Country of origin:

United Kingdom

Description:

Shipboard fighter and reconnaissance aircraft

Power Plant:

One 1,495 kw (2,004 hp) Rolls Royce Griffon 74 twelve-cylinder VEE liquid-cooled engine

Specifications:

Armament:

Four 20 mm Hispano cannon with 160 rounds per gun; provision for two 454 kg (1,000 lb) bombs, or eight 27.2 kg (60 lb) rockets, or eight 11.34 kg (25 lb) rockets and two 227 kg (500 lb) bombs

History:

The Fairey Firefly was designed as a shipboard two-seat fighter and reconnaissance aircraft around the then new Rolls Royce Griffon engine by Herbert Chaplin and the prototype (Z1826) flew for the first time on 22 December 1941. The original specification was for a two-seat naval fighter with forward firing guns with a power turret but the turret was dropped and Specification N.5/40F was issued, 200 aircraft being ordered: two prototypes, 11 development aircraft and 187 production aircraft.

The first three aircraft (Z1826 to Z1828) were built at Hayes in West London and assembled at the Great West Aerodrome at Heathrow. It was flown to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment at Boscombe Down in Salisbury on 28 April 1942 for testing. The Ministry of Aircraft Production informed the Fairey Aviation Company it was increasing orders and required 50 to be delivered a month by the end of 1944. However, the second prototype (Z1827) crashed on 26 June 1942 delaying the program.

The Firefly entered service with the Royal Navy in 1943 in two variants, the F Mk I day fighter and the NF Mk II night fighter. The Mk III with a Rolls Royce Griffon 61 engine was found to suffer from longitudinal instability and was cancelled. Some revision of the design then occurred, the radiators being placed in the leading-edge of the wing, which led to some re-design, the new model becoming the Mk IV with a Griffon 74 engine. However, this did not enter service until 1947, by which time flight testing had moved to Heston in Greater London.

One Firefly (TW692) made a sales tour of the Middle East in 1948 and, in order to counter torque on take-off, one (TW695) was fitted with contra-rotating propellers. Production of the Mk IV moved on, the first production aircraft (TW722) being delivered in September 1946, a number of these being converted to TT Mk 4 configuration. A number of Mk Is were converted to training configuration for deck-landing and weapons training.

Eventually the Mk V was produced, this being considered to be a multi-role machine, the first of this model flying on 12 December 1947 at White Waltham in Berkshire, this model entering service with the Royal Navy in January 1948. A total of 338 was completed, plus 14 for the Netherlands Navy. This model saw much active service in the Korean War in the strike and dive-bombing roles, being able to carry 227 kg (500 lb) and 454 kg (1,000 lb) bombs, or rocket projectiles, and was armed with four 20 mm cannon.

The Mk V model was followed by the AS Mk 6, which was a dedicated anti-submarine aircraft to serve with the Royal Navy until the Fairey Gannet became available. The first Mk 6 (WB505) first flew on 23 March 1949 and this model entered service in January 1951, having a crew of three. Next model was the Mk 7, initial aircraft having the Griffon 37 engine, but later aircraft had the Griffon 59 engine.

A number of Fireflies were converted to pilotless target drones, the first being known as the Firefly U.8, these were converted from Mk 7s, being operated at RAE Llanbedr in Wales, the first (WM886) being shot down by a missile from a de Havilland Venom on 29 September 1955. Later a number of Mk 5s were also converted.

In a number of marks, 1,702 examples were built over a period of fourteen years. By 1944 development in radar equipment had made its installation into the Firefly possible, and this, plus some longitudinal instability with early marks fitted with radar, led to extensive re-design of the type, culminating in the Mk IV. Other operators included the Dutch Navy, Canadian Navy, Indian Navy for target towing, Danish Navy, Sweden, Ethiopia and Thailand.

At the end of World War II the operational life of the Firefly was only beginning, certainly so far as the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) was concerned. The Mk IV was built in two main variants, the FR Mk IV fighter and the NF Mk IV night fighter, and deliveries commenced in September 1946. Further development led to the Mk 5 and the Mk 6. Nos 816 and 817 Squadrons of the Royal Navy, equipped successively with Mks 4, 5 and 6, served on detachment on board ‘HMAS Sydney’ and, with the commencement of hostilities in Korea in 1949, No 817 Squadron RAN operated Firefly Mks 4 and 5 in the close support role for land forces, although shipping strikes and minelaying missions were also flown. During this campaign it was found that, with the available power from the Griffon 74 engine, various bombs and rockets (up to 907 kg / 2,000 lb) could be carried, and up to 120 sorties a day were made by the Fireflys from ‘HMAS Sydney’.

In 1950 the Firefly AS Mk 6 appeared. Built specifically for anti-submarine operations, the four 20 mm cannon had been removed, sonobuoys were carried in panniers under the wings, and appropriate receivers and indicators were installed in the cockpit. The first production Mk 6 was flown on 23 March 1949, and 133 examples of this mark were built. It became the main anti-submarine aircraft with the RN and RAN until the advent of the Fairey Gannet some years later.

