Bristol Beaufighter, part eight. The Beaufighter in Australian hands. Part two.

 

During the late 1930s, it was obvious that the Allied forces the Far East were vastly inferior to the attacking Japanese, so this fact forced the Allies to set up a supply of British-built aircraft to Australia to assist in the development of the aircraft industry there. 
Starting from July 1939 orders for the licensed production of the Bristol Beaufort were placed at the Department of Aircraft Production (DAP) at Mascot, New South Wales and Fishermen's Bend, Victoria. When Japan waged war on the west, those factories were fully committed to the manufacture process of the Beaufort, so various Beaufighters Mk. I and Mk. VI were taken from production lines in Great Britain and were shipped to Australia. 
At first, fifty-four Fairey-built Beaufighters Mk. ICs (registered from A19-1 to A19-54) were supplied to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), the first two of them being A19-7 and A19-8, which were taken on charge on 26th March 1942. Those were followed by additional eighteen machines (A19-55 to A19-72) in October 1942 and sixty-three Mk. VIC more (A19-73 to A19-137). Although this final order was for sixty-four airframes, one machine (A19-105) crashed before delivery. 
Every British-built Beaufighter in RAAF service had the A19 prefix, while the Australian-built machine had the A8 one.

The initial manufacture process in Australia was intended to begin with the Mk. VII, to be powered by the Bristol Hercules 26 radial engine, equipped with a Bendix carburettor. However this had to be discarded as the standardisation on the Hercules Mk. XVII and Mk. XVIII series engines was required. The next two versions of the Beaufighter intended for mass production were the Mk. VIII and the Mk. IX, both intended to be powered by the American Wright Double-Cyclone GR A5B. In fact, one airframe registered as A19-2 was experimentally fitted with those engines, as well as the extended engine nacelles that required from the enlarged diameter cowling needed for the Wright engine. However that variant were not proceeded as it was taken as a safeguard measure against a possible short-supply of the Hercules engine, which never took place as Britain managed to supply them in enough numbers, making an 'Australian-built Mk. VI' a much simpler alternative.
That was the inception of the Mk. 21.
It should also be considered that from 20th April 1942 to 20th August 1945 a total of 218 Beaufighters of various marks were shipped straight to Australia to be employed by the RAAF, however we wrote about those in our previous post.

The DAP Mk. 21 flew for the first time on 21st May 1944, two years later than its intended initial start. It was registered as A8-1. This delay was caused because a total of 55.000 microfilm drawings had to the be sent from the United Kingdom, without which production couldn't start.
The Mk. 21 was powered by the Hercules Mk. XVIII engines that were shipped from Great Britain, but the remaining parts were entirely built in Australia. Manufacture was undertaken by sub-contractors throughout Australia with final assembly being made at DAP's factories at Mascot and Fishermen's Bend. 
The Mk. 21 was armed with four 0.5 in (12,5 mm) Browning machine guns in the wings, instead of the six 0.303 in (7,7 mm) versions of the British-built machines. 
The type could also carry a 250 lb (113 kg) bomb under each outer wing or eight 3 in (75 mm) rockets. The most noticeable difference was the addition of a Sperry autopilot housed in a bulge on top of  the nose, just forward of the cockpit. However, the Sperry was rarely fitted inside the bulge. 
The Mk. 21 was basically an Australian-built Mk. X powered by the Hercules Mk. XVII and the later ones with the Mk. XVIIIs. The later series had supercharged speeds operational, unlike their British counterparts, which were fixed in the M-gear, making their performance marginally better. 
As we have already written, the prototype, A8-1 flew for the first on 21st May 1944 and was delivered to the RAAF on 26th May.

