Blackburn Baffin

|Blackburn B-5 Baffin Designed by Major F A Bumpus against a Fleet Air Arm requirement, the Blackburn Baffin torpedo bomber was a devlopment of the Blackburn Ripon, the chief change being that a 545 hp Bristol Pegasus I.MS radial replaced the Ripon's Napier Lion water cooled inline engine.

The Baffin a conventional two seat single bay biplane of mixed metal and wooden construction with fabric covering. It had swept, staggered, equal span wings, the lower having an inverse gull to provide clearance for the torpedo while retaining short undercarriage. Armament comprised one fixed forward-firing 0.303-in (7.7-mm) Vickers gun and one free-mounted Lewis gun in rear cockpit, plus one 2,000-lb (908-kg) bomb or 1,576-lb (716-kg) Mk VIII or Mk IX torpedo or three 530-lb (241-kg) or six 250-lb (114-kg) bombs.

The Baffin first flew on 30 September 1932, and production began in 1933. In addition to an uncertain number of new production aircraft said by one source to be 33, 60 Ripon airframes were converted to Baffins. later models had the or 580 hp Pegasus II.M3 engine.

Royal Navy/Royal Air Force Service. Two prototypes and 33 production Baffins went to a training flight at Gosport for dummy deck-landing and torpedo practice. The type went to sea with 810 Squadron on HMS Courageous, 811 on HMS Furious and 812 on HMS Glorious. They served barely two years before being replaced by Blackburn Sharks One batch of 14 Baffins were shipped to Malta as reserve aircraft when the carriers exercised their squadrons in the Mediterranean. All british aircraft appear to have been withdrawn from service before the outbreak of World War II.

Royal New Zealand Air Force [[New Zealand acquired 29 second hand Baffins in 1937, a total of 29 Blackburn Baffins for territorial Air Force squadrons in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. 24 were operational on the outbreak of war, 16 in Wellington and 8 in Christchurch. With the realisation of the threat posed by surface raiders, the RNZAF Baffin squadrons were merged in March 1940 as the NZ General Reconnaissance Squadron, renamed 1 GR Squadron in 1941 when half the Baffins were transferred to 3 GR Squadron. Both also used the Vikers Vildebeest before recieveing modern Lockheed Hudsons

Max speed, 125 mph (201 km/h) at sea level and 136 mph (219 km/h) at 6,500 ft (1,981 m).

Initial rate of climb, 480 ft/min (2.44 mlsec).

Service ceiling, 15,000 ft (4,572 m).

Endurance, 4hr 30 min.

Gross weight, 7,610 Ib (3,455 kg}. Span, 45 ft 6'/2 in (13.87 m). Length, 38 ft 3'/4 in (11.67 m). Height:

12 ft 10 in  Wing area, 649sqft (60.29m2).