Fairey Battle

L'histoire du "british single engine bomber" sur Wikipedia english :

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The Fairey Battle was a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] single-engine [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] built by the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in the late 1930s for the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The Battle was powered by the same [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] piston engine that gave contemporary British [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] high performance;
however, the Battle was weighed down with a three-man crew and a bomb load.

Despite being a great improvement on the aircraft that preceded it, by the time it saw action it was slow, limited in
range and highly vulnerable to attack. During the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in 1940, the Fairey Battle recorded the first RAF aerial victory of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Despite this claim, it sustained heavy casualties and was pulled from the front lines in 1941.

Design and development



The original Fairey Battle was designed to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] as a two-seat day bomber, to replace the ageing [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] bombers. The prototype Battle first flew on 10 March 1936.

When the RAF embarked on the pre-war expansion programme, the Battle became a priority production target, with 2,419 ordered and an initial production order placed for 155 Battles built to Specification P.23/35.

The first of these aircraft was completed at Hayes, Middlesex in June 1937 but all subsequent aircraft were built at Fairey's new factory at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and tested at their Manchester (Ringway) facility.

Subsequently the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] "Shadow Factory" at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] manufactured 1,029 aircraft to Specification P.32/36.

The Battle was an all-metal, low-wing cantilever monoplane, equipped with a retractable tail wheel landing gear.

Its clean design, with a long and slim fuselage and cockpit for three (pilot, navigator and gunner) seated in
tandem with a continuous glazed canopy, was similar to a large fighter, rather than a bomber. The armament and crew were similar to the Blenheim:
three crew, 1,000 lbs bombload and two machine guns, although the Battle was a single-engine bomber.

Production Battles were powered by the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] I, II, III and V, and took their Mark numbers from the powerplant (for example, a Battle Mk II was powered by a Merlin II).

The Battle was armed only with a single Browning .303 machine gun fixed ahead and with a trainable Vickers K in the back, that was desperately inadequate.

Moreover it lacked an armoured cockpit and self-sealing fuel tank.

The Battle's standard payload of four 250 lb (110 kg) bombs was carried in cells inside the wings and an additional 500 lb (230 kg) of bombs could be carried on underwing racks.

Cutaway source Flight Global

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Replacing the RAF's Hawker Harts and Hinds when it entered service in 1937, the Battle was obsolescent even then, as fighter technology had outstripped the modest performance gains that the light bomber possessed over its biplane antecedents.

Un Rolls Royce Merlin

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Operational history



The first RAF squadron to be equipped with Fairey Battles was No. 63 Sqn. in June 1937.

The Battle had the distinction of becoming the first operational aircraft to enter service with a Merlin engine, beating the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]'s debut by a few months.

The Battle was obsolete by the start of the Second World War, but remained a front line RAF bomber due to a lack of a suitable replacement.

On 2 September 1939, during the "[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]", 10 Battle[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] were deployed to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] to form a vanguard of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

On 20 September 1939, a German [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] was shot down by Battle gunner Sgt. F. Letchard during a
patrol near [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], marking the RAF's first aerial victory of the war.

Image RAF, MoD

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Nonetheless, the Battle was hopelessly outclassed by [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] fighters, being almost 100 mph (160 km/h) slower than the contemporary Bf 109 at 14,000 ft (4,267 m). The Battle's defence consisted of a single .303 in (7.7 mm) [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] mounted in the rear cockpit and a single forward-firing .303 in (7.7 mm) [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in the starboard wing.

When the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] began, Battles were called upon to perform unescorted, low-level tactical attacks against the advancing German army.

This put the aircraft at risk of attack from Luftwaffe fighters and within easy range of light anti-aircraft guns.

In the first of two sorties carried out by Battles, on 10 May 1940, three out of eight aircraft were lost while, in the second sortie, a further 10 out of 24 were shot down, giving a total of 13 lost in that day's attacks, with the remainder suffering damage.

Despite bombing from as low as 250 ft (76 m), their attacks had little impact on the German columns.

Un mitrailleur et sa Vickers

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On 11 May, nine Battles of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] attacked bridges over the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] on the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], losing six aircraft, and in another RAF sortie that day against a German troop column, only one Battle out of eight survived.

During the following day, five Battles of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] attacked the bridges, when four of the aircraft were destroyed with the final aircraft crash landing back at its base.

Two [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] were awarded posthumously for the action, to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and air observer/navigator [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] of Battle [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] coded PH-K, for pressing home the attack in spite of the heavy defensive fire.

The third crewmember, rear gunner Leading Aircraftsman Lawrence Reynolds, did not share the award. Garland's
Battle destroyed one span of the bridge, although the German army quickly erected a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] to replace it.

Both fighters and flak proved lethal for the Battles.

On 14 May 1940, in a desperate attempt to stop German forces crossing the Meuse, the Advanced Air Striking
Force launched an "all-out" attack by all available bombers against the German bridgehead and pontoon bridges at [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The light bombers were attacked by swarms of opposing fighters and were devastated. Out of a strike force of 63 Battles and eight [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], 40 (including 35 Battles) were lost.

After these abortive raids, the Battle was switched to mainly night attacks, resulting in much lower losses.

A similar situation befell the German Luftwaffe during the early days of the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], when the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Stuka [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] suffered equivalent losses in a similar role. With the exception of the successful [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien],[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], low-level attack missions passed into the hands of single-engine, multi-role fighter aircraft such as the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

On 15 June 1940, the last remaining aircraft of the Advanced Air Striking Force were evacuated to Britain.

In six weeks almost 200 Battles had been lost, with 99 lost between 10 and 16 May.

After the return from France, for a short period of time, the RAF continued to rely on the light bomber.

Reforming the No. 1 Group and later equipping some new Polish squadrons with the type, it continued to be deployed in cross-channel operations.

The last operational sortie was mounted on the night of 15/16 October 1940 by No. [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] Squadron in a raid on [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], and Nos. 12 and 142 Squadrons bombing [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Shortly after, all Battle squadrons were re-equipped with more potent [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] bombers.

Meanwhile, the South African Air Force had been supplied with some Battles.

In August 1940, No. 11 Squadron took possession of at least four Battles, which were flown north to be operated in the Italian East Africa (Ethiopia, Italian Somaliland and Eritrea) campaign.

They conducted bombing and reconnaissance raids.

Whereas in France the RAF Battles had encountered modern German fighters in large numbers,
the South Africans faced a small number of Italian biplane fighters (Fiat CR.32 and CR.42s), which enabled the aircrews to contribute more effectively to the campaign,
but not without several losses, especially when surprised above some predictable targets (air bases, ports etc), since Italian biplanes dove as fast as possible over the bombers, trying to shot them down in the first pass.

Photo RAF, MoD

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The last combat operations carried out by Fairey Battles were during the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], from the end of 1940 until April 1941.

A few Fairey Battles of the RAF and about a dozen belonging to the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] - serial numbers starting from B274 - participated in secondary bombing roles against enemy infantry.

Most of them were destroyed on the ground by Luftwaffe air attacks upon the airfields of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] and [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] north of [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] between end of March and mid April 1941.

No significant contribution of this type was reported during this period, although some losses were recorded by the Greek Air Force.

Additional roles



While the Fairey Battle was no longer used as a combat aircraft, its benign handling characteristics made it an ideal platform for testing engines, and it was used in this role to evaluate engines up to 2,000 hp (1,490 kW) including the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

As the dual-control Fairey Battle T, it served as a [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

As the winch-equipped Fairey Battle TT ([Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]) it was used as a target-towing aircraft for training in air gunnery.

The Battle served as a trainer with the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien], and the South
African Air Force.

From August 1939, 739 Battles were stationed in Canada as trainers in the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

Most were used for bombing and gunnery training with a small number equipped as target tugs. Some aircraft had the
rear cockpit replaced with a Bristol Type I turret for turret-gunnery training.

Although the Battle was retired from active use in Canada after 1945, the Battle remained in RAF service in secondary
roles until 1949.

Battle K9370 was used to test the [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] 2,000+ hp (1,490+ kW) aero-engine with electrically-controlled
three-blade [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] in 1939.

According to [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] 1946-47, the aircraft was shipped to the U.S.A. after 86 hours test time.

Variants



Fairey Day Bomber

Prototype (K4303).


Battle Mk I

Three-seat light bomber version. This was the first production version, which was powered by a 1,030 hp (770 kW)
Rolls-Royce Merlin I inline piston engine.


Battle Mk II

Three-seat light bomber version. Powered by a 1,030 hp (770 kW) Rolls-Royce Merlin II inline piston engine.


Battle Mk V

Three-seat light bomber version. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin V inline piston engine.


Battle T

After May 1940, a number of Battle Mk Is, IIs and Vs were converted into training aircraft.


Battle IT

After May 1940, a number of Battle Mk Is, IIs and Vs were converted into training aircraft with a turret installed in
the rear.


Battle IIT

In October 1940, a sole RCAF Battle Mk I was converted into a prototype for a future series, powered by a 840 hp
Wright Cyclone R-1820-G38. The Battle IIT was conceived as a stopgap conversion in the likelihood that supplies of RR Merlins were unavailable.


Battle TT

After May 1940, a number of Battle Mk Is, IIs and Vs were converted into target tug aircraft; 100 built.


Battle TT.Mk I

Target tug version. This was the last production version; 226 built.

Production



In total, 2,185 Fairey Battles were built during the machine's production life; 1,156 by Fairey and 1,029 by the Austin
Motor Company.

A further 18 were built under licence by Avions Fairey at Goselies, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] for service with the[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien].

The 18 Battles were delivered early in 1938 and were differentiated from British-built examples by having a longer radiator cowling.^{[Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]}