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Description
Blackburn Roc
The type operated briefly in small numbers from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. During the Norwegian campaign of 1940, 801 Squadron brought three of the turret-fighters aboard along with its Blackburn B-24 Skuas although they were little used due to their low performance and poorer endurance.

Blackburn B-25 Rocs also took part in operations from airfields on the south coast of England during the Dunkirk evacuations and it was during this period that the type scored its first and only air-to-air kill, shooting down a Ju88 over Ostende.

A long-standing myth has arisen that the Blackburn B-25 Roc never flew in combat or ever landed on an aircraft carrier. This has occurred in the main due to it being stated in a number of older published sources. However, both assertions are incorrect as more recent books on the Fleet Air Arm.

However, the type’s poor performance and lack of forward-firing armament meant that it was not effective in air combat and consequently the Blackburn B-25 Roc saw only a few months of operational service.

Description
Blackburn Roc
The type operated briefly in small numbers from the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. During the Norwegian campaign of 1940, 801 Squadron brought three of the turret-fighters aboard along with its Blackburn B-24 Skuas although they were little used due to their low performance and poorer endurance.

Blackburn B-25 Rocs also took part in operations from airfields on the south coast of England during the Dunkirk evacuations and it was during this period that the type scored its first and only air-to-air kill, shooting down a Ju88 over Ostende.

A long-standing myth has arisen that the Blackburn B-25 Roc never flew in combat or ever landed on an aircraft carrier. This has occurred in the main due to it being stated in a number of older published sources. However, both assertions are incorrect as more recent books on the Fleet Air Arm.

However, the type’s poor performance and lack of forward-firing armament meant that it was not effective in air combat and consequently the Blackburn B-25 Roc saw only a few months of operational service.