Help - Fairey Firefly Mk.I

You can find some info at Fleet Air Arm archive http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/Aircraft/Firefly.htm
or at http://www.kotfsc.com/aircraft/firefly.htm
Actually You can search for "fairey firefly" on any search engine and get a whole lot of links regarding this a/c

If you can ever figure out why the heck they even built that airplane I'd love to know. I recall seeing it when it first came out wondering why they would build another spitfire in the jet age. It made no sense at all.
Dave

You can use this : http://www.warbirdalley.com/firefly.htm

Dave, a little correction, It was first delivered in '43

"Another Spitfire"! The reason why the Firefly was developed and used for so long is mainly that all lend lease US types serving with the Royal Navy at the end of WW2 were returned to the USA or destroyed under the terms of the lend lease agreement. Britain was all but bankrupted by the war and replacements had to come from within the British aircraft industry, hence the adoption and retention of types that were shall we say, slightly less than state of the art. Also the "new" jet engines had extremely poor acceleration performance and could not deliver increased power for an overshoot quickly enough to avoid an accident. On the smaller carriers of the Royal Navy this was a major issue and resulted in the propellor driven Sea Fury soldiering on whilst the US navy flew Panthers and Banshees. It must be said however, that the Firefly has been described as "A waste of Griffons".
Interesting stuff carrier aviation, if you want a real laugh at the way we Brits do things, take a look at how the turbine acceleration problem was handled with the Buccaneer! Feel free to laugh, we do.

Hi all,
It may have first been delivered in the 40's, but it was again built new in the 70's. I don't recall exactly when, but I distinctly remember reading an article in (I believe) Aviation Week. It was on the cover of the magaizine and they were talking about how this old Spitfire derivative had come back to life again. Being a WWII aircraft fan I thought it was pretty cool at the time, but even then it made no sense to me. It is a very interesting airplane for modeling or otherwise. I like them.
Dave

There seems to be a misconception about Spitfires and Fireflies. The two have no more in common than a Spitfire and a P51, ie, the engine. The Firefly was a two seat aircraft designed from the outset as a carrier fighter. At the time the prevailing view of the admiralty was that a crew of two was required for carrier operations. The result was an aircraft too unwieldy to mix it with enemy fighters, but in typical British fashion, rather than scrap it it was pressed into a role it was never intended for as a strike aircraft. The Firefly was actually quite a winner in this role and served with some destinction right up to the end of the Korean war. I believe there are 2 airworthy examples, both Korean war era examples one with the Royal Navy historic flight and one in private hands in the USA. The mark 1 can be destinguished from later variants by its Typhoon style chin radiator, later aircraft have the radiators in the wing leading edges. Both unlike a Spitfire, and a Firefly is twice the size. I have never heard of any reconstructions, are you sure this isn't the Sligsby Firefly?

There seems to be a misconception about Spitfires and Fireflies. The two have no more in common than a Spitfire and a P51, ie, the engine. The Firefly was a two seat aircraft designed from the outset as a carrier fighter. At the time the prevailing view of the admiralty was that a crew of two was required for carrier operations. The result was an aircraft too unwieldy to mix it with enemy fighters, but in typical British fashion, rather than scrap it it was pressed into a role it was never intended for as a strike aircraft. The Firefly was actually quite a winner in this role and served with some destinction right up to the end of the Korean war. I believe there are 2 airworthy examples, both Korean war era examples one with the Royal Navy historic flight and one in private hands in the USA. The mark 1 can be destinguished from later variants by its Typhoon style chin radiator, later aircraft have the radiators in the wing leading edges. Both unlike a Spitfire, and a Firefly is twice the size. I have never heard of any reconstructions, are you sure this isn't the Sligsby Firefly?