In March 1930, the British Air Ministry issued the M. 1/30 specification for a carrier-based torpedo bomber to replace the Blackburn Ripon. In addition to Handley Page and Vickers, Blackburn Aircraft also submitted its B-3 project to the competition.
The B-3 was a two-seat biplane with a non-retractable landing gear. It was equipped with an 825 hp Rolls-Royce Buzzard IIIMS engine with a maximum speed of 229 km / h and a range of 1207 km. Armament — 2 × 7.7 mm machine guns. It could carry either a 1 × 860-kg torpedo or a 4 × 250-kg bomb.
Tests showed unsatisfactory characteristics of the aircraft. But they did not have time to finalize it — the first prototype crashed on June 30, 1932. A second B-3 was built (unlike the first-with a metal skin, not a canvas one). But he did not pass the tests. As a result, the aircraft was disassembled for spare parts, some of which were later used in the construction of the Blackburn B-6 Shark.
