A bit if Fairey whiffery
Posted: February 19th, 2015, 4:59 pm
I was just reading through the "Fairey Aircraft since 1915" Putnam book that I picked up on a "3 for £20" deal at Huddersfield, and came across the Fairey Fantome, which I'd never heard of before. A really good-looking aircraft, I think you'll agree:
It was built for the Belgian government, and a couple were sent to Russia and ended up in teh Spanish Civil War, but the RAF wasn't interested, partly because it's primary armament was a 20mm cannon firing through the engine, which wasn't in line with RAF thinking. But that got me thinking -- suppose the Fairey HAD been selected for the RAF instead of the Hawker Fury? And suppose then that it had spun off a Fantome Monoplane fighter, just as the Hurricane evolved from the Fury... perhaps you'd get an entire alternative lineage...
The drawings need to be worked on, obviously... ;-P
But top to bottom, we have the original monoplane fighter, entering service in 1937, 950HP erngine, armed with a prop boss 20mm cannon, two machine guns in nose troughs, and two more in the wings. (The wing is basically the outer portion of a Battle wing, but with the wide track gear retracting inwards, like the Fulmar).
Then you have the Merlin engine development, with a much more powerful 1640 HP Merlin 32 and four-blade propeller, armed with one cannon and two machine guns in each wing.
And the final development has and 1800 HP Griffon engine, driving a contraprop, armed with two 20mm cannon in each wing.
It woould make for quite an interesting series of WHIF models, I reckon, but finding kits to work with might be a challenge!
bestest,
M.
It was built for the Belgian government, and a couple were sent to Russia and ended up in teh Spanish Civil War, but the RAF wasn't interested, partly because it's primary armament was a 20mm cannon firing through the engine, which wasn't in line with RAF thinking. But that got me thinking -- suppose the Fairey HAD been selected for the RAF instead of the Hawker Fury? And suppose then that it had spun off a Fantome Monoplane fighter, just as the Hurricane evolved from the Fury... perhaps you'd get an entire alternative lineage...
The drawings need to be worked on, obviously... ;-P
But top to bottom, we have the original monoplane fighter, entering service in 1937, 950HP erngine, armed with a prop boss 20mm cannon, two machine guns in nose troughs, and two more in the wings. (The wing is basically the outer portion of a Battle wing, but with the wide track gear retracting inwards, like the Fulmar).
Then you have the Merlin engine development, with a much more powerful 1640 HP Merlin 32 and four-blade propeller, armed with one cannon and two machine guns in each wing.
And the final development has and 1800 HP Griffon engine, driving a contraprop, armed with two 20mm cannon in each wing.
It woould make for quite an interesting series of WHIF models, I reckon, but finding kits to work with might be a challenge!
bestest,
M.