No. 30 Squadron RAAF was the first unit to operate the Mk. 21. It was commanded by Wg. Cdr. Brian Walker. However, as this unit flew mostly British-built Beaufighter, was covered in our previous post. 
No. 31 Squadron also operated the Mk. 21 together with other Beaufighters. It was formed at Wagga Wagga, New South Wales on 14th August 1942 and became fully operational at Coomalie Creek, south of Darwin, performing their first operational sortie against shipping targets in the Timor Sea on 17th November 1942. 
While those two squadrons were operating, further sixty-two Mk. VICs, sixty-two TF. Mk. Xs and twenty Mk. XICs were shipped directly from the United Kingdom. The first squadron to receive the Australian-built Mk. 21 was No. 31 in September 1944 with No. 30 following soon, operating the type until the end of hostilities. 
A third squadron, No. 22 transitioned to the type, replacing their Douglas Bostons at the end of 1944. Two additional RAAF squadrons operated the Beaufighter during World War 2, for two weeks only, Nos. 92 and 93 squadrons, with No. 93 achieving just two operational sorties from Labuan, North Borneo, while assigned to the No.86 (Attack) Wing in the last two weeks of the war.
During the post-war the RAAF modified a number of Beaufighters to target-tug duties. The prototype, A8-265 was followed by additional fifteen similarly converted machines. Those tugs were operated by the Target Towing and Special Duties Flight based at Richmond, New South Wales. This unit was disbanded and their tasks were undertaken by the No. 30 squadron, becoming thus, No. 30 (TT) Squadron. The last operational usage of the Beaufighter in Australia was performed by the Air Trials Flight at the Woomera missile test range, which employed the type until at least 1956.

Initial production estimations expected a total of at least 500 Mk. 21 to be built but, as the war ended, so did manufacture process in September 1945 with 364 airframes completed.

Sources:
1st Scale Aircraft Modellers Datafile 6 - Bristol Beaufighter
2nd Signal Squadron - Aircraft In action 153 - Bristol 'Beaufighter' in Action

De Havilland Vampire. Part One. Oceanian Users

 

The de Havilland Vampire ir a British jet fighter developed and manufactured by the de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF), but it was also exported all around the world. In this post we're covering the Oceanian users of the Vampire:

