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

Fairey P.4/34

The Fairey P.4/34 was a competitor for a light bomber to serve with the Royal Air Force (RAF). Even if it didn't proceed beyond the prototype stage, it formed the basis for the Fairey Fulmar.
Back in 1934 the Air Ministry issued a specification called P.4/34 calling for a light bomber that could also play the close-range support role to replace the Fairey Battle. Three companies, Fairey, Gloster and Hawker presented proposals but contracts were granted only for those designs of Hawker and Fairey. The P.4/34 was a low-wing metal monoplane powered by Rolls Royce Merlin I which yielded 1.030 hp of power. It had a crew of two accommodated in tandem position under a long-glazed canopy. Its configuration was similar to that of the previous Battle bomber, but the P.4/34 was smaller and had a wider track, inwards retracting undercarriage. It was prepared for dive bombing, as the specification required, and carried its load of two 250 lb (110 kg) underwing, while the competing design, the Hawker Henley, had an internal bomb bay. Apart from the bombs, the P.4/34 was armed with just one forward-firing 0.303 in machine gun placed in the nose.
Two P.4/34 were ordered, with the first flying on 13th January 1937. For comparison, the prototype Hawker Henley flew on 10th March 1937. When tested, the Hawker was clearly superior but, as the need for a light-bomber had changed, it entered service as a target tug.
The P.4/34 served as the basis for a two-seat long-range carrier-based fighter for the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) to meet the requirements of the specification O.8/38. The second P.4/34 prototype was modified to reduce its wing span and its tail-plane was lowered to make it more aerodynamic for the Fulmar. It was later used to test retractable Fairey-Youngman flaps which would eventually be used on the Fairey Firefly.
In 1938 the first prototype was at Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) Farnborough, where it was used for testing the effects of barrage balloons, by deliberately flying it into a weighted cable hung beneath (not the actual tether cable). Testing was carried out at RAF Lakenheath, in Suffolk, and at Pawlett, in Somerset, from September 1938. The whole process was filmed by a chasing Battle from RAF Mildenhall. The P.4/34 was later joined by another Battle, both of them were reinforced to withstand the impacts but severe damage to the fuselage was, nonetheless, usual. Most of the flights were made by Johnny Kent, as the original intended pilot, Arthur E. Clouston had taken leave to go for the London-New Zealand speed record. Kent accumulated more than 300 collisions and was awarded The Air Force Cross for his efforts. He said about the P.4: "a delightful aeroplane through all manoeuvres, except for the spin, which was really vicious".
In 1938 a contract was signed between the Royal Danish Navy and Fairey for building, under license, the P.4/34 in Denmark. It would've been manufactured at the Danish Naval Shipyard, in Copenhagen. In 1939, they received the order to manufacture 12 machines, however, none of them was completed when Germany occupied Denmark in April 1940.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairey_P.4/34
2. http://www.navalhistory.dk/English/NavAir/NavalAviation.htm
3. http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/fairey_p4-34.php
4. https://www.valka.cz/Fairey-P-4-34-t197999

Fairey Battle, part three

The Fairey Battle was a British single-engine light bomber designed and manufactured by Fairey Aviation Company. By the end 1940 the type was withdrawn from front-line service and was relegated to training overseas. The overseas user we're covering today are:

• New Zealand: For some unknown reason, two Battles ended up in New Zealand. One of them, registered as P6673 arrived in July 1941 from Canada and was numbered as "Instructional Air-Frame Number 42". The other one, registered as K9177 was sent in November 1941, arrived in February 1942 and was numbered as "Instructional Air-Frame Number 59". However, according to other sources, it was sent on 22nd November 1942 to the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) and remained there as an instructional air-frame until May 1943 when it was shipped to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and sent to the ANA (Australia National Airways) Flying School to be used, after being repaired, as a mascot. However it was decided to use it for spare parts. We couldn't find any graphical evidence, so the drawing should be considered as speculative.
• Southern Rhodesia: As Southern Rhodesia was part of the Empire Air Training Scheme, they received 25 Battles which were sent to the newly created No.24 Combined Air Observers School which was formed in Moffat, Southern Rhodesia. The school was designated as "No.24 Bombing and Gunnery School" in May 1943. Its main equipment was the Battle Target Tug, with 25 of them listed as active in 1944. In the unit's annual report it was stated, "Other than the extreme age of these machines, calling for constant repairs and replacements, very little trouble has been experienced on the type". The last 12 of Southern Rhodesia's Battles were written off in August 1945. As we couldn't find any photo, the drawing should be considered as speculative.
  Concurrently, the No.266 (Rhodesia) Squadron, was formed in late October 1939 at RAF Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire, and were equipped with the Fairey Battle for a brief period of time, until January 1940 when they were re-equipped with the Fairey Battle.
• Denmark: According to some sources, a licensed-production line was already set-up in Denmark to manufacture the Fairey Battle but none of them was completed before the German Invasion in April 1940. Interestingly enough, in the same factory where the Battle was going to be manufactured, it was expected to produce the Fokker G.I too. 
• Finland: During the Winter War, in late November 1939, the Finnish Government asked to the British Government for aircraft. Therefore, 20 ex-RAF Battles were released for delivery to Finland and were expected to arrive between January and March 1940. However, with the end of the hostilities, none were delivered and the aircraft were sent to the RAF.
• Poland: In June 1939 a Polish Military Mission to London was formed under the command of General Ludomil Rayski. After long negotiations, it was agreed that one Spitfire, 10 Hurricanes and 100 Battles would be supplied to the Polish Air Force in a scheduled delivery.
  In fact, a first batch of 30 Battle was intended to be shipped to Danzig (Gdansk), but some archives state that it was one Spitfire and 25 that were loaded. On 18th September 1939 a merchant ship departed from Liverpool's harbour escorted by the Polish Destroyer ORP Blyskawica, arriving the two of the to Gibraltar two days later, as the cargo was expected to be unloaded in Constanta, Romania and delivered to Poland by land. However, Romania had declared that it was throwing in its lot in with the Germans and paralysed the transit of weapons all across its territory. Therefore the ship was ordered to sail to Istanbul, when the fall of Poland was unavoidable. They were offered to Turkey instead.
  At the same time, it seems that when Germany invaded Poland, the UK's Chief of Air Staff offered the immediate release of 20 Battles to be flown to France to be collected by Polish pilots. The proposal was refused on the grounds that deliveries of such small war material would make no difference in the outcome of the battle.

