The Blackburn B-2 was a biplane side-by-side trainer aircraft designed and produced by the British aviation manufacturer Blackburn Aircraft.

It was designed as a successor to the Bluebird IV and was derived from it, thus the two aircraft shared much of their design. One major difference of the B-2 was its semi-monocoque all-metal fuselage, which was similar to that of the Blackburn Segrave touring aircraft. On 10 December 1931, the prototype B-2 performed its maiden flight at Brough. It had excellent manoeuvrability and responsive flying controls, and was a relatively forgiving aircraft in flight. During early 1932, the first production aircraft made its first flight, and was participating in competitive air races as early as June of that year.

While Blackburn had ambitions to sell the B-2 as a military trainer, the only military airwing to adopt it was the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a part of its expansion programme. It was also flown by numerous civilian flying schools during the 1930s; these aircraft continued to be used into the Second World War as trainers. During February 1942, the remaining B-2s were transferred to the RAF for use by the Air Training Corps (ATC) as instructional aides. Only two aircraft survived through to the postwar era. By the twenty-first century, a single B-2 is still maintained in a flightworthy condition as a part of the Shuttleworth Collection.

Blackburn chose to market the B-2 primarily towards the military trainer market.^[5] For this purpose, the prototype B-2 was shipped to Lisbon for evaluation by Portugal during September 1932. Although the aircraft reportedly performed well in this evaluation and drew some favourable comments from the reviewing officials, the Portuguese had a preference for a tandem cockpit layout, and ultimately opted to procure the rival de Havilland Tiger Moth trainer instead.^[7][4]

To raise the B-2's profile amongst the general public and potential buyers, numerous aircraft were participated in various air races and aerobatic displays to demonstrate its capabilities.^[8] In the Grimsby News Race of June 1933, one B-2 piloted by T. Neville Stack was able to secure second place, having attained an average speed of 93 mph; during the Kings Cup air race of July 1934, another, piloted by H. M. David, came in second place with an average speed of 112.75 mph.^[9]

The B-2 would not ever become a successful export product amongst the various international military airwings, however, Blackburn opted to continue production of the type to equip various civilian flying schools across the United Kingdom that were increasingly being engaged in the training of pilots for the Royal Air Force under the RAF expansion scheme. Several of these B-2 equipped flying schools were actually owned by Blackburn, such as those at Brough Aerodrome and London Air Park, Hanworth. A total of 42 B-2s, including the prototype, were produced, with production continuing until 1937.^[10]

The final three B-2s were sold to the Air Ministry and promptly issued to the Brough flying school, where they were operated in RAF markings.^[10]

On the outbreak of the Second World War, all of the B-2s based at Hanworth were moved to Brough, where the two training schools merged, becoming No. 4 Elementary Flying Training School.^[11] The school at Brough continued to be operated by Blackburn while its aircraft continuing to operate under civilian registrations (although they were repainted with wartime training markings with yellow fuselages, camouflaged wings and RAF roundels).^[12] During February 1942, the remaining aircraft were transferred to the RAF,^[3] where they were assigned to the Air Training Corps (ATC). However, the ATC did not typically fly the type, instead opting to use their B-2s as instructional airframes. Several of these airframes would still be used for instruction purposes over 20 years later.^[13]

 United Kingdom

• Royal Air Force
  • No. 4 EFTS

Only two B-2s survived to fly in the postwar era; one of these was lost in a crash on 16 June 1951.^[14] The sole survivor (G-AEBJ) has been preserved and was originally maintained in airworthy condition by Blackburn (which was absorbed into British Aerospace during the 1970s). By 2007, G-AEBJ was located with the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden.^[15]

Another fuselage was for many years seen up a tree in an Essex scrapyard before being rescued in the 1980s. This aircraft displays two identities, G-ACBH and G-ADFO, and is preserved, still wearing its original paint, at the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum.^[16]

Data from British Civil Aircraft since 1919, Volume 1^[17]

General characteristics

• Crew: 2
• Length: 24 ft 3 in (7.39 m)
• Wingspan: 30 ft 2 in (9.19 m)
• Height: 9 ft 0 in (2.74 m)
• Wing area: 246 sq ft (22.9 m²)
• Empty weight: 1,175 lb (533 kg)
• Gross weight: 1,850 lb (839 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × de Havilland Gipsy III four-cylinder air-cooled inverted in-line piston engine, 120 hp (89 kW)
• Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch propeller

Performance

• Maximum speed: 112 mph (180 km/h, 97 kn)
• Cruise speed: 95 mph (153 km/h, 83 kn)
• Range: 320 mi (510 km, 280 nmi)
• Rate of climb: 700 ft/min (3.6 m/s)
• Wing loading: 7.52 lb/sq ft (36.7 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.065 hp/lb (0.107 kW/kg)

Related development

• Blackburn Bluebird
• Blackburn Bluebird IV

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

• de Havilland Tiger Moth
• Miles Magister