Supermarine Attacker

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Supermarine Attacker

Supermarine Attackers
Type	Naval fighter
Manufacturer	Supermarine
Maiden flight	27 July 1946
Introduced	August 1951
Retired	FAA 1954 RNVR 1957
Primary users	Fleet Air Arm Royal Naval Reserve Pakistan Air Force
Number built	183

The Supermarine Attacker was a British single-seat naval jet fighter built by the Supermarine company for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA). It was the first jet fighter of the FAA.

1 Development
2 Service
3 Specifications (F.1)
4 Operators
5 Operating Squadrons
6 References
7 Related content

[edit] Development

The Attacker developed from a Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter jet project, the E.10/44. The project was intended to be an interim fighter for the RAF while another aircraft, the Gloster E.1/44 (intended to be an improvement on the Gloster Meteor) was developed. Both were rejected by the RAF, and it was the Gloster Meteor and the de Havilland Vampire which were the RAF's first two operational jet aircraft. In response, Supermarine offered a navalised version of the project to the Admiralty. The prototype Attacker Prototype 392 was first flown on the 27 July 1946, by test pilot Jeffrey Quill.

The design of the Attacker used the laminar flow straight-wings of the Supermarine Spiteful , a piston-engined fighter intended to replace the legendary Supermarine Spitfire, and the Attacker was originally referred to as the "Jet Spiteful". The Attacker suffered from a number of deficiencies which led to it quickly being superseded, one being that the aircraft retained the Spiteful's tail-wheel undercarriage, due to the extent of the re-tooling that would have been required to alter the Spiteful's wing, rather than a nose-wheel undercarriage, thus making the Attacker more difficult to land on aircraft carriers. This same tail-down attitude meant that during operations off grass airfields the jet exhaust would create a long furrow in the ground that 'three men could lie-down in'. (Gunston, Bill, 1975, "Fighters of the Fifites - Vickers-Supermarine Attacker", Aeroplane Monthly, March 1975, p 130).

The first navalised prototype flew on the 17 June 1947 flown by test pilot Mike Lithgow, three years after the Meteor had made its first flight. Production orders for the FAA were placed in Novemeber 1949. The first production aircraft to take to the skies was the F.1 variant in 1950, entering service with the FAA in August 1951 with the first squadron being 800 Naval Air Squadron. The F.1s armament consisted of four Hispano 20 mm cannons, with 125 rounds per gun. It was powered by a single Rolls-Royce Nene Mk. 101 turbojet engine.

Two more variants of the Supermarine Attacker were built for the FAA. The FB.1 was a fighter-bomber which differed little from the F.1 except that is was expected to operate as a ground attack aircraft. The third, and last, variant of the Attacker was the FB.2 which introduced a new Rolls-Royce Nene engine and modifications to its structure. The Supermarine Attacker now had eight underwing pylons which could carry two 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs or eight unguided rockets. Over 100 Attackers would eventually be built for the Fleet Air Arm.

At least one Attacker is preserved- WA473 at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Somerset, Great Britain.

[edit] Service

The Attacker had a brief career with the Fleet Air Arm, not seeing any action during her time with the FAA and being taken out of first-line service in 1954. It remained in service with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) for a little while longer; taken out of service in 1956. The Attacker was replaced by the more capable Hawker Sea Hawk and de Havilland Sea Venom. The Attacker was only exported to one country; Pakistan. Between 1952-53, thirty-six Attackers were sold to the Pakistani Air Force (PAF). The aircraft was eventually replaced in the PAF in the 1960s.