• Australia: In 1945 the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) decided that their first jet-powered fighter would be a variant of the Vampire built by the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation (CAC) and powered by the Rolls-Royce Nene engine which would also be manufactured under license in Australia. 
  After the acquisition of three Vampires Mk.1 from the RAF to gain jet-aircraft experience, on 29th June 1949 the first CAC F.30 flew for the first time. This was followed by a total of 56 machines delivered to the RAAF between September 1949 and July 1952. In March 1952 No.2 Operational Training Unit (OTU) was formed as a jet-training unit at Williamtown, New South Wales.
  Nos. 75 and 76 Squadrons were formed in May 1952 as part of No. 78 Wing RAAF based at Williamtown. In July that unit was moved to Malta to support home-based units involved in the Middle-East crisis, this time, however with Vampires loaned by the RAF so the RAAF didn't have to commit their new aircraft. 
  The next batch of 23 Australian-built Vampires were known as F.31 (AKA FB.31), with 28 additional machines started as F.30 but upgraded to F.31 during manufacturing process. This F.31 variant had strengthened and clipped wings and was introduced during 1956. During October 1951 two F.30 were tested for a hypothetical FB.32 variant with enlarged air intakes and ejection seat. This project was, however, cancelled after one year and a half.  During 1955-1956 around 54 F.31 were converted to target-tugs and painted with yellow and black diagonal bands on every surface.
  In 1961 the Vampire was withdrawn from service with the RAAF and most were scrapped, used as ground instructional frames or sold to private owners.
  Back in 1951 the RAAF ordered 36 Vampire T.33 trainers, which was the Australian equivalent to the T.11. The last T.33 was modified to incorporate ejection seats, clear-view canopy, increased fuel capacity and dorsal fairings. A total of 68 T.33 were ordered in 1955. Some T.33 were retrofitted with those new features and received the denomination of T.35A. 
  The final RAAF Vampire sortie took place on 18th September 1970 after 18 years in service. 
  The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) ordered some all-weather Sea Venoms (a much improved version of the Vampire) and, in order to provide dual training, they acquired five T.33 from the RAAF. They were re-designated as Vampire T.34 and were delivered between 1954 and 1958. They were all modified to T.35A standard and were designated as T.34A. All RAN Vampires were kept in service until 5th October 1970.
• New Zealand: During the post-war years, the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) was undergoing a modernization process, for which they ordered 18 Vampire FB.52 (the export variant given to the FB.6). These machines, built at Chester by Fairey Aviation, were delivered between October 1950 and August 1951. No. 14 Squadron RNZAF, with base at Ohakea, was the first one to operate the Vampire.
  Six additional T.55 machines were ordered in 1951 and were delivered between July and December 1952. These were of the earlier type with framed canopy and no ejection seats. Eight additional FB.52 were ordered in 1952, but it was cancelled as the need was filled by refitting eight ex-RAF FB.Mk.5 machines which were delivered between July and September 1953. 
  Being part of the Commonwealth Strategic Reserve, No. 14 Squadron was rebased to Cyprus on 7th October 1952. Their FB.52 were handed over to No. 75 Squadron and, when based in Cyprus, they received on loan 29 FB.Mk.9 machines. They also employed the T.11. This unit was also deployed to RAF Tengah, in Malaya to support in 1955 'Operation Firedog'. Those Vampires were replaced by Venoms Mk.1 in November 1955. 
  The New Zealand Territorial Air Force (NZTAF) had three squadrons equipped with the North-American P-51 that were to be replaced by the Vampire in 1955. However, this implied the need for a jet-trainer so, that same year five more ex-RAF T.11s were bought. Those were improved models with clear-view canopy and ejection seats and were delivered between December 1955 and September 1956. 
  In order to perform single-seat training, 21 additional Vampire FB.Mk.5 were ordered. Those machines were shipped together with some sets of FB.Mk.9 wings to allow retrofitting 
  During 1955-1956 the RNZAF bought four additional Vampires Mk.1, Mk.3 and Mk.9 to be used as ground instructional frames. During this time 23 RNZAF Vampires were withdrawn from service to be used as ground frames too. 
  NZTAF was disbanded in 1957 and No. 75 Squadron was re-equipped with the English Electric Canberra, so a lot of Vampires were no longer needed and were put into storage. Some few of them flew with the Fighter Operational Conversion Unit (FOCU) until June 1958 when it was disbanded but, it operated de facto until early 1960.
  This unit was replaced by the Bomber Operational Conversion Unit (BOCU) and they operated two Vampire FB.Mk.5 and six T.11 for training and co-operation duties.
  No.75 Squadron returned from RAF Tengah in March 1962 and was established with 8 FB.Mk.5 and four T.11 to provide the same training as the BOCU, which was disbanded shortly after.
  Some few Vampires were still used until 15th December 1972, when they were finally, flown to depot at RNZAF Woodbourne, Blenheim. 

Sources:

1st https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_Vampire

2nd Hall Park Books - Warpaint 27 - De Havilland Vampire

Fairey Gannet, part one, foreign users

 

The Fairey Gannet was a British carrier-borne aircraft of the post Second World War. It was a mid-wing monoplane with a tricycle undercarriage, a crew of three and a double turboprop engine driving two contra-rotating propellers. 

It was used by many non-British users:

