Sydney
Role	Patrol flying boat Type of aircraft
Manufacturer	Blackburn
Designer	John Douglas Rennie[1]
First flight	18 July 1930
Status	Prototype
Number built	1

The Blackburn R.B.2 Sydney (serial N241) was a long-range maritime patrol flying boat developed for the Royal Air Force in 1930, in response to Air Ministry Specification R.5/27. It was a parasol-winged braced monoplane of typical flying boat arrangement with triple tailfins and its three engines arranged on the wing's leading edge. After evaluation, it was not ordered into production and no further examples were built.

With development of the Sydney abandoned, construction of a cargo-carrying variant powered by radial engines, the C.B.2 Nile was also ended.

Specifications (Sydney)

Data from British Flying Boats ^[2]

General characteristics

• Crew: 5
• Length: 65 ft 7 in (19.99 m)
• Wingspan: 100 ft (30 m)
• Height: 20 ft 4 in (6.20 m)
• Wing area: 1,500 sq ft (140 m²)
• Empty weight: 17,065 lb (7,741 kg)
• Gross weight: 23,350 lb (10,591 kg)
• Powerplant: 3 × Rolls-Royce F.XII MS V-12 liquid-cooled piston engines, 525 hp (391 kW) each
• Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch propellers

Performance

• Maximum speed: 123 mph (198 km/h, 107 kn)
• Cruise speed: 100 mph (160 km/h, 87 kn)
• Endurance: 7 hours 30 minutes
• Service ceiling: 16,300 ft (5,000 m)
• Rate of climb: 390 ft/min (2.0 m/s)

Armament

• Guns: 3 × trainable .303 in (7.7 mm) Lewis Gun in open bow, dorsal and ventral positions
• Bombs: 1,102 lb (500 kg) of bombs or 2 × torpedoes