Fairey Battle - WikiHQ

The Fairey Battle is a British single-engine light bomber that was designed and manufactured by the Fairey Aviation Company. It was developed during the mid-1930s for the Royal Air Force (RAF) as a monoplane successor to the Hawker Hart and Hind biplanes. The Battle was powered by the same high-performance Rolls-Royce Merlin piston engine that powered various contemporary British fighters such as the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire. As the Battle, with its three-man crew and bomb load, was much heavier than the fighters, it was therefore much slower. Though a great improvement over the aircraft that preceded it, its relatively slow speed, limited range and inadequate defensive armament of only two .303 (7.7 mm) machine guns left it highly vulnerable to enemy fighters and anti-aircraft fire.

The Fairey Battle was used on operations early in the Second World War. During the "Phoney War" the type achieved the distinction of scoring the first aerial victory of an RAF aircraft in the conflict. From 10 to 14 May 1940, the Battles of the Advanced Air Striking Force suffered many losses, frequently in excess of 50 per cent of aircraft sorties per mission. By the end of 1940 the type had been withdrawn from front-line service and relegated to training units overseas. As an aircraft that had been considered to hold great promise in the pre-war era, the Battle proved to be one of the most disappointing aircraft in RAF service. According to aerospace publication Air International, a key motivational factor in the Air Ministry's development of Specification P.27/32 had been for the corresponding aircraft to act as an insurance policy in the event that heavier bombers were banned by the 1932 Geneva Disarmament Conference.

The Fairey Aviation Company were keen to produce a design to meet the demands of Specification P.27/32 and commenced work upon such a design. Of the submissions made, the Air Ministry selected Armstrong Whitworth and Fairey to produce prototypes to demonstrate their designs. On 10 March 1936, the first Fairey prototype, K4303, equipped with a Merlin I engine capable of generating , performed its maiden flight at Hayes, Middlesex. The prototype was promptly transferred to RAF Martlesham Heath, Woodbridge, Suffolk for service trials, during which it attained a maximum speed of 257 MPH and reportedly achieved a performance in advance of any contemporary day bomber.

thumb|Ground crew unloading GP bombs in front of a Battle, 1939–1940

Completed aircraft were promptly dispatched for testing at the company's facility adjacent to RAF Ringway, about 6 miles away. A total of 1,156 aircraft were produced by Fairey.

Sixteen Battles were built by Fairey for the Belgian Air Force and were delivered in early 1938, differentiated from British-built examples by having a longer radiator cowling and a smoother camouflage finish. The structure of the aircraft involved several innovations and firsts for Fairey: it had the distinction of being the company's first low-wing monoplane; it also was the first light-alloy stressed-skin construction aircraft to be produced by the firm. The internal structure of the wings relied upon steel spars which varied in dimension towards the wing tips; the ailerons, elevators and rudder all were metal-framed with fabric coverings, while the split trailing edge flaps were entirely composed of metal.

The armament and crew of the aircraft were similar to the Bristol Blenheim bomber: three crew, 1,000 lbs standard bomb load and two machine guns, although the Battle was a single-engine bomber with less horsepower. The Battle had a standard payload of four GP bombs which was carried in cells contained within the internal space of the wings. Maximum bomb load was , with two additional bombs on under-wing racks or with two bombs carried externally under bomb bays and two bombs on under-wing racks. The pilot was provided with good external visibility and the cockpit was considered to be roomy and comfortable for the era but the tasks of simultaneously deploying the flaps and the retractable undercarriage, which included a safety catch, has been highlighted as posing considerable complication. By the time that the Battle was entering service in 1937 it had already been rendered obsolete by the rapid advances in aircraft technology. The performance and capabilities of fighter aircraft had increased to outstrip the modest performance gains that the light bomber had achieved over its biplane antecedents.