• Australia: The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) decided to purchase the Fairey Gannet in the early 1950s for use on board on the soon to be commissioned HMAS Melbourne (R21) aircraft carrier. Six RAN aircrew went to the United Kingdom in early 1955 to be trained on operating the Gannet at the Royal Navy Air Station (RNAS) Eglinton, in Northern Ireland. 
  Later, two RAN Gannet squadrons, were formed at RNAS Culdrose, in Cornwall, and later, on 23rd August 1955, they were officially formed as 816 and 817 Squadrons. On 8th March 1956 HMAS Melbourne arrived at Glasgow, Scotland and the two Gannet squadrons (24 machines in total) were loaded on board, together with two squadrons of de Havilland Sea Venom fighters and two Bristol Sycamore helicopters for use in the RAN. Then, HMAS Melbourne sailed to Australia and in early May 1956 she arrived in Jervis Bay where the aircraft were unloaded and transported by road to the Naval Air Station at Nowra, in New South Wales. 
  Ten additional Gannets were also acquired to replace losses due to accidents. On 18th August 1958 , one squadron, 817 was decommissioned, leaving 816 squadron the only one to operate the Gannet in Australia. Three Gannet T.2 (dual control trainers) were also purchased in 1957 and one AS.1 was later converted into a T.5 training aircraft, which was operated by 724 and 725 squadrons.
  The Gannets conducted regular exercises on board HMAS Melbourne, in Australian and South-East Asian waters, as well as being part of the Far East strategic reserve, where they were employed for surveillance and reconnaissance duties during the Malayan Emergency and the Indonesian Confrontation. HMAS Melbourne was also part of the escort the fast troop transport ship HMAS Sydney (R17) on her first deployment to South Vietnam in 1965-1966. Fifteen of the thirty-seven purchased Gannets, were lost in accidents and a total of six crew members were killed. After having served for more than ten years, in July 1967 the Gannet was withdrawn from front line service as, by then, they were redundant and were being replaced by either the Westland Wessex helicopter with its dipping sonar and/or Grumman S-2E/G Tracker with its high-tech electronics and anti-submarine equipment.
  Nowadays, some few Gannets are shown as museum aircraft, but most of them were scrapped or re-purposed at Nowra for fire-fighting training.
• West Germany: The Federal Republic of Germany operated the Gannet too. In 1956 the German Federal Armed Forces were created as a member of the NATO alliance. West Germany's naval interests lay mainly in the Baltic Sea and, as Soviet and Warsaw Pact submarines would have to traverse the shallow Baltic approaches to reach the open North Sea, NATO planners assigned West Germany with an important anti-submarine role within the alliance. Britain supplied most of the main equipment of the embryonic Marineflieger (German Naval Air Arm) with 15 Gannet AS.4 and one T.5 ordered in 1956. 
  As time was essential, the aircraft were withdrawn from previous existing Admiralty contracts and pilot conversion training was undertook at White Waltham airfield, in Berkshire during early 1958 and operational crew training was carried out at RNAS Eglinton, where, in order to accelerate crew training a single T.5 was delivered on 6th March 1958 and the Bundesmarine's Gannet Squadron MFG 1/1 was formed two months later. 
  After having been commissioned, the squadron flew to its new home base of Schleswig in late July 1958 where it operated as part Marinefliegergeschwader 1 (MFG 1) on anti-submarine and anti-shipping duties as tasked by NATO's Commander Baltic Approaches (COMBALTAP). The Gannets serving with the MFG 1 they generally used their construction numbers as a permanent identity and were identified within their unit by a two-letter and three figure fuselage code ranging from 'UA+101' (where the letter U indicated the airplane's anti-submarine role and the letter A indicating MFG 1) to UA+115. The T.5 received the unusual figure code of UA+99.
  The squadron was later rebased to Nordholz, in Lower Saxony and transferred to MFG 3 control. Under this new command, the Gannets retained their 'UA' codes instead of the unit's 'UC'. One aircraft, UA+115 was lost to an accident but the remaining Gannets continued to serve with the Marineflieger until their task was taken over by helicopters and the Breguet Br.1150 Atlantic patrol aircraft. The first Br.1150 Atlantic arrived in Nordholz in December 1965 and the Gannets were eventually assigned for storage from June the following year. Switzerland showed some interest to use them as target tows, but as original contract prohibited sale of the aircraft to third parties, nothing came of this. Most of German Gannets were scrapped, but some of them were kept as museum exhibits.
• Indonesia: Indonesia ordered 18 Gannet AS.4 and some T.2 together with ground instruction frames directly from Fairey in January 1959. This came because of Dutch pressures to France to not sell the Breguet Br.1050 Alize as the Dutch foresaw problems with their former colony. However, the UK approved the sale to the Indonesian Air Force.
  Fairey bought back 20 surplus Gannet AS.1 and two T.2s airframe from the Admiralty to fulfill the contract. Those AS.1 were updated to AS.4 standards and some other AS.4 were bought. 
  After undergoing official training at White Waltham, and suffering several delays because of political and military reasons (Indonesia had invaded Western Papua-New Guinea with subsequent clashes with Dutch forces in the region), it wasn't until 18th January 1962 that Indonesian Gannets were shipped to the Asian country. 
  Under Indonesian service the Gannets were used for coastal reconnaissance missions, supporting Indonesian forces moving east through the archipelago. When Malaysia achieved independence in September 1963, Indonesia advanced into North Borneo too and this caused an armed response from Britaim which lasted until 1966. During this period, the West called off every arms trade with Indonesia, and as spare supplies ran off, Indonesian Gannets began to steadily fall. The Indonesian government then turned to the USSR for military help and by 1971 very few Gannets were still in service. The last one was withdraw shortly afterwards and nowadays one is conserved in Indonesian Armed Forces' Museum in Jakarta.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairey_Gannet

