Fairey Firefly

Fairey Firefly's Story

The Fairey Firefly naval monoplane became an important part of the Royal Navy (RN) Fleet Aviation (FAA) towards the end of World War II (1939-1945) and beyond. From 1941 to 1955, approximately 1,702 aircraft were built in various models, large and small. Hunter was eventually adopted by countries other than the UK, and the list included (among other things) Australia, Canada, India and Thailand.

The final form worked well in the 1960s, despite its age.

The Firefly was born out of a 1938 FAA request for a state-of-the-art two-seater Navy reconnaissance aircraft to replace the aging line of the 1940 Fairey Fulmarsthe other aircraft were seen as interim measures at best. Specification #5/40 was finally created in 1940 to cover the new design. Fairey Aviation made a two-seater proposal, and in June 1940, the RN ordered 200 of them even before the planes actually appeareda necessity and a "blank check" approach to many wartime aircraft designs.

At least three airworthy prototypes were contracted.

NF. Developed as a special night fighter for the Firefly, the Mk II received a slightly elongated fuselage to carry the required air-intercept radar and equipment. About 37 aircraft were built to this standard. "Firefly III" was a proposed but ultimately abandoned improvement on the Firefly series to integrate the Griffon 61 series engine.

The F. Mk IV was powered by a 2,330-horsepower Rolls-Royce Griffon 72, and although it flew sometime in 1944, it did not enter service until after the war in 1945. Their fighter reconnaissance variant became the FR. Mk 4. NF. The Mk 5 is another night fighter entry and RF. The Mk 5 is a reconnaissance-focused model.

Its anti-submarine variant became AS. The Mk 5 and other anti-submarine platforms are AS. Mk6 and AS. Mk 7 - The latter is powered by a Rolls-Royce Griffon 59 engine. Its training form is T. Mk 7.

The Mk 4, Mk 5 and Mk 6 Fireflies were all rebuilt at some point to serve as target tugs for the rest of the day and were appropriately named TT. Mk4, TT. Mk5 and TT. Mk 6. TT. The Mk I was a limited batch of the earlier Firefly Mk, converted into the same character.

Post-war trainer models with dual flight cockpits became Firefly T. Mk 1, T. Mk 2 and T. Mk 3.

About six squadrons of the Royal Australian Navy are formed with the Firefly, and two squadrons of the Royal Canadian Navy are also equipped with this type. This aircraft is used by the Dutch Naval Air Force, with no less than six squadrons. Fireflies have been used by the Indian Navy since 1955 and Sweden from early 1949 to late 1963.

Likewise, the Royal Thai Air Force operated this aircraft from 1952 to 1966.

A total of 24 Royal Navy-Fleet Aviation-Squadrons operate Fireflies, making the UK the final operator of the series. Fairey Gannet, described elsewhere on this site, takes over for Firefly in FAA service.

Specification

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes