Country of origin:

United Kingdom

Description:

General-purpose reconnaissance biplane

Power Plant:

One 272 kw (365 hp) Rolls Royce Eagle VIII twelve-cylinder broad-arrow liquid-cooled engine

Specifications:

Armament:

One 7.69 mm (0.303 in) Lewis machine gun in observer’s rear cockpit; two 104 kg (230 lb) bombs under wings

History:

The Fairey III was a very successful military general-purpose biplane of the 1920s which was built in a variety of models. Two prototypes, fitted with the 194 kw (260 hp) Sunbeam Maori engine were flown on 20 April and 31 August 1917. The second, fitted with floats, was converted for shipboard use in 1917 and became the prototype Model IIIA. It was later built as a single-seater and, powered by a Napier Lion engine, took part in the 1919 Schneider Trophy contest.

Some 50 IIIAs had been built when production turned to the IIIB, and later the IIIC fitted with a Rolls Royce Eagle engine. The fuselage was then re-designed, and this became the IIID, some 280 examples being built. The Portuguese Navy ordered the IIID and one, fitted with an 18.59 m (61 ft) span wing, made an attempt to fly the first east-west Atlantic crossing in 1922 but was wrecked in a forced landing. One IIID (F.402) has been preserved at the Lisbon Naval Museum in Portugal. The type was also ordered by Sweden, and the Dutch Navy used the type in the Netherlands East Indies.

In 1921 the Australian Government ordered six Fairey IIID Mk I twin float seaplanes to equip No 5 Squadron to be based in Sydney, NSW for fleet co-operation work. These aircraft, initially serialled ANA-1 to ANA-6 (c/ns F.394 to F.399) were fitted with the 272 kw (365 hp) Rolls Royce Eagle VIII engine. The first (ANA-1) was handed over at Hamble in Hampshire on 12 August 1921 and the six aircraft were shipped to Australia on board the ‘SS Boonah’, arriving in Melbourne, VIC on 7 November 1921. However, No 5 Squadron was not formed and the six aircraft, which were re-serialled A10-1 to A10-6, were allotted to No 1 Flying Trining School (FTS) and became the Seaplane Flight.

A10-1 (c/n F.394) served with F Flight at No 1 FTS and saw a little service with No 5 Squadron. It was written off on 18 August 1924 when it crashed into the sea off Point Cook, VIC.

A10-2 (c/n F.395) also served with F Flight at No 1 FTS. It was embarked on board ‘HMAS Geranium’ in 1924-25 and conveyed to north Queensland where, flown by Flt Lt A E Mustard and Flt Off T A Swinbourne, it made a photographic survey of the Great Barrier Reef. It later returned to Point Cook and was written off on 18 December 1925, being scrapped.

A10-3 (c/n F.396) served with F Flight of No 1 FTS and was photographed as ANA-3 on 19 April 1922. It was used in 1922 by Wg Cdr S J Goble and Flying Off I G McIntyre to fly around Australia, leaving Point Cook on 19 May 1922 and taking 44 days (90 flying hours) to cover the 14,000 km (8,700 miles). The crew was awarded the Brittania Trophy for the flight. It became A10-3 in 1924.

On 1 September 1924 A10-3 was transferred to the Australian War Museum (AWM) in Melbourne, VIC and placed on display. In 1925 it was moved to Sydney, NSW and later it was stored at Victoria Barracks in Sydney. However, on 20 November 1928 the Director of the AWM wrote to the Air Board requesting the removal of the Fairey IIID from Sydney as the floor space was limited and other material needed to be stored for safety. The aircraft was eventually disposed of and all that has survived has been the tailplane preserved at the RAAF Museum at Point Cook.

In 1925 two Fairey IIIDs were shipped to north Queensland where five months were spent on a further photographic survey. A10-2 was lost in an accident on 18 December 1925, and after that the four survivors were relegated to the training role, later being replaced by de Havilland Gipsy Moth seaplanes.

Two examples of the Fairey IIID (c/ns F.1133 and F.1134) were purchased for the New Zealand Permanent Air Force (NZPAF) in 1929 being obtained for coastal patrol and reconnaissance work. Initially used as landplanes, the first F.1133 made its first flight in December 1929. On 1 May 1930 it was flown on an aerial survey of the Central Irrigation Scheme in the Maniototo District of Central Otago flown by Flt Lt M W Buckley. It later returned to Hobsonville. In June that year both F.1133 and F.1134 were performing drogue towing, torpedo spotting and fire observation during naval manoeuvres in the Hauraki Gulf. F.1134 then was flown to Wigram where the survey work resumed.

After returning to Hobsonville it was fitted with floats. On 29 October 1930 during high-speed low-altitude testing on the harbour near Birkdale flown Flt Lt S W Wallingford, the floats touched the water at 203 km/h (126 mph) and the aircraft disintegrated, the three man crew being recovered from the water.

Subsequently F.1133 was used to perform mercy flights, naval co-operation duties and general-purpose work. At one stage it was used for co-operation exercises with the cruiser ‘HMNZ Diomede’. Later, in 1933, a Fairey IIIF Mk IIIB (S.1805 – c/n F.1542) was obtained to replace the aircraft lost. The latter was one of a batch (S.1789 to S.1836) of 58 built in 1931 for the RAF whereas the other two had been built to an RNZAF order. These aircraft operated on floats and wheels as the need required.  S.1805 in March 1939 was based at Hastings on army co-operation exercises in company with a Supermarine Walrus from ‘HMNZ Achilles’. It survived to 1939 when it became an instructional airframe (INST 18) at Hobsonville Technical Training Centre. F.1133 was retired and became INST 2 at the same Training Centre, and was broken up late in World War II.

One Fairey IIID has survived. This aircraft was found in the Jeronimoa Monastery on the banks of the Tagus River in Lisbon, Portugal and was one of 11 bought in 1921.

One attempted a trans-Atlantic flight to Brazil from Lisbon in March 1922 but was wrecked on take-off from the Cape Verde Islands. A second aircraft made an attempt but had engine problems and sank. The third, the survivor (c/n F.402 ‘Santa Cruz’), made the journey on 17 June 1922, has been restored and has been placed on display at the Museu de Marinha museum In Lisbon beside an FBA-Schreck flying boat and a Grumman Gosling.