2. https://www.navy.gov.au/aircraft/fairey-gannet-as14

3. https://www.bredow-web.de/Luftwaffenmuseum/Transport/FAIREY-GANNET/fairey-gannet.html (translated)

4. Hall Park Books - Warpaint 23 - Fairey Gannet

Fairey Firefly, Australian users, part two

 

The second Royal Australian Navy's (RAN) Carrier Air Group (CAG) was formed at RNAS St. Merryn, in Cornwall, on 25th April 1950 as the 21st CAG formed by 808 and 817 Naval Air Squadrons (NAS).

Those two squadrons embarked in October 1950 on board HMAS Sydney after having been trained in the UK by aircraft loaned to the RAN. A second batch of aircraft was also boarded consisting on two Fireflies AS.5 and 30 Fireflies AS.6. They were shipped to Nowra, where the 817 Naval Air Squadron was settled down on 6th December. They operated a mixed composition of AS.5 and AS.6 anti-submarine fighters. 817 NAS was attached to HMAS Sydney in May and, on their second embankment, they saw action in the Korean War. 

At the end of their war career, they were again assigned to HMAS Sydney on several cruises except for three periods spent on board HMAS Vengeance between the autumn 1953 and the spring 1954. Finally, they were disbanded in 1955 in order to be refitted with Fairey Gannets.

The RAN received further Fireflies in 1952 and 1953, reaching Australia on board merchant vessels, HMAS Vengeance and HMAS Sydney. Overall, two FR.4, 37 AS.5s and 69 AS.6 served with the RAN. All those amounts allowed for the creation of a third Firefly squadron on 3rd August 1954; 851 Naval Air Squadron, dedicated to operational training, also at Nowra. This squadron received an initial complement of 16 Fireflies FR.6 and T.5s (AKA T.Mk.5) but they remained ashore, except for a brief period of DLT programe aboard HMAS Sydney in March 1956. This squadron kept on flying their Fireflies long after the other two squadrons were reconverted to Gannets and it was disbanded on 13th January 1958. 

However, as the RAN was in need of trainers and target-towing aircraft, many airframes were converted to fulfil this role. Four AS.5s were converted into T.5s through adaptation and some redesign work thanks to the kits provided by Fairey to produce the T.1 and T.2. Similar kits were also provided by Fairey to convert two AS.5 and 6 AS.6 into TT.5 and TT.6 target tugs. These trainers and target-tugs supplemented another Fireflies and aircraft in the three RAN's second-line squadrons; 723, 724 and 725 NAS. The first squadron (723) acted as the Fleet Requirement Unit (FRU) from 1957 until 1963. 725 was also a FRU unit until it went through ASW training in 1959. Finally, 724 NAS was the last Australian Firefly operator as they kept the Fireflies trainers until March 1966. The 851 NAS also operated the Firefly trainer from August 1954 until January 1958 when they were disbanded, operating also from Nowra.

Sources:

1.  Hall Park Books - Warpaint 28 - Fairey Firefly

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairey_Firefly

3. https://www.navy.gov.au/aircraft/fairey-firefly-as5as6

4. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Fairey Firefly, Australian users, part one

 

The Fairey Firefly was a British Second World War fighter and anti-submarine that saw service mainly with the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) but also with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN).

