The Fairey Firefly IIM was a British fighter of the 1930s. It was a single-seat, single-engine

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

of all-metal construction. Built by Fairey Aviation Company Limited, it served principally with the

Belgian Air Force The Belgian Air and Space Component (, ) is the Air force, air arm of the Belgian Armed Forces, and until January 2002 it was officially known as the Belgian Air Force (; ). It was founded in 1909 and is one of the world's oldest air services. ...

throughout the 1930s until the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Design and development

The Firefly was a private-venture design, penned by

Marcel Lobelle Marcel Lobelle (–1967) was a Belgian aeronautical engineer who spent his professional career working in Britain. He was born in Kortrijk, Flanders, and fought in the Belgian Army at the start of World War I, with the 1st Regiment of Grenadier ...

, as the

Curtiss D-12 The Curtiss D-12, sometimes identified with the military designation Curtiss V-1150, was an aircraft engine of 18.8 liter displacement. It was a water-cooled V12, producing 443 hp (330 kW) and weighing 693 lb (314 kg). It wa ...

powered Firefly I had been rejected owing to its American engine and its wooden structure, and could not be easily fitted with the larger and heavier geared Rolls-Royce Falcon XI favoured by the RAF.Mason 1992, p. 212.Willis ''Aeroplane'' August 2020, p. 92. A completely new design, it shared little with the Firefly I beyond the name. Making use of experience gleaned from the earlier machine, it was developed in response to Specification F.20/27 for a single-seat interceptor. It first flew on 5 February 1929.Mason 1992, p. 212. The Firefly II competed for the RAF contract against the

Hawker Fury The Hawker Fury is a British biplane fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force in the 1930s. It was a fast, agile aircraft, and the first interceptor in RAF service faster than in level flight. It was the fighter counterpart to the Hawke ...

, showing superior speed but was criticised for having heavier controls. Crucially, it retained a mainly wooden structure despite the Air Ministry's demands for metal structures. This led to the Fury being selected. Afterwards, the prototype was rebuilt and renamed Firefly IIM, the "M" denoting the all-metal construction of the rebuilt machine. A revised prototype with longer-span wings, the Firefly III was built to Specification N21/26 as a carrier-based fighter to replace the

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, RN fighting arms. it is a primarily helicopter force, though also operating the Lockhee ...

Fairey Flycatcher The Fairey Flycatcher was a British single-seat biplane Aircraft carrier, carrier-borne fighter aircraft made by Fairey Aviation Company which served from 1923 to 1934. It was produced with a conventional undercarriage for Aircraft carrier, car ...

s, first flying on 17 May 1929.Taylor 1988, pp. 175–176. Like the land-based fighter, it was rebuilt with more metal components as the Firefly IIIM, and again like the Firefly II, was beaten by a design produced by Hawker, in this case the

Hawker Nimrod The Hawker Nimrod is a British carrier-based single-engine, single-seat biplane fighter aircraft built in the early 1930s by Hawker Aircraft. Design and development In 1926 the Air Ministry specification N.21/26 was intended to produce a su ...

. Although no production orders ensued, the Firefly IIIM was fitted with floats and used as a trainer by the RAF's High Speed Flight preparing for the 1931

Schneider Trophy The Coupe d'Aviation Maritime Jacques Schneider, also known as the Schneider Trophy, Schneider Prize or (incorrectly) the Schneider Cup is a trophy that was awarded first annually, and later biennially, to the winner of a race for seaplanes and ...

race.Mason 1992, p. 213.

Operational history

A contract was won for 25 IIM aircraft for Belgium's

Aviation Militaire The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the French Air Fo ...

, followed by a contract for a further 62 to be constructed 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 Mil ...

, Fairey's Belgian subsidiary. The Belgian aircraft served briefly in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

from May to June 1940. Two of the Belgian aircraft were converted to Firefly IV, with 785 hp (585 kW)

Hispano-Suiza 12X The Hispano-Suiza 12X was an aircraft piston engine designed in France by Hispano-Suiza during the early 1930s. A 12-cylinder Vee, liquid-cooled design, the 12X was used on several aircraft types, some of them being used in limited numbers durin ...

brs engines but the improvement was not deemed sufficient to warrant development. One was restored to its original form, while the other passed to Fairey for trials. One aircraft was supplied to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Operators

; *

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

High Speed Flight RAF The RAF High Speed Flight, sometimes known as '' 'The Flight' '', was a small flight (military unit), flight of the Royal Air Force (RAF) formed for the purpose of competing in the Schneider Trophy contest for air racing, racing seaplanes during ...

; *

Soviet Air Force The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...

– One Firefly Mk IIM, used for tests and trials.

Variants

; Fairey Firefly II : Single-seat fighter prototype, powered by a 480 hp (360 kW)

Rolls-Royce Kestrel The Rolls-Royce Kestrel (internal type F) is a 21.25 litre (1,295 in³) V-12 aircraft engine from Rolls-Royce. It was their first cast-block engine, and used as the pattern for most of their future piston-engine designs. Used during the interw ...

piston engine. One built. ; Fairey Firefly IIM : Single-seat single-engine fighter aircraft, of all-metal construction, equipped with resigned tail surfaces and revised engine cooling system. ; Fairey Firefly III : Single-seat shipboard fighter prototype. One built. ; Fairey Firefly IIIM : The Fairey Firefly III was rebuilt with all-metal construction and redesignated Firefly IIIM. ; Fairey Firefly IV : Two Belgian Firefly IIs were converted, and fitted with the 785 hp (585 kW) Hispano-Suiza 12Xbrs engine.

Specifications (Firefly IIM)

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Garcia, Dionisio. "Air Force on the Edge: Belgian Military Aviation in 1940". ''

Air Enthusiast ''Air Enthusiast'' was a British, bi-monthly, aviation magazine, published by the Key Publishing group. Initially begun in 1974 as ''Air Enthusiast Quarterly'', the magazine was conceived as a historical adjunct to ''Air International'' magaz ...

'', November/December 2001, No. 96. pp. 65–68. . * Green, William and Gordon Swanborough. ''The Complete Book of Fighters''. New York: Smithmark, 1994. . * Mason, Francis K. ''The British Fighter since 1912''. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1992. * Pacco, John. "Fairey Firefly" ''Belgisch Leger/Armee Belge: Het militair Vliegwezen/l'Aeronautique militaire 1930–1940''. Artselaar, Belgium, 2003, pp. 32–38. . * Taylor, H. A. ''Fairey Aircraft since 1915''. London: Putnam, 1988. . * Taylor, John W. R. and Jean Alexander. ''Combat Aircraft of the World.'' New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1969. . * Willis, Matthew. "Database: Fairey Firefly". ''

Aeroplane An airplane (American English), or aeroplane (Commonwealth English), informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, Propeller (aircraft), propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a vari ...

'', August 2020, Vol. 48, No. 8. pp. 89–99. .

External links

Fairey Firefly II (Biplane)
– British Aircraft of World War II {{DEFAULTSORT:Fairey Firefly Ii 1920s British fighter aircraft Firefly II Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Avions Fairey aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1929 Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear