Saturday 26 September 2020

Fairey Firefly, various users

 

The Fairey Firefly was a British World War II era carrier-borne fighter and anti-submarine aircraft that in its TT (Target Tug) version was produced in small numbers from various of the original fighter variants like the Mk.I or the Mk.4. It was exported to various countries, among them, the following ones:
  • Denmark: The Royal Danish Air Force (RDAF) received two Firefly TT.1 originally converted from the Swedish Svensk Flygtjänst AB. The TT.1 was adopted by the RDAF as the standard target-towing equipment for all their three aerial branches of the Army, Navy and Air Force. 
    The first TT.1 was flown to Copenhagen on 4th October 1951 by Cpt. A.M. Kock. Additional four Fireflies were received from the Royal Canadian Navy one year later in 1952. Those ones were converted to the target-towing role in Denmark using Fairey's conversion kits. They served until 1957 when the three surviving Fireflies were sold back to the Svensk Flygtjänst AB which employed them only for spare parts.
  • Sweden: Back during World War 2 the Swedish civilian company Svensk Flygtjänst AB, provided airborne target services for the Swedish Army. In order to fulfil this task, the company looked in 1948 for an effective target-tug and asked Fairey to develop a version of the Firefly. Therefore, Fairey modified 14 Fireflies Mk.I to TT.1 standards by adding windmill-operated type B.Mk.2B winches.
    A total of 12 Firefly TT.1 were delivered to Svensk Flygtjänst AB, being the last two ones diverted to Denmark. Fairey's chief test pilot, Group Cpt. G. Slade, delivered the first Firefly TT.1 by air to Sweden in December 1948. Four further Fireflies were acquired later and served until as late as 1964.
  • India: The, back then, newly founded Indian Naval Air Arm bought two Firefly TT.1 which were delivered to Cochin, in the Indian State of Kerala, on 14th February 1955. Three further TT.1s arrived in India three months later. Another five Firefly TT.4 were exported in September 1958.
    Indian Fireflies were used by the 550 Squadron of the Indian Navy at Cochin Air Base to tow drogue targets for the Fleet's anti-aircraft gunnery practices. The TT.4 versions were fully armed with four 20 mm guns and were able to carry offensive stores beneath the wings, in addition to long-range fuel tanks.









Sources:
1. Hall Park Books - Warpaint 28 - Fairey Firefly
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairey_Firefly
3. https://www.valka.cz/Fairey-Firefly-T-Mk-1-t113116

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