Sources:

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

2. http://www.rathbonemuseum.com/DENMARK/DKPhotos/DKPhotos.html

3. http://www.adf-serials.com.au/2a22k.htm

4. https://www.bombercommandmuseumarchives.ca/canadaairwar/canadaairwar1940.pdf

5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No._266_Squadron_RAF

6. Aeroplane Database June 2016 - Fairey Battle

Thulin D

Today it's the turn for a Swedish version of the Morane-Saulnier L.
The Thulin D was made by the Thulins Aeroplanfabrik, at Landskröna. It was a parasol monoplane with a mast that held the wing in its place with ropes. The first aircraft was manufactured in autumn 1914 and was presented to the public in May 1915 at Stockholm. Later, in 1918, it was tried to replace the two-bladed propeller with a four-bladed one. Only five airplanes were manufactured and the first one was donated to the Swedish Army by the Skane country women association on 20th August 1915. The next year, in 1916 they donated another airplane. All of them were withdrawn from the active service in 1918 as they were deemed obsolete. The other three were employed by the Thulins airline at Ljungbyhed and another one, that belonged to Eric von Rossen, who donated it to Finnish whites to use it in the Finnish Civil War of 1918. In fact, that airplane, is considered to be the first one in the Finnish Army Corps of Aviation. It was delivered in a flight piloted by Nils Kindberg and von Rossen himself as a passenger on 6th March 1918, which is regarded as the founding day of the Finnish Army Corps of Aviation. For that action, Eric von Rossen was charged with violations of the Swedish neutrality act for the World War I and was sentenced for it.
In Finnish hands, still wearing von Rossen's personal emblems, it performed up to 30 missions, mainly for Finnish General Mannerheim's headquarters, mainly scouting and light-bombing. It operated mainly from improvised airfields in Tavastland, but it crashed in Tampere on 16th April 1918 killing the Swedish volunteer Westman who was the pilot and Nylund the mechanic-observer who was in the second seat.
Finland bought a second Thulin D but it was destroyed by a fire when it was storaged at the base of Orivesi on 28th March 1918.
Nowadays a full-sized replica is being hold at the Finnish Air Force's museum

Sources:
1. https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thulin_Typ_D (translated)
2. http://flyingmachines.ru/Site2/Crafts/Craft29888.htm

Macchi C.200 - Foreign Users

The Macchi C.200 Saetta (Arrow in Italian) was an Italian fighter designed and put into service just before the outbreak of the World War II. It was used by various foreign users, apart from the Italian Regia Aeronautica and both by the Co-Belligerent Italians and the Italian Social Republic.
The United Kingdom captured one of them which belonged to the 157º Gruppo Autonomo Caccia Terrestre (157th Land Fighter Autonomous Squadron) in September 1943 during the Sicilian campaign.
Some of them were used by the Luftwaffe when they seized them after the armistice of September 1943 and pushed them into service with some squadrons based mainly in central-northern Italy.
The United States Army Air Force (commonly known as USAAF) also captured some of them in the battlefields of Tunisia in 1943 which belonged to the 357 Squadriglia and incorporated them into service with the 86th Fighter Squadron.
Also, the USSR captured some of them which served with the Italian Expeditionary Force in Russia. However, as the profile is based on a black & white photo of the nose, it should be taken as semi-hypothetical.
And as we're friends of what-ifs, and knowing that Denmark was interesting to buy some of them, (in fact the contract was signed on 1st of April 1940 and Germany invaded 8 days later), we included an hypothetical profile bearing Danish colours and markings.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macchi_C.200
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters