Fairey Firefly II
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| Firefly IIM | |
|---|---|
 Fairey Firefly Y-17 from 3/II/2 Aé (Red Cocottes) Squadron in flight near its home base at Nivelles. Fairey c/n F-1505 was delivered from Fairey Hayes (UK) on 21 August 1931. |
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| Type | Fighter |
| Manufacturer | Fairey Aviation Company Limited |
| Designed by | Marcel Lobelle |
| Maiden flight | 5 February 1929 |
| Introduced | 1931 |
| Primary users | Belgium USSR |
| Number built | 91 |
The Fairey Firefly IIM was a British fighter of the 1930s. It was a single-seat, single-engine biplane of all-metal construction. Built by Fairey Aviation Company Limited, it served principally with Belgium's Aéronautique Militaire throughout the 1930s until the outbreak of war.
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[edit] Design and development
The Firefly was a private-venture design, penned by Marcel Lobelle. A completely new design, it shared little with the Fairey Firefly I beyond the name. Making use of experience gleaned from the earlier machine, it was developed in response to Specification F.20/27 for a single-seat interceptor. It first flew on 5 February 1929.[1]
The Firefly II competed for the RAF contract against the Hawker Fury, showing superior speed but was criticised for having heavier controls.[1] Crucially, it retained a mainly wooden structure despite the Air Ministry's demands for metal structures. This led to the Fury being selected. Afterwards, the prototype was rebuilt and renamed Firefly IIM, the "M" denoting the all-metal construction of the rebuilt machine.
[edit] Operational history
A contract was won for 25 IIM aircraft for Belgium's Aéronautique Militaire, followed by a contract for a further 62 to be constructed by Avions Fairey, Fairey's Belgian subsidiary. The Belgian aircraft served briefly in the Second World War from May to June 1940.
Two of the Belgian aircraft were converted to Firefly IV, with 785-hp Hispano-Suiza 12Xbrs engines but the improvement was not deemed sufficient to warrant development. One was restored to its original form, while the other passed to Fairey for trials. One aircraft was supplied to the Soviet Union.
[edit] Operators
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[edit] Variants
- Fairey Firefly II
- Fairey Firefly IIM
- Fairey Firefly IIIM
- Fairey Firefly IV
[edit] Specifications (Firefly IIM)
Data from The Complete Book of Fighters[2]
General characteristics
- Crew: 1
- Length: 24 ft 8 in (7.52 m)
- Wingspan: 31 ft 6 in (9.60 m)
- Height: 9 ft 4 in (2.85 m)
- Wing area: 236.8 ft² (22.0 m²)
- Empty weight: 2,387 lb (1,083 kg)
- Loaded weight: 3,285 lb (1,490 kg)
- Powerplant: 1× Rolls-Royce F.XIS 12-cylinder inline liquid-cooled, 480 hp ()
Performance
- Maximum speed: 152 knots (175 mph, 282 km/h) at sea level, 193 knots (223 mph, 359 km/h) @ 13,125 ft (4,000 m)
- Stall speed: knots ()
- Time to 19,685 ft (6,000 m), 10.9 min
Armament
- two 0.303-in (7.7-mm) Vickers machine guns
[edit] See also
Related development
- Fairey Firefly I
- Fairey Firefly IIIM
Comparable aircraft
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Mason, Francis K. The British Fighter since 1912. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1992. ISBN 1-55750-082-7.
- ^ Green, William and Swanborough, Gordon. The Complete Book of Fighters. New York: Smithmark, 1994. ISBN 0-8317-3939-8.
[edit] Bibliography
- Pacco, John. "Fairey Firefly" Belgisch Leger/Armee Belge: Het militair Vliegwezen/l'Aeronautique militaire 1930-1940. Artselaar, Belgium, 2003, pp. 32-38. ISBN 90-801136-6-2.
[edit] External links
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