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Fairey Firefly I - Wikipedia

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This article is about the 1920s British fighter. For the British two-seat carrier fighter-bomber of World War II, see Fairey Firefly. For the 1930s British fighter, see Fairey Firefly II.

Firefly
General information
TypeFighter
National originUnited Kingdom
ManufacturerFairey
Designer
Number built1
History
First flight9 November 1925

The Fairey Firefly was a British fighter of the 1920s from Fairey Aviation. It was a single-seat, single-engine biplane of mixed construction.

The Firefly was a private-venture design, penned by Marcel Lobelle. It was first flown on 9 November 1925 by Norman Macmillan.[1] The Air Ministry did not pursue the project, partly because of the American Curtiss engine used [2] and partly because of its wooden construction [1] and the Firefly I did not enter production.

Specifications (Firefly I)

[edit]

Data from The Complete Book of Fighters[2]

General characteristics

  • Crew: 1
  • Length: 24 ft 10 in (7.57 m)
  • Wingspan: 31 ft 6 in (9.60 m)
  • Height: 9 ft 1 in (2.77 m)
  • Wing area: 236.8 sq ft (22.00 m2)
  • Gross weight: 2,724 lb (1,236 kg)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Curtiss D-12 V-12 liquid-cooled piston engine, 430 hp (320 kW)
  • Propellers: 2-bladed fixed-pitch propeller

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 185 mph (298 km/h, 161 kn)
  • Time to altitude: 5,000 ft (1,524 m) in 2 minutes 24 seconds

Armament

Related development

  1. ^ a b Mason, Francis K (1992). The British Fighter since 1912. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-082-7.
  2. ^ a b Green, W; Swanborough, G (1994). The Complete Book of Fighters. Smithmark. ISBN 0-8317-3939-8.