How did the Blackburn T.B. aim to shoot down Zeppelins?

Short answer

With Ranken incendiary darts: the T.B. carried three containers each holding 24 darts of 1 lb (0.5 kg). It arose from a British Admiralty requirement for a long-range two-seater to attack Zeppelins after the first German airship attacks in the winter of 1914-1915. Seven were delivered to the RNAS.

Published: November 5, 2026 · Updated: November 5, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

How did the Blackburn T.B. aim to shoot down Zeppelins?

Blackburn Twin Blackburn

An Admiralty requirement against the Zeppelins

The first German bombing airship attacks on the United Kingdom, in the winter of 1914-1915, led the British Admiralty to draw up a requirement: a long-range two-seat aircraft intended to attack Zeppelins.

Three containers of Ranken incendiary darts

The armament consisted of three containers, each holding 24 Ranken incendiary darts of 1 lb (0.5 kg).

Two fuselages and seven aircraft

The aircraft was a floatplane with twin fuselages spaced 10 ft (3.35 m) apart, with the pilot in one and the observer in the other, with no means of communication between them other than hand signals. Each of the two fuselages was a fabric-covered wooden structure, with a tractor engine at the front. The wings, also wooden and fabric-covered, had no stagger or sweep and were of unequal span. The powerplant comprised two nine-cylinder air-cooled Gnome Monosoupape 9 Type B-2 rotary engines, of 100 hp (75 kW) each. Seven T.B.s were delivered to the Royal Naval Air Service. They saw little action: four served for a short period at RNAS Killingholme in 1917.