The Swift answered a postwar requirement for a carrier-borne replacement for the Sopwith Cuckoo. Its single-seat layout treated the aircraft primarily as a torpedo carrier rather than a fighter, and the prototype did not actually receive the machine guns sometimes attributed to it. With a torpedo it could reach about 106 miles per hour and had a theoretical 175-mile strike radius. Its folding wings reduced its span from 48 feet 6 inches to 17 feet 6 inches for shipboard storage. Although it was not selected, continued trials made the Swift a working prototype that established Blackburn's naval-aircraft direction.
Notable Point · 7:45-13:27
The Swift as a carrier torpedo-bomber experiment
The Blackburn T.1 Swift was an unsuccessful but influential early carrier torpedo-bomber, proving the value of folding wings and a dedicated anti-ship role.