A total of 108 Fireflys of Mks 4, 5 and 6 was operated by the RAN over the years. A number were converted to dual-control trainers with a raised rear cockpit, and these were known as the T Mk 5. A number of others were later converted to target tugs by the installation of a winch. These conversions of the Mks 4 and 5 models had black and yellow stripes under the wings.

A few Fireflys have survived but most were broken up after retirement. WB518 was mounted on a pole in Griffith, NSW. WD828 was held by the Moorabbin Air Museum, VIC for many years but was sold and returned to airworthiness, flying again on 28 September 1984 as VH-HMW. However, it was badly damaged in an accident near Camden, NSW. Some work proceeded towards a rebuild, including the restoration of the fuselage for static display, this replacing the fuselage of WB518 on the pole at Griffith, and the fuselage of the latter was  used in the airworthy restoration. However, the restoration was not completed and the aircraft was sold in the United States of America where it was restored to airworthiness in Colorado.

The Australian National Aviation Museum at Moorabbin has retained WD827 on display; the Camden Museum of Aviation at Narellan, NSW has VX388 on display; and the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Nowra has WD826 and WJ109, the former being at one time part of the Naval Historic Flight flying as VH-NVU.

Other ex-RAN Fireflys were exported overseas. One ex-RAN machine (WB271) was made airworthy with the Royal Navy Historic Flight but in 2003 was destroyed in a crash at Duxford, Cambridgeshire on 12 July 2003. This aircraft was built at Hayes and initially served with the RNAS at Culdrose, before then being attached to ‘HMS Vengeance’. It saw service in the Korean War initially on ‘HMS Glory’ and later on board the Australian carrier ‘HMAS Sydney’. It continued in service with the RAN until 1966 when it was sold to a scrap dealer. It was obtained by the crew of ‘HMS Victorious’ in 1967 when the vessel visited Sydney and was taken to the United Kingdom where it was restored.

Two were exported to Canada. One (WH632), formerly at Camden, was restored by the Canadian Warplane Heritage but was destroyed in a crash. Another (WD901) was exported to Canada in 1967, also for the Canadian Warplane Heritage and was also made airworthy, but also was destroyed in a crash, this one in September 1977.

Firefly WD833 was exported to Sir William Roberts in Scotland in 1974 and has become part of the Polar Collection in Minnesota. An ex-RAN Firefly has lain on the bottom of Jervis Bay, NSW where it crash landed during RAN service and has become a known diving spot.

The Firefly was used extensively by the Royal Navy in this region late in World War II on board aircraft carriers and some were lost in accidents. On 11 July 1947 during exercises in Port Phillip Bay, VIC, Firefly Is from ‘HMS Glory’ and ‘HMS Theseus’ were flown off, 17 aircraft from No 812 Squadron RN on board the latter carrier being launched, and during joining up for formation two collided and crashed, these aircraft (TW677 and PP589) being located by divers in 2007 off Frankston.

When ‘HMS Theseus’ left New Zealand it offloaded at Wynyard Wharf a Seafire and a Firefly. The latter aircraft, a Mk I (MB385 – code V-14 – 294) in South East Area Command markings, having previously served on board ‘HMS Indefatigable’ and ‘HMS Venerable’, had been damaged in a heavy landing at Sembawang in Singapore and was reserved for spares. It was later shipped to Motuihe Island and is said to have been used as an instructional airframe at RNZAF Hobsonville for a period until it was placed in a local kindergarten. The remains were by 1956 eventually burnt.

Only a few have survived around the world.  Six Fireflys Mk Is were located in the 1970s at Asmara in Ethiopia, and four of these were recovered, two in 1994 and another two in 1996, for restoration. These were Fireflys FR 1s and a T 2. As two were former Canadian aircraft they were taken to Canada’s National Aeronautical Collection at Ottawa and the Canadian Armed Forces Base at Shearwater in Nova Scotia for restoration. The other two were taken to Johannesburg for a South African operator.

Two were recovered from Sweden by the Aircraft Restoration Company at Duxford to the United Kingdom in 2004 for restoration, these being Firefly TT 1s (SE-CAU and SE-BRG), having seen service as target tugs.

In 2005 two Fireflys recovered from Eritrea in South Africa were conveyed to Auckland, New Zealand, for restoration to airworthiness. These were a Mk I and a T Mk I dual-control variant. At about that time Avspecs of Auckland offered them for sale and it is believed the Mk I remained in storage at Ardmore and the T Mk I was exported to France where it has been undergoing restoration at Melun-Villaroche airfield near Paris.

One ex-RAN Firefly had an interesting life. This aircraft WD840 (c/n F8668) was built as an AS Mk 6 but was later converted to TT Mk 6 configuraton. It was disposed of in 1965 and shipped to Canada where it was restored as CF-CBH. It underwent civil conversion and was fitted out in the fuselage to seat eight on a bench seat. It then had a series of owners in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas and Utah as N42174. It later underwent some conversion to Firefly XV configuration. At some stage it carried the registrat.ions N810J and N1849. In 2012 it was noted to be under restoration at Fort Collings in Colorado and had been sold to an operator in Europe.