Supermarine Attacker F.1
Jet Fighter Plane

The Supermarine Attacker was a navel jet fighter based on a rejected fighter designed to replace the RAF's Gloster Meteor and de Havilland Vampire. The Attacker Design was modified for use by the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm by the addition of an arrester hook and folding wing tips and utilised the straight wings of the Spiteful which had in turn been developed from the laminar flow wing used on the last variant of the Spitfire, the Type 24.

The prototype Supermarine Attacker first flew in July 1946 piloted by Supermarine's famous chief test pilot Jeffrey Quill. The first production aircraft, the F.1 variant, entered service with the FAA in August 1951. A total of 154 aircraft were built but the fighter was retired from the FFA service in 1954 in favour of the Hawker Sea Hawk and de Havilland Sea Venom, both of which were safer to land on an aircraft carrier due to their adoption of a tricycle under-carriage.

Supermarine Attacker F.1 Specifications:

• Crew: Pilot only
• Length: 37 ft 1 in (11.3 m)
• Wingspan: 36 ft 11 in (11.25 m)
• Height: 9 ft 6.5 in (2.9 m)
• Wing area: 227,2 ft² (21 m²)
• Empty weight: 8,426 lb (3,822 kg)
• Loaded weight: 12,211 lb (5,539 m)
• Engine: Single 5,000 lb (2,313 kg) thrust Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet
• Maximum speed: 590 mph (950 km/h)
• Range: 1,200 mi (1,900 km)
• Service ceiling 45,000 ft (13,716 m)

Armament:

• Four wing mounted 20 mm Hispano Mk. V cannon
• Twin 1,000 lb bombs or four under-wing 300 lb unguided rocket projectiles