Blackburn Ripon (Finland)

BLACKBURN Ripon

A further use for SkippyBing's excellent Blackburn Baffin.

The Blackburn Ripon was a pre-war carrier-borne torpedo-bomber and reconaissance aircraft, a development of the Swift, Dart and Velos family. The Ripon was a conventional biplane which was first flown in 1928. In total 123 were built and there were in addition 25 Blackburn Ripon II F: a Finnish assembled Ripon. Based on 1 production Ripon acquired from Great Britain in 1928, 25 were subsequently assembled in Finland under licence in 1931-34. The Finns used a number of different engines with the Ripon in service until 1944.

The only preserved Blackburn Ripon (RI-140), has an Armstrong-Siddely Panther radial engine. It is stored in Päijänne Tavastia Aviation Museum in Asikkala, Finland

Performance

* Maximum speed: 179 km/h

* Range: 660 km

* Service ceiling: 3,050 m

* climb to 6,500 ft: 15 min 30 sec

Armament

* Guns: 1 × fixed, forward firing .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine gun and 1 × .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis gun in rear cockpit.

* Bombs: Either 1 × 18 in (457 mm) torpedo or up to 3 ×240 kg or 6 × 104 kg bombs.

Enjoy

LloydNB