For defence, the Battle had been armed only with a single Browning machine gun and a trainable Vickers K in the rear position; in service, these proved to be woefully inadequate. The Battle was considered well-armoured by the standards of 1940, although there was an emphasis on protection against small-arms fire from the ground. No RAF bombers were fitted with self-sealing tanks at the beginning of the war, although they were hastily fitted once the necessity became apparent. Since it was some time before self-sealing tanks could be mass-produced, it was a common stop-gap in 1940, even into 1941, to simply armour the rear of the fuel tanks with single or double layers of 4 mm armour. The Battle, along with the rest of the early-war inventory, was taken out of front-line duties before it had a chance to be fitted with self-sealing tanks.

Operational history

Introduction

thumb|Wreckage of a Battle shot down by the Wehrmacht, France, May 1940

In June 1937, 63 Squadron, based at RAF Upwood, Cambridgeshire, became the first RAF squadron to be equipped with the Fairey Battle. On 20 May 1937, the delivery of the first Battle to No. 63 occurred; following further deliveries, the squadron was initially assigned to perform development trials. The type holds the distinction of being the first operational aircraft powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine to enter service, having beaten the debut of the Hawker Hurricane fighter by a matter of months. By May 1939, there were a total of 17 RAF squadrons that had been equipped with the Battle. While many of these were frontline combat squadrons, some, under the No. 2 Group, were assigned to a non-mobilising training role; on the eve of the outbreak of war, these squadrons were reassigned to operate under No. 6 Training Group or alternatively served as reserve squadrons.

Initial wartime missions were to perform aerial reconnaissance of the Siegfried Line during daylight, resulting in occasional skirmishes and losses. On 20 September 1939, a German Messerschmitt Bf 109 was shot down by Battle gunner Sgt F. Letchford during a patrol near Aachen; this occasion is recognised as being the RAF's first aerial victory of the war. Nonetheless, the Battle was hopelessly outclassed by Luftwaffe fighters, being almost slower than the contemporary Bf 109 at . That same day, three Battles were engaged by German fighters, resulting in two Battles being lost. During the following day, nine Belgian Air Force Battles attacked bridges over the Albert Canal that connects to the Meuse River, losing six aircraft and in another RAF sortie that day against a German column, only one Battle out of eight survived.

On 12 May, a formation of five Battles of 12 Squadron attacked two road bridges over the Albert Canal; four of these aircraft were destroyed, with the final aircraft crash-landing upon its return to its base. Two Victoria Crosses were awarded posthumously for the action, to Flying Officer Donald Garland and air observer/navigator sergeant Thomas Gray of Battle serial P2204 coded PH-K, for pressing home the attack in spite of the heavy defensive fire. The third crew member, rear gunner Leading Aircraftsman Lawrence Reynolds, did not share the award. Both fighters and flak had proved lethal for the Battles. Although Garland's Battle managed to destroy one span of the bridge, the German army quickly erected a pontoon bridge to replace it.

On 14 May 1940, in a desperate attempt to stop German forces crossing the Meuse, the Advanced Air Striking Force launched an "all-out" attack by all available bombers against the German bridgehead and pontoon bridges at Sedan. The light bombers were attacked by swarms of opposing fighters and were devastated. Out of a strike force of 63 Battles and eight Bristol Blenheims, 40 (including 35 Battles) were lost. After these abortive raids, the Battle was switched to mainly night attacks, resulting in much lower losses.

A similar situation befell the German Luftwaffe during the early days of the Battle of Britain, when the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber suffered equivalent losses in a similar role. With the exception of a few successful twin-engine designs such as the de Havilland Mosquito, Bristol Beaufighter and Douglas A-20, low-level attack missions passed into the hands of single-engine, fighter-bomber aircraft, such as the Hawker Hurricane, Hawker Typhoon and Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.

