Blackburn S.10/45

[Hood]

Reading Norman Firedman's 'British Carrier Aviation' I came across the S.10/45 development of the Firebrnad/Firecrest. It is mentioned in BSP: Vol 3 but not in much depth.

S.10/45 was a Firecrest powered by a Napier E.122 Nomad turboprop. It had the inverted gull wing with two hardpoints. The engine was behind the pilot nearer the centre of gavity and the pilot was further forward with the pilot's view claimed as good as a twin-engined design. Three prototypes were planned but it was eclipsed by the Wyvern.

A 3-view from a MAP file is included but alas I lack a scanner. The tail is very Firebrandish with the cockpit moved much closer to the contra-rotating prop. Torpedo carrier and two inner wing hardpoints are also indicated. A radiator is shown forwards much like a closely cowled radial.

 

[Jemiba]

The Blackburn S.10/45 is mentioned in Tony Buttlers "Secret Projects", too,
but without any drawings. It is told, that the engine arrangement was due
to the fact, that otherwise the CG would have been too much forward. But
this installation caused an increase of weight of more than 1000 lbs. This,
and the additional work for redesigning eventually brought the cancellation
of this project. It probably would have looked similar to the Westland single
seat naval strike aircraft with fuselage mounted H-engine from mid 1944.

 

[smurf]

From the sources mentioned:

 

[joncarrfarrelly]

According to Buttler the Napier E.122NS.79.SM was a development of the Napier Sabre engine, also the Napier Nomad was a horizontally opposed 12-cylinder diesel engine, not a turboprop.

 

[elmayerle]

Meh, if you want to get totally technical, the Nomad was a turbo-compound horizontally-opposed diesel engine. Great for endurance, but on the heavy and complex side (has anyone ever really got turbo-compound engines to work reliably? I'm given to understand that the DC-7's turbo-compound R3350s make the DC-6 the more preferable used aircraft for most purposes)

 

[Vahe Demirjian]

Does the recent volume British Secret Projects 3: Fighters 1935-1950 contain new info about the Blackburn S.10/45?

 

[Hood]

No, the section on the Firebrand and S.10/4 development looks the same.

 

[Artie Bob]

Somewhat off topic, but when the DC-7C was in service (IIRC the only DC-7 version with the turbo-compound engines) the saying was the earlier versions were 4 engine transports with 3-bladed props, while the DC-7C was a 3 engine transport with 4 bladed props!

 

[masimaes]

eviation alice

 

[Deleted member 2278]

eviation alice

OK I'll bite, what about it? Is it a Blackburn project? A turbo-compound?

Mods, perhaps merge this thread with https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/blackburn-b-48-firecrest.876/#post-6825 as the S.10/45 is clearly derived from the Firecrest airframe. I suspect it was overtaken by the YA.6 Clyde-engined variant though the forward cockpit position would have been useful on a naval aircraft.



ETA: Source: Probably Norman Friedman's British Carrier Aviation, as mentioned by @Hood but I scanned it back in 2003 and the memory ain't that good!

 

[Nicknick]

Meh, if you want to get totally technical, the Nomad was a turbo-compound horizontally-opposed diesel engine. Great for endurance, but on the heavy and complex side (has anyone ever really got turbo-compound engines to work reliably? I'm given to understand that the DC-7's turbo-compound R3350s make the DC-6 the more preferable used aircraft for most purposes)

No, it wasn't heavy at all (about 1.5 kW/kg) and in the later variants (without the variable speed drive) it wasn't even very complex (no valves, no cams "only" 12 cylinder).

The R3350 must have been quite reliable in their later years (I read it somewhere in this forum) and there are well established turbocompound truck engines on the marked.