The Skua's reputation cannot be separated from the Royal Navy's small carrier air groups. A fighter that could sometimes bomb was more useful within those limits than a dedicated dive bomber with weak fighter performance. The planned progression from Swordfish to Albacore and then Barracuda shows the Navy trying to combine torpedo and dive-bombing missions in one strike aircraft. Judging the Skua only against pure fighters or pure dive bombers therefore misses the procurement problem it was meant to solve.
Notable Point · 1:15-2:19
Why the Skua combined fighter and strike roles
The opening explains why the Blackburn Skua combined fighter, reconnaissance, and dive-bombing duties, and how the Barracuda was meant to consolidate the later strike role.