Shortly after the creation of the Royal Australian Navy Fleet Air Arm (RANFAA) in 1947, they acquired two aircraft carriers from the United Kingdom, the first one, (ex-HMS Terrible) was commissioned on 5th February 1949 as HMAS Sydney, and the second one (ex-HMS Majestic) had to be heavily modified to incorporate an angle deck, a steam catapult, a mirror landing system and larger deck lifts, so it wasn't until 28th October 1955 that she was commissioned as HMAS Melbourne. Meanwhile, the RAN had ordered Fireflies and Hawker Sea Furies in order to form three carrier air groups and had commissioned a shore base at Nowra, in New South Wales. 

The RNAS Eglinton, in Northern Ireland, saw the birth of the RANFAA when the 28th Carrier Air Group (CAG) was commissioned there on 28th August 1948. This CAG was composed by 805 and 816 Naval Air Squadrons (NAS) which received training in the United Kingdom on Sea Furies and Fireflies respectively. Initially loaned by the Royal Navy, the aircraft were handed over to Australia on 27th October 1948 and, after having been worked up, they embarked on HMAS Sydney on 12th April 1949. 

The 816 NAS was initially equipped with two instructional FR.4 and 24 FR.5. Shortly later, in 1950, Fairey at Bankstown, in Sydney, modified 20 FR.5 to AS.5 with the installation of ASW equipment and the removal of the guns. 

816 NAS arrived in Australia on 25th May and the aircraft were towed by road to Nowra. They were complemented with the introduction of Fireflies AS.6 in July 1951 and in the summer of 1953 they were prepared to operate off Korea and worked up along with two Sea Fury squadrons aboard HMAS Vengeance. All the FR.6 were superseded by FR.5 at this time. The intended Korean War tour didn't materialise and the Fireflies returned ashore on 9th August. Even so 816 NAS was present off Korea when HMAS Sydney was involved in peace keeping activities after the cease fire, from November 1953 until June 1954. The other embarkations were all aboard HMAS Sydney. Four cruises with deployments at Hong Kong and Singapore, were carried out until 816 NAS was disbanded on 27th April 1955.

Sources:

1. Hall Park Books - Warpaint 28 - Fairey Firefly

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairey_Firefly

3. https://www.navy.gov.au/aircraft/fairey-firefly-as5as6

4. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Supermarine Sea Otter, British & Commonwealth Users, part two

This is a direct continuation of our previous post.
Due to cooling problems found in the Perseus engine, the engine was changed for production aircraft to the Bristol Mercury XXX which drove a three-bladed propeller.
Due to the end of the war, 300 of them were cancelled in July 1946. They served during the World War II both with the Royal Air Force, being the No.277 Squadron the first unit to operate it in November 1943, and the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, where they entered service one year later, joining the 1700 Naval Air Squadron in November 1944. Other RAF units which were also equipped with the Sea Otter were the No.278, 279, 281, 282, 292 squadrons and No. 1350, 1351 and 1352 flights. During World War II, they saw service in Home Waters, the Far East, Australia and the Admiralty Islands.
After the World War II, the Sea Otter was kept in service until the early 1950s. They took part in the Korean War operating from Royal Navy's carriers performing the S&R role.
Its intended replacement, the Supermarine Seagull (which will have its own post), never went beyond the prototype stage and every Sea Otter of RAF and FAA was replaced mainly by helicopters like the Westland-Sikorsky Dragonfly in the very early 1950s, as they already proved to be better in the S&R role. The Sea Otter was one of the few (if not the only) biplane serving with UN forces during the Korean War.
Many Sea Otters were converted for civilian use after the World War II. The cabin was soundproofed and fitted with heating. Seating for four passengers was installed as well as a chemical toilet and a stowage for baggage. As they were intended to be used as bush airplanes in remote areas, versatility was emphasized. To allow cargo to be carried, the cabin floor was strengthened and fitted with lasing points and the passenger seats were made easy to remove.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermarine_Sea_Otter
2. http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/military/sea_otter.htm
3. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_supermarine_sea_otter.html
4. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205189529