get a contract to build a new plane for the RAF.

[@sc_carspotting17]

Would you be interested in covering the T34 mentor trainer aircraft?

[@petergray2712]

1:17 Notice that it is spelled "Blackburd."

[@rockymac3565]

The 'u' instead of an 'i' isn't a misspelling. The mistake is that the second 'b' should have been a 't'!

[@sc_carspotting17]

I didn’t know Blackburn made planes back then!

[@exharkhun5605]

Blackburn didn't either. They were a producer of shopping trolleys, the fact that some of them flew was purely coincidental and not based on aerodynamics but on the ground rejecting their presence because of their ugliness, a principle called Thing In Ground Reject.

[@uingaeoc3905]

Robert Blackburn was a pre-WW1 pioneer and produced several prototypes but made mainly Sopwith designs in the war. In peace its own designs became successful, the Dart, Baffin and Shark were successful, home and export, and made Blackburn the 'go to' company for the FAA.

[@paulholmes672]

Their penultimate aircraft, the Buccaneer S2 was, in all it's Flying Banana shape, one of the best low level strike fighters ever made. I treasure the times stationed at RAF Lakenheath when traveling around East Anglia and a Buccaneer would fly over. It would look more like a Bulldog coming at you and, like my F-111, you knew if it had been 'angry' you were already 'toast' when you saw it. :-). Blackburn worried a lot less about ascetics and more about functionality, and successfully so. Too bad all of that innovation, in aviation at least, has been lost with comprehensively merged monolithic Airplane Companies.

[@pissedoff-is1mt]

Love your stuff mate!

[@lewiswestfall2687]

Thanks Rex

[@proteusnz99]

One of those FAA aircraft whose specifications must have included the requirement that anything aesthetically pleasing in the designs must be rigorously excluded. Blackburn seemed to be rather good at this, their only lapse being their final product, the sublime Buccaneer. Graeme Buckley

[@tonyraheja1]

Lovely story.. Thanks

[@jonathanklein383]

Dart. As slick and streamlined as a... hmmm... silly name aside for a chunky plane it was actually USEFUL?! WOW.

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

Great video, Rex...👍

[@gregdrew874]

I looks like it came from the factory "pre-impact tested".

[@zebop917]

Dart conveys an image of something sleek, aerodynamic and fast, but what you get is ….. not really much like that.

[@johnshepherd9676]

There was no Fleet Air Arm at this time. The Royal Navy air Service and Royal Flying Corps had merged into the RAF in 1918.

[@Farweasel]

But there WAS a dedicated branch of the RAF formed in about 1923 or 1924 *And guess what THAT was called*

[@jasonz7788]

Rex you're awesome thanks man 👍

[@henkormel5610]

Is this the geared version ofcthe Napier Lion? This regarding to the position of the prop axle in relation to the cilinder heads and thus the crank shaft.

[@stephengardiner9867]

This great lump is as "un-dart-like" as can be imagined. Few torpedo aircraft were particularly esthetically pleasing though.

[@iberiksoderblom]

Those first night time landings... How did they even find the CV in those days?

[@alan-sk7ky]

Blackburn Dart? Blackburn 'Chewed Up Sheet of Paper and Thrown up on a Classroom Ceiling' more like... (edit) or perhaps the Blackburn 'Taking the Piss Now'

[@stevetournay6103]

Ah yes. F.A. Bumpus. It's like Blackburn was Python before Python was... The Swift looks as if it is in the throes of a structural collapse. The Blackburd (sic) looked like a kindergartener sketched it. You haven't got to the ingeniously named Blackburn Blackburn yet, I don't think, but that upheld the firm's aesthetic standards. They finally came out with a non-satiric-looking type with the Ripon, and that type led to the Shark, which was striking looking in a positive way. The Shark was one of the first combat types operated by the Royal Canadian Air Force, with several examples built in British Columbia by Boeing of Canada...

[@crazypetec-130fe7]

I'm trying to imagine a design that looks less like a dart. And... I got nuthin'.

[@stevetournay6103]

To be fair to Blackburn, "Dart" may be a reference to the English river by that name...

[@judet2992]

Babe, wake up, new Rex just dropped.

[@rasdread0989]

yo chris, just wanna ask out of curiosity, were the great air war series supposed to end at part 3? it feels like it ends with a cliffhanger for me, mind properly concluding that some other time?

[@sam1812seal]

That’s a fuselage only a mother could love

[@he77hawk.71]

The scream of pain and anguish of not having another 3 hour video to listen to

[@chpet1655]

No please lol my attention span runs at 10-15 mins max these days….well maybe we can have one 3 hour video every now and then 😏

[@he77hawk.71]

@@chpet1655 LOL idk I love to listen to this guy while I play my computer so the more the better lol

[@PeterS-r4o]

How did the pilots see past that uptilted engine block ?

[@williamgreen7415]

Thanks!

[@andrewrife6253]

Fun fact about the Blackburn blackbird, the requirement to jettison its landing gear basically making every landing a crash landing lives on today in the v22 osprey since every landing it attempts also results in a crash

[@builder396]

I am simple person. I see Blackburn, I click.

[@allendyer5359]

3:44 "zero elevator control" That upturned motor wasn't a problem? Looks like when I built a balsa model that goes straight down the runway with no lift, so crack frame here. Then wouldn't want to toss a torpedo and take out the prop either.

[@sheepFP5]

Major F A Bumpus. Now that's a truly worthy name for the designer of such an aggressively ugly series of aircraft!

[@grabham59]

Remarkable Blackburn didn't name a plane after really...

[@exploatores]

I thought the rule was. in the begining of the 20th century. that the tests of a aircraft isn´t over untill the aircraft has at least tried to kill one test pilot.

[@EricBrindle-dp8kq]

please more

[@redtsar]

7:13 Nice

[@Unfassbarer]

Danke!

[@drstevenrey]

Wait, what. The 'engineers' did not think the center of pressure and the center of mass were at the same guessed location. Hello. A first semester student of aeronautical engineering can calculate that in seconds.

[@briansteffmagnussen9078]

The Dart make me think about a Labrador, A Labrador in the exact moment when it sticks its nose up under a skirt. Whhoohhoo

[@Farweasel]

Sooner or later *someone is going to notice* that camera glued on your dog's head 🙄

[@briansteffmagnussen9078]

🤣@@Farweasel

[@notbobrosss3670]

When I read Blackburn dart my first thought was of a lawn dart.

[@Senaiaeguo]

Pros and cons asides, with the staggered wings and visibility(?) hump it looks like the fuselage has snapped already 😅 - definitely top 10 ugly for me

[@olivergs9840]

Ah, the one time in a decade Blackburn gets it right and absolutely blows away all competition

[@alanmoss3603]

1:12 as the kids say - WTF!

[@godthunder4732]

XP-56 video when?

[@JZsBFF]

7:13 What unflattering looks? It had the number '69' painted on it, so it had to be... sexy.

[@andrewstrongman305]

Why does the engine cant up from the line of the fuselage? It looks like a kid took the engine from one plane and stuck it onto another at a weird angle. Blackburn certainly excelled at making unnecessarily ugly aircraft.

[@malkymac7258]

While it might not be pretty, I can see why the engine might be placed the way it is. It would lift the prop blades well clear of the ground/deck and make loading the torpedo easier.

[@Farweasel]

@@malkymac7258 I don't think the Engine IS at a weird angle Its in line with the wing chord It probably looks like the precursor to Concord to give the pilot a better view of the flight deck *Which may not be the usual aesthetic - But a very cunning solution to a really serious problem*

[@garryferrington811]

"A cunning plan..."

[@andrewstrongman305]

@@garryferrington811 Baldric was Blackburn's designer? I see now...

[@jeremywilson4326]

The black bird,,, match box ,,, and they put a V 12 engine in it . Dam ,,,,,,,,,,,

[@freddan6fly]

A nose heavy airplane flies badly A tail heavy airplane flies once (RC model flyer, and don't ask how I know)

[@vumba1331]

Engine thrust lines are also important, this aircraft looks to have up-thrust, no wonder it was challenging in the initial stages!

[@Farweasel]

@@vumba1331 It does look at a glance like it might have but I think that's an illusion caused by the raised pilot's position. *Look carefully and the engine axis is pretty much harmonised in line with the wing chord* So I'm going with 'No' .... Not least as the wing sweepback to balance CofG fixed the nose high problem

[@craigmoffitt2374]

Dart? Brick would probably work better.

[@MartinCHorowitz]

Something seems wrong that a Blackburn Aircraft was well designed and Successful. Did you leave out some disaster that struck the factory orflight crews???? fl

[@Farweasel]

🐓

[@chpet1655]

Good lord Blackburn designers just can’t help it can they….dudes just gotta be “off” in some way. I mean look at the swifts and darts engine it’s just so odd pointing up like that.

[@janlindtner305]

👍👍👍

[@paulsmodels]

Should be on the top 10 ugly list of airplanes. What's with that absurd looking engine area pointing up wards like that? Really weird, like it was broken and bent upward.

[@robertl6196]

Nice droopy nose; good for forward visibility on your torpedo run.

[@alek15035]

Was Blackburn like legally obligated to make UGLY planes?

[@scottessery100]

Omg did Blackburn deliberately design the most unaesthetic ergo french aircraft ever!

[@Taketimeout3]

Oh well. Their last effort made up for all the crap designs over the years. The outstanding Buccaneer.

[@johnforrester9120]

Go bargeasse lol

[@johnstirling6597]

Not very "dart" like.

[@Kevin-mx1vi]

I suspect it was named after the river Dart, which is still more aerodynamic. 😊

[@johnstirling6597]

@@Kevin-mx1vi I figured as much also, but a name like "suitcase or clump " may have been more appropriate.😏😏

[@migueldelacruz4799]

Blackburn of the company that always had the mentality of function over form. All of their aircraft are ugly but worked.

[@alexandermonro6768]

Ugly? Can't argue with that. Worked? It depends. The Dart appears to be one of the more successful types. Some of the others, maybe not so much.

[@migueldelacruz4799]

@@alexandermonro6768 fair enough

[@daveharrison61]

Bucc was pretty good looking. The rest definitely shared their looks with the ten-to-twoers left over on a Saturday night in a nightclub.

[@grabham59]

I have heard from FAA crew of the time that they would have far preferred an upgraded Buccaneer to the Tornados they ended up with...

[@daveharrison61]

@@grabham59 FAA never flew tornado except on exchange. Tornado couldn't operate from a carrier.

[@Zizpy]

Only 784 views you fell off smh😒😒😒🗣️🔥