The Fairey Fulmar was a WW2 Navy fighter built for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm to meet Specification O.8/38 for a two-crew fleet defence fighter, a total of 600 Fulmars were produced and served from 1939 until 1945. The Fairey Fulmar was evolved from the Fairey Battle bomber design used by the RAF in the early years of WW2 and unfortunately suffered from the same lack of performance, although acceptable in all other areas, range, armament and ruggedness being adequate to defend against enemy bomber attacks if they lacked fighter cover but were inadequate to deal with enemy fighters. The lack of performance resulted in the Fairey Fulmar being replaced by the end of 1942 by other higher performance fighters although they were still utilised in reconnaissance and training roles. Fairey Fulmars took part in many important WW2 Navel actions including the 1940 Swordfish raid on the Regia Marina naval base at Taranto where they gave fighter cover and later served in a spotting role during the 1941 chase and attack on the German battleship Bismarck. It is of note that some of the relatively obsolete Fairey Fulmars ended their life on convoy duty being catapulted from CAM ships (Carrier Aircraft Merchant), with little chance of recovery like the better remembered Hawker Sea Hurricane (Hurricat). Fairey Fulmar Mk II Specifications: - Crew: Pilot and observer
- Length: 40 ft 2 in (12.25 m)
- Wingspan: 46 ft 4¼ in (14.13 m)
- Height: 14 ft 0 in (4.27 m)
- Empty weight: 7,015 lb (3,182 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 10,200 lb (4,627 kg)
- Engine: Single 1,300 hp (970 kW) Rolls-Royce Merlin 30 liquid-cooled inline V-12
- Maximum speed: 272 mph at 7,250 ft (438 km/h at 2,200 m)
- Range: 780 mi (1,255 km)
- Service ceiling: 27,200 ft (8,300 m)
Fairey Fulmar Mk II Armament: - Eight 0.303 in (7.7 mm) wing-mounted Browning machine guns
- Twin wing mounted 100 lb (45 kg) or 250 lb (110 kg) bombs
|
