Supermarine Swift

History of Supermarine Swift

Supermarine's early straight-wing, single-seat, single-engine "attacker" platforms - designed to serve the RAF and Royal Navy - were not entirely successful. The RAF eventually passed it on during development, and the Royal Navy put it into service as their first front-line jet fighter.

Its limitations were numerous - lackluster performance, poor pilot visibility outside the cockpit, straight-wing main aircraft and "trailer" landing gear arrangements, to name a few.

This prompted the company's engineers to propose a swept-wing version of the attack aircraft, the "Type 510," this time swept back along all of its wing surfaces, including the tail. The aircraft was accepted by the RAF as the Swift, but like its predecessors, the Swift was only in service for a relatively short period of time due to design flaws and performance limitations.

Introduced in 1954, it was scrapped in the 1960s after about 197 examples were built.

The Swift continued the key design line of the earlier attackers, placing a crew member under the frame canopy towards the short nose cone, installing an engine with two crescent air intakes near the cockpit and a Exhaust port aft. Major changes include the aforementioned wing swept, as well as a more traditional three-wheeled landing gear to improve pilot visibility on the ground when running, taking off and landing. The attacker's 4 x 20mm automatic cannons were abandoned in favor of 2 x 30mm ADEN automatic cannons, and missiles and dropped bombs were envisioned from the start. Despite opting for the narrower Rolls-Royce AJ.

65 ("Avon") jet engine, the oversized fuselage of the attack aircraft was retained.

The Swift was born in search of a successor to the soon-to-be-obsolete Gloster 'Meteor', which emerged in mid-1944 as Britain's first jet fighter raging during World War II (1939-1945). However, turbojets were not only the way to the "fighter future," but over time, swept-wing designs replaced straight-wing forms like the Meteor.

This was more clearly illustrated by the British experience in the Korean War (1950-1953), when the Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 "Fagot" single-seat single-engine fighter appeared with its advanced swept-wing design.

While Attacker was Gloster Meteor's insurance contract, Swift also became insurance for a design pioneered by Hawker Aircraft, becoming the classic Hawker "Hunter" (elsewhere on this detail page).

Two prototypes covering the Swift program were eventually built, and the first flight of one of them (called the "Type 510") was recorded on December 29, 1948. The plane was quickly put into production due to a desperate need, but was somewhat hindered by the technical hurdles that had to be overcome in developing this advanced fighter.

The first flight in production-quality form was not possible until August 25, 1952.

Ultimately, the production standard "Swift F. Mk. 1" received 18 aircraft, which were introduced in 1954 with the RAF 56th Squadron and 2 x 30mm ADEN inner cannons as standard armament. The variant suffered engine and handling problems, and three of the first 14 planes were killed in fatal crashes. This resulted in the RAF accepting 16 Swift F. Mk.

2 interceptors, with improved leading edges and the addition of two ADEN guns to the wings - improving control and firepower.

This was followed by 25 "Swift F. Mk. 3" production models, which switched to the RR series "Avon 114" turbojet, which provided afterburner capability to increase straight-line speed.

However, these were relegated to jet pilot training and never saw formal combat service on the front lines of the RAF. F.Mk. The 4 attempted to continue to address issues in the Swift design by adding a variable-incidence rear wing for better handling, but engine limitations continued to plague the series.

This entry turned out to be the last Swift to enter RAF service under the guise of an interceptor - now the focus is on modifying the Swift for use in a tactical reconnaissance role.

The 1955 reconnaissance-oriented "Swift F. Mk. 5" added an extended nose cone to accommodate cameras and recording equipment, and dropped two of the four 30mm Ayton guns. These entered service in 1956 and were the last major version of the Swift to enter official RAF service. The aircraft has a barrel length of 42.2 feet, a wingspan of 32.3 feet, and a height of 13.1 feet. The curb weight hits 13.45 lbs and the MTOW is 21,675 lbs, the power of the Avon RA.

The 7R/114 turbojet has 7,175 pounds of dry thrust and up to 9,450 pounds of reheated thrust (afterburner). Top speed reaches 715 mph, range is up to 630 miles, service is capped at 45,800 feet, and climb rate is 14,660 feet per minute.

Standard armament includes 2 x 30mm ADEN cannons and conventionally thrown bombs and air missiles.

The "Swift PR. Mk. 6" became an unarmed reconnaissance aircraft, while the successor "Swift F. Mk. 7" added limited air-to-air missile capability and switched to upgraded Avon turbojets. 14 F. Mk. 7 standard fighters were built, but only for testing purposes.

Over time, the major inherent limitations of the Swift series meant that the competing Hawker Hunter offered a better overall solution in the short/long term. In fact, Hunter played the same role that Swift tried, and did it satisfactorily. With fewer than 200 Swifts completed, the type was dropped from front-line service as early as 1961 (Fighter Command dropped it as early as May 1955), and the series was completely phased out in 1967.

Due to its many problems and poor flight record, it was never a candidate for export, with only four RAF squadrons in all. Some are preserved as museum collections.

One last attempt to extract a potent airworthy supersonic fighter was made through the development of the "Type 545", but the effort ended up being a single prototype - detailed elsewhere on this page.

Specification

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes