Fairey Gordon

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The Fairey Gordon was a British light bomber and utility aircraft.

1 Development
2 Service
3 Description
4 Survivors
5 Variants
6 Specifications
- 6.1 Performance
7 Operators
8 External links

[edit] Development

The Gordon was developed from the Fairey IIIF, primarily by use of the new Armstrong Siddley Panther engine. The prototype was first flown on the 3 March 1931, and around 80 earlier IIIFs were converted to a similar standard, 178 new build aircraft were made for the RAF, a handful of IIIFs being converted on the production line. 154 Mark Is were produced, before production switched to the Mark II with larger fin and rudder; only 24 of these were completed before production switched to the Fairey Swordfish.

[edit] Service

The type had mostly been retired from Royal Air Force and Royal Navy service prior to World War II, although No. 6 Squadron RAF, No. 45 Squadron RAF, and No. 47 Squadron RAF, still operated the type in Egypt. Six of these aircraft were transferred to the Egyptian Air Force.

Forty-nine Gordons were dispatched to the Royal New Zealand Air Force in April 1939, 41 entering brief service as pilot trainers. The RNZAF found the aircraft worn out and showing signs of their service in the Middle east — including at least one scorpion. The last of these — and the last intact Gordon anywhere — was struck off RNZAF service in 1943.

[edit] Description

The Gordon was a conventional two-bay fabric covered metal biplane. It was powered by 525 to 605 hp (390 to 450 kW) variants of the Armstrong Siddeley Panther IIa, Armament was one Lewis .303 cal (7.7-mm) gun in the rear cockpit and a fixed forward-firing Vickers 0.303-in (7.7-mm) gun plus 500 lb (230 kg) of bombs. The aircraft was somewhat basic; instruments were airspeed indicator, altimeter, oil pressure gauge, rev counter, turn and bank indicator and compass.

[edit] Survivors

The only known surivor is RNZAF Gordon Mark I NZ629, which is under restoration in New Zealand. On 12 April 1940 two trainee pilots Wilfred Everist and Walter Raphael of 1 Service Flying Training School were flying NZ629 from Wigram when they encountered thick cloud and were blown towards the Southern Alps. The aircraft crash landed in beech forest just beneath the snowline on Mount White. Everist and Raphael tramped to a shearers hut. The airframe, minus instruments, guns and engine, was left suspended in trees at the crash site, (part of a large sheep station). In 1976 it was reloacted - still largely suspended from trees - by Charles Darby, with assistance from Walter Raphael, (Everist was killed in action over France). NZ629 was recovered by Aerospatiale Lama. It was stored for over twenty years before restoration commenced. As of 2005 the restorers were looking for an engine. [1]