Fairey's best aircraft?

[nuuumannn]

The lessons learned at the Falklands by the British government was the apparent utility of further reductions, eliminating first the SHAR and then the Invincible class carriers, along with massive reductions in numbers of destroyers and frigates.

Capability changes. The size of fleet isn't an issue if the ships are more capable and more deadly than the previous generation. The problem Britain faces is changing geopolitical situations and attempting to maintain a global presence. Britain's star has been on the wane since the end of WW2 and it is no longer the powerhouse it used to be, so politicians have had to adjust with the times in determining Britain's continuing role on the world stage. I'm certainly not defending them for getting rid of the Sea Harriers or the GR.9s - a huge waste of still competent aircraft being retired prematurely, but the biggest sin they have made is not specifically retiring ships and aircraft and shrinking the size of fleets, but retiring a capability without a suitable replacement. Britain can't afford a big navy or a big air force, it also arguably doesn't need one. Britain needs to consolidate its forces and review what its global obligations are. Britain is still a nuclear power, which brings with it its own security, but these things are costly, so what stays and what goes when defence budgets fluctuate with political parties?

 

[Admiral Beez]

Capability changes. The size of fleet isn't an issue if the ships are more capable and more deadly than the previous generation. Britain's star has been on the wane since the end of WW2 and it is no longer the powerhouse it used to be, so politicians have had to adjust with the times in determining Britain's continuing role on the world stage.

Britain's economy today is much larger and richer than it was in the early 1980s. UK GDP per capita was 87% higher in 2014 than in 1980. It wasn't that Britain doesn't have the money for more than six destroyers and thirteen frigates (compared to 1980's thirteen destroyers and thirty nine frigates), they just don't want to spend it.

Which brings us to Britain's interwar neglect of its military. If the Air Ministry had begun the Nimrod replacement before the Battle and Fairey P.4/34 were designed, Fairey may have gone in a different direction and brought forth a single seat fighter. Though Fairey's only single seat fighter proposal of the 1930s is the Fantôme, so their Nimrod replacement may not be impressive, but there's always hope. I like the idea of the cannon shooting through the prop hub, a rare thing in British aircraft.

 

[yulzari]

Especially with a Pratt engine and Ham Std constant speed prop

In 1923?

 

[MiTasol]

No but that is what the one in the photo in post #59 has

Replica?
Practical restoration?
Practical reproduction?

 

[nuuumannn]

they just don't want to spend it.

Of course not. Boris has got to pay for Brexit somehow

No but that is what the one in the photo in post #59 has

Exactly, the aircraft was a full-scale reproduction fitted with the Pratt engine because of the lack of AS Jaguars available. It's in storage at the FAA Museum at Yeovilton.

DSC_0094

 

[HarryMann]

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

Need shouting at about respecting historic documents.

 

[HarryMann]

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.

Fantastic engine met a premature demise... Westland Whirlwind anyone?

 

[Roger C]

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, 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?

 

[Roger C]

Is Fairey the only aircraft company in the world to have held both the fixed and rotary wing speed records? Fairey Delta 2 and Fairey Gyrodyne, within a few years of each other.

 

[nuuumannn]

Fantastic engine met a premature demise... Westland Whirlwind anyone?

Quite a big list here...

Rolls-Royce Kestrel - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

There's a few twins in there including the Heyford bomber and also some four engined types, the Gloster TD.33 evac transport prototype and the Short Singapore. The Kestrel's demise certainly wasn't premature; it powered lots of stuff and its development led to the Peregrine, which powered the Whirlwind.

 

[nuuumannn]

Is Fairey the only aircraft company in the world to have held both the fixed and rotary wing speed records? Fairey Delta 2 and Fairey Gyrodyne, within a few years of each other.

Could be...

 

[Admiral Beez]

In August 1944 I'd put an all Fairey CAG of Fireflies (entered frontline service in July 1944) and Barracudas against an IJN CAG of A6M5 fighters and Nakajima B6N or Yokosuka D4Y. Even more so with the Firefly having a proper working radio along with radar guidance from its armoured deck carrier.

That the two-seat >10,000 lb. Firefly is faster and more heavier armed and protected than the A6M5 is a testment of the desperation and neglect of fighter investment at the IJN. The Zero's only hopes against the Firefly are low speed agility and rate of climb, otherwise if the Zero finds this thing coming down from six o'clock high with four 20mm cannons a blazing, it's all over.

So we have HMS Indefatigable (42 Fireflies and 36 Barracudas) vs. IJNS Amagi (27 Zeros, 12 D4Ys, 9 B6N). Even if we reduce the RN CAG to Amagi's 48 aircraft the Firefly will rip these chaps apart.