Blackburn Shark

The Blackburn Shark was a British carrier-borne torpedo bomber designed and built by Blackburn Aircraft in the early 1930s. It began as a private venture known as the Blackburn T.S.R., short for torpedo-spotter-reconnaissance, built to meet an Air Ministry specification for the Fleet Air Arm, and it was the last of Blackburn's biplane torpedo bombers. Its prototype made its maiden flight on 24 August 1933, and production aircraft entered service the following year. Besides the Fleet Air Arm it was flown by the Royal Canadian Air Force, the Portuguese Navy and the British Air Observers' School. Production lost ground to the rival Fairey Swordfish as the Second World War approached, so many Sharks ended up in secondary roles such as training and target towing, though some were used in frontline operations including the Dunkirk evacuation. The last were withdrawn from service in 1945.