Designed in conjunction with Handley Page, the Type 88 was built by Blackburn Aircraft Ltd to Specification E6/48 which called for a research aeroplane incorporating a scaled-down version of the crescent wing to be used on the HP Type 80 bomber.
The crescent wing of approximately 1/3 scale was married to a modified Supermarine 510 fuselage (Type 521) and the resulting aircraft was given the Blackburn designation YB2. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Nene the aircraft, VX330, was flown for the first time by the Blackburn test pilot G.R.I. Parker on 21st June 1951. The aircraft made about 30 flights from Carnaby, East Yorkshire, before it crashed during a low-level demonstration at Stanstead, Essex, on 26th August 1951, killing the Handley Page test pilot, D.G. Broomfield.
The aerodynamic configuration was similar to the HP80, with large Fowler-type trailing-edge flaps and drooping leading edges on the two outer sections of the wing. An all-flying tailplane was used but the fixed tailplane required to house the actuators on the Type 80 was not fitted.
The fuselage-side air brakes were mounted further forward, relatively, than those of the full-size aircraft.