On 15 June 1940, the last remaining aircraft of the Advanced Air Striking Force returned to Britain. In six weeks almost 200 Battles had been lost, with 99 lost between 10 and 16 May. After the return from France, for a short period of time, the RAF continued to rely on the light bomber. Reforming No. 1 Group and later equipping four new Polish squadrons with the type, it continued to be deployed in operations against shipping massed in the Channel ports for Operation Sealion. Their last combat sortie was mounted on the night of 15/16 October 1940 by No. 301 (Polish) Squadron in a raid on Boulogne, and Nos 12 and 142 Squadrons bombing Calais. Shortly afterwards Battle squadrons of No. 1 Group were re-equipped with Vickers Wellington medium bombers. Battles were operated into 1941 by 88 and 226 Squadrons in Northern Ireland and 98 Squadron in Iceland, for coastal patrol work.

East Africa

The South African Air Force were also supplied with some Battles. In August 1940, No. 11 Squadron took possession of at least four, which were flown north to be operated in the Italian East Africa (Ethiopia, Italian Somaliland and Eritrea) campaign. They conducted bombing and reconnaissance operations. Whereas in France the RAF's Battles had encountered modern German fighters in large numbers, the South Africans faced a smaller number of Italian biplane fighters (Fiat CR.32 and CR.42), which enabled the aircrews to contribute more effectively to the campaign; but not without several losses, especially when surprised above some predictable targets (air bases, ports etc.). Italian biplanes dived as fast as possible over the bombers, trying to shoot them down in the first pass.

Greece

The last combat operations carried out by Fairey Battles were during the Italian and German invasion of Greece, from the end of 1940 until April 1941. A few Fairey Battles of the RAF and about a dozen belonging to the RHAF – serial numbers starting from B274 – participated in secondary bombing roles against enemy infantry. Most of them were destroyed on the ground by Luftwaffe air attacks on the airfields of Tanagra and Tatoi north of Athens between end of March and mid April 1941. No significant contribution of this type was reported during this period, although some hits were recorded by the Greek Air Force.

Prior to the Second World War, in spring 1939, the Polish government had placed an order for 100 Battle bombers, but none of these were delivered before the outbreak of war. The first 22 aircraft were sent in early September 1939 on two ships to Constanta in Romania, to be received there by the Polish crews, but the ships were ordered back while in Istanbul when the fall of Poland became inevitable. They were next offered to Turkey.

Some sources state that the Fairey Battle was licence-produced in Denmark for the Danish Air Force before the German invasion in 1940, but no such plane is known to have been completed.

Trainer

thumb|Fairey Battle trainer

While found to be inadequate as a bomber aircraft in the Second World War, the Fairey Battle found a new niche in its later service life. As the Fairey Battle T, for which it was furnished with a dual-cockpit arrangement in place of the standard long canopy, the type served as a trainer aircraft. The Battle T was equipped with dual-controls in the cockpit and optionally featured a Bristol-built Type I gun turret when employed as a bombing–gunnery training.

In August 1939, the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) received its first batch of eight Battles at RCAF Station Borden, Ontario, Canada. A total of 802 Battles were eventually delivered from England, as dual-control trainers, target-tugs and gunnery trainers for the Bombing and Gunnery schools of the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan. On 30 April 1940, the first four RAAF Battles were delivered to No. 1 Aircraft Depot; on 29 June 1940, the first assembled aircraft, P5239, conducted its first flight. Deliveries occurred at a steady pace until the last Battle was received on 7 December 1943.

In 1939, one Battle, K9370, underwent extensive modifications to test the Fairey Monarch or higher engine K9370 was furnished with electrically-controlled three-bladed contra-rotating propellers and a large ventral radiator. According to Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1946–47, the aircraft was shipped to the US after 86 hours test time in December 1941. Testing continued for a time at Wright Field, Ohio.

;Battle TT: After May 1940, a number of Battle Mk Is, IIs and Vs were converted into target tug aircraft; 100 built.

;Battle TT.Mk I: Target tug version. This was the last production version; 226 built.

