It was built to the Air Ministry Specification O.27/34 and was a low-wing monoplane of all-metal construction with retractable undercarriage and enclosed cockpit. It became FAA's first service monoplane and it meant a radical departure for a force composed mainly by open-cockpit biplanes like the Fairey Swordfish.
It's performance as a fighter was compromised by the requirement of having folding wings, large fuel capacity, heavy armament with large ammo supply, rear gunner and the lack of power of contemporary radial air-cooled engines, which hindered it's performance, something common with both Japanese and American carrier-borne fighters of the time, and with the Gloster Sea Gladiator. The Skua paled in performance when compared to land-based fighters like the Bf.109, which could achieve the speed of 290 mph (470 km/h) at sea level, over the Skua's 225 mph (362 km/h) and the Gloster Sea Gladiator's 209 mph (336 km/h).
It was armed with four fixed forward-firing 0.303 in (7,7 mm) Browning machine guns placed in the wings and a single flexible defensive rearward-firing 0.303 in (7,7 mm) Vickers K machine gun which was quite effective for the time. To serve as a dive bomber, a 250 lb (110 kg) or 500 lb (230 kg) bomb could be carried on a special swinging "trapeze" crutch under the fuselage, in a somehow similar way the famous Ju.87 Stuka did, in order to clear the bomb from the propeller arc when released. It had capacity to carry four 40 lb (18 kg) or eight 20 lb (9.1 kg) Cooper bombs in racks under each wing. It was equipped also with large zap-style air-brakes/flaps to help when dive bombing and landing on sea operations.
The two initial prototypes were powered by the Bristol Mercury XII radial engine and the first one flew for the first time on 9th February 1937. The rest of them were powered by Bristol Perseus XII engine which yielded 890 hp of power. A total of 190 machines were manufactured at Blackburn's plant in Brough, East Riding of Yorkshire.
The 800 Naval Air Squadron was the first unit to receive the Skuas in late 1938 at Worth Down. By November they were embarked on HMS Ark Royal (91) and was followed in 1939 by both 801 and 803 squadrons. With the beginning of the World War II, Skuas were soon in action and on 14th September three of them took off from HMS Ark Royal to aid the SS Fanad Head which was attacked by an U-Boat. The aircraft arrived when the freighter was being shelled by the U-30 and all three of them dived to attack the submarine, which quickly dived into safety. Two of the Skuas were damaged by the blasts of the submarine and had to ditch and the U-30 returned to Germany with the crew of the two ditched Skuas who became the first naval airmen prisoners of the war.
The Skuas were also credited with the second confirmed kill by British aircraft during the Second World War: A Dornier Do.18 flying boat which was shot down over the North Sea on 26th September 1939 by three Skuas of the 803 Naval Air Squadron, departing from the Ark Royal. Later, on 10th April 1940 sixteen Skuas of 800 and 803 NAS led by Lt. Cmd. William Lucy flying from RNAS Hatston, in the Orkney Islands, sank the German Light Cruiser Königsberg in Bergen Harbour during Operation Wesserübung, the German invasion of Norway.
The Königsberg was the first major warship to be sunk in the conflict and the first major one to be sunk by dive bombing. Lucy also became a fighter ace flying the Skua. However, both 800 and 803 Squadrons suffered heavy losses while trying to bomb the German Battleship Scharnhorst at Trondheim, Norway, on 13th June 1940. Of 15 aircraft in the raid, 8 were shot down with their crew killed or taken prisoners.
Even if it acted reasonably well against Axis bombers over Norway and the Mediterranean Sea, the Skua couldn't cope against modern fighters like the Bf.109 and they were withdrawn from front lines in 1941. Most of them were replaced by the Fairey Fulmar which offered better performance and armament. Some of them were converted to target tugs after being withdrawn from front line service. Some of them were also used as advanced trainers and the last Skua was written off from active service in March 1945.
Both the Skua and the Blackburn Roc (a pure-fighter variant of the Skua) were famous for performing fighter sweeps and bombing sorties over the English Channel during Operation Dynamo and Operation Ariel, the evacuation of British troops from Dunkirk and other French ports.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackburn_Skua
2. https://www.valka.cz/Blackburn-Skua-Mk-II-t1359
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