Fairey's best aircraft?

[Admiral Beez]

Which of Fairey's aircraft were the among the best examples of their type?

Carrier fighter? Flycatcher, Fulmar and Firefly. Maybe the Flycatcher in the 1920s, and a tough maybe the Fulmar when it entered service in early 1940 ahead (only slightly) of the Wildcat and A6M. Firefly against A6M, Hellcat and Corsair?

Carrier strike? Seal, Swordfish, Albacore, Barracuda, Spearfish and Gannet? The Gannet must be one the best single engined multiuse carrier aircraft.

Single engine bomber? Gordon, Battle?

 

[buffnut453]

Perhaps not the best but one of my all-time favourites:

 

[fastmongrel]

The Fairey III series of multi purpose biplanes if not the best were possibly the longest lasting. First flight September 1917 only retired in 1941.

Fairey III

 

[Admiral Beez]

The Fairey III series of multi purpose biplanes if not the best were possibly the longest lasting. First flight September 1917 only retired in 1941.

Fairey III

I like the look of the pencil nosed variant. Though the radiator must have been as much an airbrake as the floats.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I wonder if the Hendon would have made a good interwar torpedo bomber? At the time the primary RAF torpedo bomber was the Vilderbeest.

I like the Spearfish for its ambition. Gannet's ASW fish aside, the only torpedo bomber in the FAA to have an internal torpedo bay. Essentially a British Avenger.

EDIT...Did the Sea Hornet carry it's torpedo internally?

 

[pbehn]

As far as I remember all retired Gannets were adopted by the French for emotional reasons, obviously they had French heritage that was hard to prove.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

To judge by results, the Swordfish.

 

[Admiral Beez]

To judge by results, the Swordfish.

The Swordfish missed its greatest day when KGV and Rodney caught Bismarck before Ark Royal's final strike arrived. It might have been the first time a battleship at sea was sunk or crippled and forced to scuttle by carrier-launched torpedo bombers.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

The Swordfish missed its greatest day when KGV and Rodney caught Bismarck before Ark Royal's final strike arrived. It might have been the first time a battleship at sea was sunk by carrier-launched torpedo bombers.

It made that one of its greatest days by making the sinking possible with the stern hit, in my view. Add to that Taranto, and ASW, and the old auntie turned out to be a dame who could kick up her heels. Not glamorous, but damned well useful ... unlike the Battle.

 

[Admiral Beez]

It made one of its greatest days by making that sinking possible, in my view. Add to that Taranto, and ASW, and the old auntie turned out to be a dame who could kick up her heels. Not glamorous, but damned well useful ... unlike the Battle.

Edit.... a single Swordfish also caught Veneto at Matapan, scoring a temporarily-crippling torpedo hit. Too bad the balance of the strike didn't reach their target.

I'd love to see the FAA's museum Swordfish land on the new HMS Queen Elizabeth. No wire necessary.

 

[Shortround6]

I wonder if the Hendon would have made a good interwar torpedo bomber? At the time the primary RAF torpedo bomber was the Vilderbeest.

You have got to stop using comic books as source material.

 

[SaparotRob]

Au contraire mon frere. Comic books have always been the gold standard of aviation reference.

 

[Snautzer01]

I remember from this series. Caitlain, the scurge of the forktail devils.

 

[Admiral Beez]

You have got to stop using comic books as source material.
View attachment 615916

Considering that only fifteen Hendons were made, the above strike would require nearly a quarter of all aircraft.

 

[MiTasol]

You have got to stop using comic books as source material.

Maybe try this comic instead

 

[Admiral Beez]

Maybe try this comic instead
View attachment 616653

I see a cover, but what's inside?

 

[MiTasol]

give me time to scan the rest of it - many pages are 50cm square and very fragile and I only have an A3 scanner. The "professional" scan shop 60 km away are rough as guts and tore the last page I took them to bits so I have to do each page myself in four scans

 

[Admiral Beez]

Maybe try this comic instead
View attachment 616653

Interestingly, outside of one off trials and prototypes, the RR Kestrel was rarely used in twin engine applications. There's the Fairey Hendon and Supermarine Scapa, maybe a few others I'm not aware of.

 

[fastmongrel]

Handley Page Heyford is another Kestrel engined twin. Short Singapore had four Kestrels 2 pulling 2 pushing.

The Bristol Pegasus seems to have been the go to bomber engine.

 

[Timppa]

Comics tell a fair(ey) truth of Fairey aircraft. Fairey Battle was one of the the first plastic model I made about 50 years ago.