Operators

thumb|Battle K9204 of [[No. 142 Squadron RAF|No. 142 Squadron, in a camouflaged 'hide' at Berry-au-Bac, France]]

thumb|Battles during construction at the [[Heaton Chapel factory]]

In addition to the units listed, many Battles were operated by training schools, particularly for bombing and gunnery training.

;

Royal Australian Air Force received 366 aircraft which were used for training purposes

;

Belgian Air Force operated 16 aircraft.

;

Irish Air Corps interned 1 ex-RAF target tug in 1942. It was in use as a target tug from 1944 to 1946.

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Royal Air Force

thumb|Officers of [[No. 103 Squadron RAF|No. 103 Squadron lined up in front of a Battle at Betheniville, France]]

No. 12 Squadron RAF
No. 15 Squadron RAF
No. 35 Squadron RAF
No. 40 Squadron RAF
No. 52 Squadron RAF
No. 63 Squadron RAF
No. 88 Squadron RAF
No. 98 Squadron RAF
No. 103 Squadron RAF
No. 105 Squadron RAF
No. 106 Squadron RAF
No. 141 Squadron RAF
No. 142 Squadron RAF
No. 150 Squadron RAF
No. 185 Squadron RAF
No. 207 Squadron RAF
No. 218 Squadron RAF
No. 226 Squadron RAF
No. 234 Squadron RAF
No. 235 Squadron RAF
No. 239 Squadron RAF
No. 242 Squadron RAF
No. 245 Squadron RAF
No. 253 Squadron RAF
No. 266 Squadron RAF
No. 616 Squadron RAF

Fleet Air Arm (operated 3 aircraft)

Accidents and incidents

On 16 December 1939 a recently qualified flyer, Pilot Officer Harold G. Tipple of 264 Squadron RAF was tasked with ferrying Fairey Battle Mk.I (N2159) from RAF Little Rissington to RAF Martlesham Heath in company with a more experienced officer in another Battle. Tipple had never flown the type previously and received only brief instruction before takeoff. Once in the air the aircraft was observed to be trailing smoke. By the time the pair had reached Hintlesham, Suffolk the aircraft was losing altitude and Tipple attempted to bail out. The aircraft crashed at Little Wenham, Babergh, Suffolk and the pilot was killed. Tipple is buried in Hintlesham churchyard and is commemorated on the adjacent war memorial.

On 2 August 1940, Richard Ormonde Shuttleworth, a racing motorist, aviator and prolific collector of veteran cars and aircraft was killed when Fairey Battle L4971 of No. 12 Operational Training Unit RAF Benson crashed into a hill during a solo night flying exercise.

On 23 September 1940, Fairey Battle K9480 on a training flight, crashed onto a house, killing the Polish pilot and five civilians from one family in Hucknall, Nottinghamshire.

On 4 March 1941, Fairey Battle MK 1 L5019 crashed in the sea, 4 miles off Hutchins Point, Rest Bay, Porthcawl, Glamorgan. All three crew members were killed.

Surviving aircraft

thumb|Battle R3950 under restoration at the [[Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and of Military History|Royal Military Museum, Brussels, 2006.]]

L5343/L5340 – Battle I on static display at the Royal Air Force Museum Hendon in London. In July 1940, it was with No. 98 Squadron RAF, based at Kaldadarnes, Iceland for anti-invasion operations supporting British forces. L5343 was the first RAF aircraft to land on Icelandic soil, and crashed during subsequent operations. In 1972, the RAF recovered the wreck for restoration, which was completed at the Michael Beetham Conservation Centre of the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford using parts from L5340.
N2188 – Battle I under restoration at the South Australian Aviation Museum in Port Adelaide, South Australia. The aircraft was recovered from a tidal swamp near Port Pirie in South Australia.
R3950 – Battle TT.I on static display at the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and of Military History in Brussels, Belgium. This aircraft spent much of its career in Canada. It was acquired by the Brussels museum in 1990 as representative of aircraft that served with the Belgian Air Force in 1940.
R7384 – Battle IT on static display at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa, Ontario. It was built as a pilot trainer in 1940, and taken on strength by the RCAF in 1941. Converted to a gunnery trainer with a turret in 1942, it was used until stored in 1943. The aircraft was transferred to the Canada Aviation Museum in 1964, and was restored in the 1990s.
Full scale model under construction at the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum in Brandon, Manitoba.

