The Fairey Fantôme, also known as the Fairey Féroce, was a British fighter

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

of the mid-1930s. The prototype was designed and built by Fairey Aviation and three production aircraft were assembled in Belgium by

Avions Fairey Avions Fairey was the Belgian-based subsidiary of the British Fairey Aviation that built aircraft for the Belgian government. It subsequently separated from the UK parent and became SONACA. History In the late 1920s, the ''Aéronautique Mili ...

Development

The Fantôme was designed in 1934 by Marcel Lobelle to meet a specification drawn up on behalf of the Belgian '' Aéronautique Militaire'' who were to hold an international competition to find a replacement for the

Fairey Firefly II The Fairey Firefly IIM was a British fighter of the 1930s. It was a single-seat, single-engine biplane of all-metal construction. Built by Fairey Aviation Company Limited, it served principally with the Belgian Air Force throughout the 19 ...

. It was a single-bay biplane of all-metal construction, with fabric skinning. It had a fixed conventional landing gear with spatted mainwheels. The aircraft was powered by a

Hispano-Suiza 12Ycrs The Hispano-Suiza 12Y was an aircraft engine produced by Hispano-Suiza for the French Air Force before the Second World War. The 12Y became the primary French 1,000 hp (750 kW) class engine and was used in a number of famous aircraft ...

liquid-cooled V12 engine, with provision for an engine-mounted Oerlikon 20 mm cannon firing through the propeller hub. The cannon was supplemented by two wing-mounted Browning machine guns, while two more synchronised Brownings could be fitted in the upper fuselage if the cannon was not present.

Operational history

The Fantôme first flew on 6 June 1935 at the

Great West Aerodrome The Great West Aerodrome, also known as Harmondsworth Aerodrome or Heathrow Aerodrome, was a grass airfield, operational between 1930 and 1944. It was on the southeast edge of the hamlet of Heathrow, in the parish of Harmondsworth. The Fairey Av ...

(now part of London Heathrow Airport. The aircraft was shown at the 1935 RAF and SBAC airshows at RAF Hendon in July before being delivered to Belgium to take part in the Belgian fighter competition. It crashed at Evere on 17 July during the competition, killing the pilot. Fairey had already produced parts and components for three other aircraft. These were shipped to Belgium in 1936 and completed under the name Fairey Féroce at

's factory at Gosselies, but Belgium had meanwhile revised its requirements for fighters. Two of them were sold to the Soviet government, which some sources state later gave them to the Spanish Republican air force during the Spanish Civil War, other sources claim that no evidence can be found of such a transfer. The fourth aircraft returned to Britain where it was acquired by the British Air Ministry, where both its flying performance and its armament were evaluated. It was transferred to the Air Gunnery School at Rolleston in December 1940 and struck off charge on 19 March 1943. No further production was undertaken.

Operators

* Soviet Air Force - Two aircraft, used for tests and trials.

Specifications

References

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fairey Fantome 1930s British fighter aircraft Fantome Avions Fairey aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1935