Fairey Fireflash

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Fireflash

Fireflash missile
Type	air-to-air
Nationality	United Kingdom
Era	Cold War
Launch platform	aircraft
Target	aircraft
History
Builder	Fairey Aviation
Date of design	1949
Production period	?
Service duration	1955 - 1958
Operators	United Kingdom
Variants	?
Number built	c. 300
Specifications
Type	beam-riding homing missile
Diameter	?
Wing span	?
Length	2.83 m (9 ft 4 in)
Weight	150 kg (330 lb)
Propulsion	2 solid fuel booster motors
Steering	control surfaces
Guidance	beam rider
Speed	Mach 2 (max)
Range	1.9 miles (3.1 km)
Ceiling	?
Payload
Warhead	?
Trigger	?

The Fairey Fireflash was the first British air-to-air missile. Generally unsuccessful, it served only in small numbers.

[edit] Development

Produced in response to a Ministry of Supply requirement for a guided air-to-air missile. The project began in 1949 under the name Blue Sky. It was initially developed under the designation Pine Hawk. Blue Sky itself was a derated version of the Red Hawk missile.

About 300 missiles were produced by 1955, but the Royal Air Force (RAF) soon decided it was untenable. The missiles were used for testing purposes by 6 JSTU at RAF Valley and Woomera, South Australia from 1955-1957 using Meteor NF11 trials aircraft and subsequently by the Supermarine Swift fighters of No. 1 Guided Weapons Development Squadron at RAF Valley. The RAF chose to field the later de Havilland Firestreak instead.

[edit] Description

Fireflash was a beam-riding missile, relying on radar command guidance from the launch aircraft. It had a very unusual configuration: the missile was propelled by a pair of solid rocket boosters on the forward fuselage, which were jettisoned 1.5 seconds after launch, leaving the missile to coast into its target. This configuration was developed for fear that ionised particles from a rocket motor would interfere with the guidance radar signals, but it inevitably limited both range and flight duration.

[edit] See also

• Sea Slug missile - a contemporary naval beam-riding missile with wrap-around boosters

British guided missiles Air-to-air ASRAAM | Fireflash | Firestreak | Red Top | Skyflash Air-to-surface ALARM | Brimstone | Martel (UK/France) | Sea Eagle | Sea Skua | Storm Shadow (UK/France) Surface-to-air Bloodhound | Blowpipe | Javelin | Rapier | Sea Cat | Sea Dart | Sea Slug | Sea Wolf | Starburst | Starstreak | Tigercat | Thunderbird Surface-to-surface Swingfire | Malkara (UK/Australia) | Vigilant Strategic and tactical nuclear Blue Steel