Mushroom Model Publications

Blackburn Skua & Roc

by  Matthew Willis

Reviewed By  Robert Allen, IPMS# 39155

MSRP: £13.00 ($25.75) ISBN: 978-83-89450-44-9 160 pages Web site: (www.mmpbooks.biz) The Blackburn Skua dive bomber/fighter is not an easy aircraft to sum up. Often regarded as an example of the type of obsolescent aircraft that Britain's Fleet Air Arm was handicapped with at the start of World War Two, it actually has several significant accomplishments to its credit. It was the first British fighter to destroy a German aircraft in the war; the FAA's first ace of the war, Lt. Bill Lacy, scored all his kills flying the type; and the Skua's sinking of the German cruiser Königsberg during the Norwegian campaign marked the first major warship to be sunk by dive bombing. As Matthew Willis points out in his superb book, "…the Skua's story is one of unrecognized achievements, a machine that was greater than the sum of its parts." The book is divided into four distinct sections. The first tells the development story of the Skua, and its stable mate, the far less successful Roc turret fighter. The second gives the complete operational history of both types, drawing on both contemporary documents, and modern day interviews with surviving Skua and Roc aircrew. The third is a magnificent collection of detail photos and drawings, many taken from the manufacturer's archives. The final part is a 32-page color section containing photos of the Skua wreck in the FAA Museum, color stills from a Norwegian WW2 home movie detailing a crash-landed example, and 33 profiles drawn by Kjetil Åkra. Willis' text is informative and well-written, not at all dry like so many books of this type, and the personal recollections of Skua and Roc crew make interesting reading. He goes into detail about the decisions taken that left a two-seat dive bomber with inferior performance to land-based fighters as the FAA's prime fighter (in a nutshell, it was believed they would never be forced to fight land-based fighters), and corrects several long-held assumptions about both types, often naming the books in which the faulty information appeared. In particular, he shows that the Roc did indeed see combat action, both in Norway and over Dunkirk, where one shot down a Ju 88 for the type's only kill. For a modeler wishing to build a Skua or Roc, there is an amazing amount of detail included here. There are 1/72nd scale drawings of both aircraft, including those of a Roc on floats, a sight hideous enough to scare anyone. The detail drawings and photos give enough information for the cockpit and gun mount to be fastidiously modeled. One minor complaint is that the color profiles, while well drawn, appear a bit washed out. The Trainer Yellow on the Skua target tug, for example, is far too close to lemon yellow rather than the deeper, brighter hue it actually was. Nevertheless, the profiles show just how many different color schemes these aircraft appeared in during their careers. Perhaps the most interesting is the Roc in Finnish markings - 33 were earmarked to be sent to Finland in 1940, and were actually painted in Finnish colors, but the Winter War ended before they could be dispatched, and Britain ended up keeping them. There are also two rare photos of the Finnish aircraft. It's hard to see how this book could have been done any better. It provides a huge amount of information about a neglected but important aircraft, and the writing and photos are first rate. If you want to build a Skua or Roc, or just read about them, this is the only book you'll need. My thanks to Mushroom Model Publications for the sample copy.

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