Specifications (Mk.II)

thumb|Fairey Battle 3-view drawing

thumb|A class of Czech airmen receiving a practical lecture on the engine controls of a Battle

References

Citations

Bibliography

Boyne, Walter J. Clash of Wings. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994. .
Buttler, Tony. British Secret Projects: Fighters and Bombers 1935–1950. Midland Publishing, 2004. .
"Elegantly Obsolete...the Fairey Battle". Air International, Vol. 20, No. 3, March 1981, pp. 127–134. ISSN 0306-5634.
Ethell, L. Jeffrey. Aircraft of World War II. Glasgow: HarperCollins Publishers, 1995. .
Garcia, Dionisio. "Air Force on the Edge: Belgian Military Aviation in 1940". Air Enthusiast, No. 96, November/December 2001, pp. 65–68. Stamford, Lincs, UK: Key Publishing.
Gifford, Simon. "Lost Battles: The Carnage of May 10 to May 16, 1940". Air Enthusiast, No. 109, January/February 2004, pp. 18–25. Stamford, Lincs, UK: Key Publishing.
Harrison, W. A. "Database: Fairey Battle". Aeroplane, Vol. 44, No. 6, June 2016. pp. 87–101. .
Huntley, Ian D. Fairey Battle, Aviation Guide 1. Bedford, UK: SAM Publications, 2004. .
Lever, John. Fairey Battle in the RAAF. Koorlong, Victoria, Australia: John Lever, 2002. .
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982–1985). London: Orbis Publishing, 1985.
March, Daniel M. British Warplanes of World War II. London: Aerospace, 1998. .
Mason, Francis K. The British Bomber Since 1914. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1994. .
Matricardi, Paolo. Aerei Militari: Bombardieri e da trasporto (in Italian). Milan: Mondadori Electa, 2006. No ISBN.
Molson, Kenneth M. et al. Canada's National Aviation Museum: Its History and Collections. Ottawa: National Aviation Museum, 1988. .
Moyes, Philip, J. R. The Fairey Battle. Aircraft in Profile Number 34. Leatherhead, Surrey, UK: Profile Publications Ltd., 1967.
Moyes, Philip, J. R. The Fairey Battle. Aircraft in Profile, Volume 2 (nos. 25–48). Windsor, Berkshire, UK: Profile Publications, 1971. .
Moyes, Philip, J. R. Royal Air Force Bombers of World War II (Volume 1). Windsor, Berkshire, UK: Hylton Lacey Publishers Ltd., 1968. .
Neulen, Hans Werner. In the Skies of Europe: Air Forces Allied to the Luftwaffe 1939–1945. Ramsbury, Marlborough, UK: The Crowood Press, 1998. .
Pacco, John. "Fairey Battle". Belgisch Leger/Armee Belge: Het Militair Vliegwezen/l'Aeronautique Militare 1930–1940 (bilingual French/Dutch). Aartselaar, Belgium: J. P. Publications, 2003, pp. 52–55. .
Richards, Denis. The Hardest Victory: RAF Bomber Command in the Second World War. London: Coronet, 1995. .
Shaile, Sidney and Ray Sturtivant. The Battle File. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1998. .
Taylor, H. R. Fairey Aircraft since 1915. London: Putnam, 1974. .
Taylor, John W. R. "Fairey Battle". Combat Aircraft of the World from 1909 to the Present. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1969. .
Willis, David. "Battles for Power"]. FlyPast, January 2009.

External links

Austin & Longbridge Aircraft Production
"Designed for mass-production". Flight, 19 August 1937
"Building the Battle". Flight, 17 June 1937