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Fairey III

1918 WORLD WAR 1

The Story of Fairey III

The British war effort of World War I (1914-1918) produced many new aircraft developments. Fairey Aviation contributed to this effort and began operations at Heaton Chapel on Ringway in 1915. On September 14, 1917, in response to a request by the British Admiralty (Navy) for a new carrier-based reconnaissance/light bomber (Spec No. 2(a)), a new reconnaissance biplane named "Fairey III" was recorded.

First flight. This model was accepted into service in the last year of the war in 1918, and 964 will be built. Amazingly, the aircraft became one of the few designs born during World War I that survived the interwar period and remained in service in World War II.

This is a quality that the US Navy typically sees in larger, more expensive warships than any other aircraft, as it has proven to be more expensive to replace them. The last Fairey III form was not retired in 1941.

The Fairey III entered service as a prototype N. 10, and the aircraft was evaluated in wheeled and seaplane form. These came on a 260-horsepower Sunbeam Maori engine. The Navy ordered the two aircraft, which were evaluated as the Fairey III design, with 50 of the wheeled IIIA variant and 60 of the IIIB seaplane variant. The planes would enter service at the end of World War I in November 1918.

The launch of the IIIC model was closer to the lines and dimensions of the IIIA, limiting the production of the IIIB to 28 units. Thirty-six IIC models followed, powered by a 375-horsepower Rolls-Royce Eagle series engine.

By design, the Fairey III was a conventional biplane of the time. It has the necessary upper and lower wing assemblies connected by parallel struts and cables. The engine is located in the forward compartment and drives a two-bladed wooden propeller in a puller configuration.

The nose is nicely contoured to facilitate basic aerodynamics. The pilot sits behind and directly below the upper wing assembly, with the observer behindboth in the open-air cockpit. The fuselage was then tapered to the tail, to which the vertical tail and corresponding tail were added.

The main difference between the two brands is their chassis. The drivable form includes a pair of wheeled main landing gear legs, while the seaplane derivative replaces these legs with floats - allowing operation from the water.

The armament consisted of a .303 Vickers machine gun mounted on a fixed forward mount and operated by the pilot. The Observer gets a trainable .303 Lewis machine gun in the rear cockpit.

When equipped as a bomber, the aircraft carries a conventional bomb-dropping payload of up to 500 pounds under the wing assemblies.

After the postwar models IIIA and IIIB, the postwar models IIIC, IIID and IIIF followed. As mentioned, the IIIC was powered by a 375-horsepower Rolls-Royce Eagle engine, and production reached 36 units. The IIID followed, or replaced the Eagle engine with a 450-horsepower Rolls-Royce Napier Lion. The brand produced 227 examples, essentially becoming the first major production brand in the series.

The IIIF model was the last Fairey III, powered by Napier Lion series engines, with several sub-variants, including a three-seat version with a third crew. Metal substructures and metal skins have now been incorporated into the design.

Hundreds of F-model brands were produced, including 291 Fairey IIIF Mk IIIs. All carrier versions have folding wings to improve storage space on the Royal Navy's space-saving carriers, and later models can convert their wheeled landing gear to seaplane form if needed.

The Fairey III is widely used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Fleet Aviation (FAA) through Model IIIA, IIIB, IIIC and IIIF. Fourteen RAF squadrons operated the Fairey III at some point, as did five FAA squadrons. There are numerous foreign operators, including Australia (air force), Argentina (navy), Canada, Chile (air force and navy), Egypt, Greece (air force and navy), Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Soviet Union (assessment only) and Sweden. Argentina operated the Fairey III until 1942, when it was retired.

At this point, the aircraft was equipped with Armstrong Siddeley Leopard engines. Others abandoned this type in the 1930s and early 1940s. By World War II, the British Fairey III was relegated to a secondary role and replaced by a more modern genre. Some Fairey IIIs are owned by civilians.