Tuesday, 17 March 2020

Fairey Fulmar, part one

The Fairey Fulmar was a British carrier-borne reconnaissance aircraft/fighter developed and manufactured by Fairey Aviation Company. Named after the Northern Fulmar, a seabird native to the British Isles, the Fulmar served with the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA), with Vichy France and it would've served with Denmark.

  • Denmark: Together with the previous P.4/34 (of which we made a post), the Royal Danish Navy took interest in the Fulmar (as the later was a developed variant of the first) and plans were made to set up a licensed production chain in Denmark. However, with the course of the World War II and the German occupation of Denmark in April 1940 those plans were cancelled.
  • Vichy France: On 27th March 1941 a Fulmar Mk.I belonging to the HMS Furious (47), most probably from 803 Naval Air Squadron was performing a reconnaissance mission over Senegal. The aircraft took off from the carrier, which was off the coast of Freetown, in the Sierra Leone Colony and Protectorate (under British control) and was flying over Senegal (under Vichy French control) when, for unknown reasons, the plane had to force land at Dakar's airport, in French controlled territory. The aircraft was pushed into service with the Vichy French Air Force, with its former British markings overpainted with French ones and served with the Groupe de Chase (Fighter Squadron) 1/4 which was based in Dakar and Gao, both of them in French West Africa. As the GC 1/4 sided later on with the Free French Air Forces, the captured aircraft, which initially was used for propaganda and evaluation purposes, was most probably either destroyed (most likely) or taken back by the FAA.









Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairey_Fulmar
2. https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairey_Fulmar (translated)
3. http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/showthread.php?t=55460
4. http://www.traditions-air.fr/unit/escadron/groupe_chasse05.htm#GC00401 (translated)
5. Hall Park Books - Warpaint 41 - Fairey Fulmar
6. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

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