Fairey Fleetwing

The Story of Fairey Fleetwing

In the mid-1920s, the Air Department, on behalf of the Fleet Aviation (FAA), established a new requirement in Specification 22/26 for the use of two-seat, carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft. Fairey Airways was their Fairey Fleetwing One of the respondents to Biplane Products.

The aircraft failed to successfully compete with the Hawker Osprey for specifications, which resulted in only one aircraft being completed.

The design of the Fleetwing is attributed to Marcel Lobelle.

The Fleetwing uses a conventional biplane wing configuration, but with significantly larger upper members than lower members. The "N-type" struts are used to connect the two aircraft outside the fuselage. The two crew members sat side by side in separate cockpits, with the pilot located aft/under the upper wing section. The engine is mounted in a streamlined nose section, and the tail adopts a traditional layout.

The landing gear is fixed, only the two main legs are movable. Dimensions include a length of 29.3 feet, a height of 11.4 feet and a wingspan of 37 feet. Gross weight is 4,740 lbs. Power comes from a 480 hp Rolls-Royce F. XI "Kestrel I" series water-cooled inline engine.

This drives a two-bladed propeller on the nose.

The construction of the aircraft was a product of the time, a hybrid structure of wood, canvas and metal. Other consistent qualities are the "tail", fixed undercarriage and open-air cockpit.

The proposed armament is a 7.7mm Vickers machine gun in a fixed forward-firing hull position (port side, synchronised to fire via rotating propeller blades), and a 7.7mm Lewis machine gun mounted in the aft cockpit on a special bracket. 4 x 20lb bombs can be light bombarded under the left flank.

The Fleetwing prototype flew for the first time on May 16, 1929. The following month, the FAA conducted deck trials, which resulted in a Fleetwing with an all-metal wing main aircraft and a Rolls-Royce "Kestrel IIMS" 600-horsepower water-cooled supercharged production engine.

In October 1929, further trials were carried out which resulted in the Hawke product (a navalized version of Hawkhardt) being chosen instead of the Fleetwing.

The Fleetwing was built with a top speed of 169 mph and a climb rate of 1,190 feet per minute.

Specification

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes