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43-463: The Fairey Spearfish was a British carrier-based , single-engined, torpedo bomber / dive bomber that was ordered from Fairey Aviation for the Fleet Air Arm during World War II . Designed during the war, the prototype did not fly until July 1945. Much larger than earlier naval bombers, it was designed for use aboard the large Malta -class aircraft carriers that were cancelled after the war and

86-964: A torpedo , or a 180-imperial-gallon (820 L; 220 US gal) auxiliary fuel tank. The Spearfish was intended to carry four 0.5-inch (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns , two in a remote-controlled Fraser-Nash FN 95 barbette behind the cockpit and two in the wings. The only external offensive armament was 16 RP-3 rockets that could be carried underneath the outer wing panels. Data from Fairey Aircraft Since 1915 & The Spearfish ... A Misconceived Welterweight General characteristics Performance Armament Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists Carrier-based aircraft Such aircraft are designed for many purposes including air-to-air combat , surface attack , anti-submarine warfare (ASW) , search and rescue (SAR) , transport (COD) , weather observation , reconnaissance and airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) duties. The term

129-459: A follow-up, to meet Specification O.21/44 for a two-seat strike fighter , the Spearfish was redesigned to accommodate a twin-coupled Rolls-Royce Merlin engine and contra-rotating propellers . A variety of other engines were considered and although a production order was placed for three examples in 1944, the programme was eventually shelved, remaining as an unfulfilled paper project. The Spearfish

172-554: A larger payload as compared to during VTOL use, while avoiding the complexity of a catapult. The best known example is the Hawker Siddeley Harrier Jump Jet, despite being capable of VTOL take-offs, is usually operated as a STOVL aircraft to increase its fuel and weapons load. STOBAR is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier , combining elements of both STOVL and CATOBAR. Aircraft launch under their own power using

215-863: A move to Trinidad. All three units were to relocate to RNAS Piarco , where the RN No. 1 Observer School reformed. The Admiralty then determined it was to leave Ford and hand the airbase back to the Air Ministry. HMS Peregrine was ‘ paid off ’ on 30 September 1940, and the next day Ford was under the control of No. 11 Group , Fighter Command , with the RN retaining rights for a lodger unit. The RN school of Photography formed from an unnumbered Flight of Blackburn Shark torpedo-spotter-reconnaissance biplane and Fairey Seal spotter-reconnaissance biplane, at RAF Ford in December 1940. The Westland Wyvern went into service first here in

258-557: A single-engine amphibious biplane , and a third Observer Training squadron, 752 Naval Air Squadron , which was provided with Percival Proctor , a radio trainer and communications aircraft, and Fairey Albacore a single-engine biplane torpedo bomber. In July the Fairey Swordfish equipped 820 Naval Air Squadron arrived from RAF Gosport . Two days after arriving, it embarked its biplane torpedo bombers in HMS Ark Royal and it

301-598: A ski-jump to assist take-off (rather than using a catapult). These are conventional aircraft however and require arresting wires to land on the ship. The Kuznetsov-class aircraft carriers of the Russian Navy and People's Liberation Army Navy operate the Su-33 (Russia) and J-15 (China) as STOBAR aircraft. Others include the Indian Vikramaditya and Vikrant ; both will operate MiG-29Ks . Prior to World War II,

344-412: A staffing shortage were contributing to burglars breaking into the jail to steal equipment from workshops. The report also found that drugs, alcohol and mobile phones were being smuggled into the prison for inmates. Two months later, an inspection report from His Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons found that inmates were leaving the prison complex at night to acquire alcohol. The report also stated that

387-482: A tailwheel. The wings housed a pair of 183-imperial-gallon (830 L; 220 US gal) fuel tanks, plus a 43-imperial-gallon (200 L; 52 US gal) tank in the leading edge of the starboard wing for a total of 409 imperial gallons (1,860 L; 491 US gal) of fuel. The two-man tandem cockpit had a hydraulically operated canopy. The large internal weapons bay could alternatively carry up to four 500-pound (230 kg) bombs, four depth charges ,

430-473: Is generally applied only to fixed-wing aircraft , as naval helicopters are able to operate from a wider variety of ships , including helicopter carriers , destroyers , frigates and container ships. The 1903 advent of fixed-wing aircraft was followed in 1910 by the first flight of an aircraft from the deck of an anchored warship (the United States Navy 's USS  Birmingham ), and in 1912, by

473-469: The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk , Republic P-47 Thunderbolt , Supermarine Spitfire , and Hawker Hurricane , were often delivered to overseas air bases by aircraft carrier. They would be loaded onto an aircraft carrier in port by cranes, flown off the carrier at sea near their destination under their own power, and land on a friendly airfield ashore. These were not usually combat missions but in some cases

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516-701: The Royal Flying Corp (RFC) and later the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the United States Army Air Service (USAAS) training squadrons in March 1918 and known as Ford Junction military aerodrome. In 1920 it closed and it wasn’t until 1933 that it reopened for civil flying . In 1936 the Air Ministry acquired it and in 1937 RAF Ford was reactivated. On 24 May 1939, as part of the Fleet Air Arm moving to

559-518: The Royal Navy , four airfields were transferred from the Air Ministry to the Admiralty: Donibristle , Lee-on-Solent , Ford, and Worthy Down , the airbase became known as Royal Naval Air Station Ford , ( RNAS Ford ) and commissioned as HMS Peregrine , with Captain ( A ) R. de H. Burton as the initial Royal Navy commanding officer of the airbase. The RN Observer School was formed out of

602-675: The sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse , the Battle of Taranto , the Attack on Pearl Harbor and numerous other incidents. Following the war, carrier operations continued to increase in size and importance. The vital importance of aircraft carriers, and therefore carrier-capable aircraft, quickly became apparent at the onset of the war in the Pacific where the US's island hopping campaign meant that being able to conduct air operations at sea far from an airbase

645-505: The Spearfish had a much more powerful engine, an internal weapons bay and a retractable ASV Mk.XV surface-search radar mounted behind the bomb bay. The Spearfish was half as large again as the Barracuda, as it was designed to be operated from the 45,000-long-ton (46,000 t) Malta -class aircraft carriers then under development. In August 1943, the company received an order for three prototypes to be built against Specification O.5/43 and

688-431: The U.S. Nimitz class , the U.S. Gerald R. Ford -class , and France's Charles de Gaulle . The use of catapults allows an aircraft carrier to launch large fixed-wing aircraft. For example, the U.S. Navy launches its E-2 Hawkeye AEW aircraft and C-2A Greyhound cargo aircraft with catapults. STOVL take-offs are accomplished with " ski-jumps ", instead of a catapult. STOVL use usually allows aircraft to carry

731-480: The U.S. Navy as follows: CATOBAR is a system used for the launch and recovery of aircraft from the deck of an aircraft carrier . Under this technique, aircraft are launched using a catapult-assisted take-off and landing on the ship using arresting wires . Although this system is more costly than alternative methods, it provides greater flexibility in carrier operations, since it allows the aircraft to operate with higher payloads. Ships with CATOBAR currently include

774-496: The airbase included naval, army and civilian personnel with 28 dead and 75 wounded. 17 aircraft were written off and a further 26 were damaged. Two hangars and about a third of the men’s accommodation huts were destroyed. Many buildings were damaged including the ratings' and Petty Officers' canteens. With the German invasion of France during May and June 1940, the increase in the risk of an attack on HMS Peregrine due to its proximity

817-759: The decks of carriers. Carrier aircraft were used extensively during the Korean and Vietnam wars. Douglas A-4 Skyhawks participated in the first strikes of the Vietnam War in response to attacks against American destroyers in the Tonkin Gulf in August 1964. The A-4's small size and light weight meant a high number could be loaded onto carriers, making them an important resource during the Vietnam war. There are three main types of modern carrier-based aircraft, which are categorised by

860-597: The disbanded School of Naval Cooperation RAF at HMS Peregrine and its aircraft were allocated across three new Fleet Air Arm Squadrons which were also formed on that day. The three squadrons were: 750 Naval Air Squadron designated an Observer Training squadron, which was allocated with Hawker Osprey , the navalised carrier-borne version of the Hawker Hart, and Blackburn Shark , a carrier-borne torpedo bomber , 751 Naval Air Squadron , also designated an Observer Training squadron which received some Supermarine Walrus ,

903-410: The early 1950s with 813 Naval Air Squadron . The following units were here at some point: The prison has been criticised for its lax security – especially after 70 people, including three murderers serving the last three years of their sentences, absconded in 2006 alone. In March 2009, the prison's own Independent Monitoring Board issued a report stating that an outdated CCTV security system and

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946-620: The end of May. Around the same time 816 Naval Air Squadron arrived with Fairey Swordfish. It moved briefly to RNAS Jersey on 4 June but returned on the 11, although the airbase had already been evacuated and had closed down on 31 May, (the Island fell to the Germans on 1 July). The squadron embarked in HMS Furious on 14 June. During the 18 August 1940 the airbase was attacked by the Luftwaffe . It

989-402: The first flight of an aircraft from the deck of a warship underway (the Royal Navy 's HMS  Hibernia ). Seaplanes and seaplane tender support ships, such as HMS  Engadine , followed. This evolution was well underway by the early 1920s, resulting in ships such as HMS  Argus (1918), Hōshō (1922), USS  Langley (1922), and Béarn (1927). With these developments,

1032-468: The first prototype and found "the controls in cruising flight were very heavy and, in fact, lateral control was so solid that I could barely move the ailerons with one hand at 130 knots (240 km/h; 150 mph)." In bad weather a pilot circling a carrier while waiting to land would have been forced to fly such a wide circuit that he could not always keep the carrier in sight. The later prototypes had ailerons boosted by hydraulic power and artificial feel to

1075-606: The first prototype, serial number RA356 , was constructed at Fairey's Hayes factory and first flew on 5 July 1945 from Heston Aerodrome ; the other two did not fly until 1947. In November 1943 the company was ordered to build a dual-control dive-bombing trainer variant against Specification T.21/43 and this was built at the Heaton Chapel factory and assembled and flown at Ringway on 20 June 1946. Three further development aircraft were ordered in May 1944 to be built at Heaton Chapel, with

1118-606: The flaps were to be enlarged and lateral control was to be provided by spoilers with small "feeler" ailerons. With the cancellation of the Malta -class carriers, the Fleet Air Arm no longer had a requirement for new torpedo bombers and the programme was cancelled. Work continued on the two other prototypes built at Hayes after the cancellation of the contract, albeit very slowly. Test pilot and naval aviator Captain Eric Brown evaluated

1161-680: The formation of 819 Naval Air Squadron at RNAS Ford, which was a Torpedo, Spotter, and Reconnaissance Squadron, equipped with Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber aircraft. The Fairey Swordfish equipped 821 Naval Air Squadron arrived from RNAS Lee-on-Solent (HMS Daedalus ) in March, then almost immediately embarked in HMS Ark Royal . 819 NAS left HMS Peregrine and had a brief spell at RAF West Freugh , located in Dumfries and Galloway , Scotland , before returning during March, then moving onto RNAS Roborough (HMS Drake II) , near Plymouth , Devon , at

1204-562: The landing, the aircraft proved quite docile. The first prototype was later used by Napier & Son at Luton for trials of the firm's inflight de-icing systems . It was then briefly used for ground-training purposes beginning on 30 April 1952, until it was scrapped shortly afterwards. The second prototype was used by the Royal Navy Carrier Trials Unit at RNAS Ford , Sussex, until it was sold for scrap on 15 September. The third prototype conducted ASV Mk.XV radar trials, but

1247-410: The last two to be fitted with a Rolls-Royce Pennine engine; only the first Centarus-engined aircraft was built but never flew. Production orders for 150 aircraft were placed to be built at Heaton Chapel; the first ten aircraft were intended to use 2,600- horsepower (1,900 kW) Bristol Centaurus radial engine , Centaurus 59 engines on the next 22, and Centaurus 60s of the remainder. In addition,

1290-607: The launched aircraft provided air cover for the ship, and the aircraft could not be recovered by the carrier. Some STOL aircraft, such as the North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco , have been operated from aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships in this manner more recently, but this is not common practice. Even very large aircraft such as the Lockheed C-130 Hercules have been successfully landed and launched from large aircraft carriers, but

1333-414: The need for specialized aircraft adapted for take-offs and landings from the flight decks of those ships became recognized. The significance of air power grew between the wars, driven by the increased range, carrying power, and effectiveness of carrier-launched aircraft, until it became impossible to disregard its importance during World War II, following the loss of many warships to aircraft, including

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1376-408: The prison was underperforming in preparing inmates for resettlement on release. In October 2009, an investigation was launched after it emerged that a prisoner at Ford had been able to remove documents from a disused office in the prison complex. In July 2010, managers of Ford Prison had to apologise after Muslim prisoners at the jail were served burgers containing pork. 20 Muslim inmates were served

1419-510: The ship's speed with even the lightest prevailing winds, combined with a low take-off speed allowed early aircraft to gain flying speed in a very short distance. The most extreme version of this was the battleship platforms used during the 1920s when small, World War I-era biplane fighters such as the Sopwith Camel were launched from only a few dozen feet long mounted atop of a battleship 's forward gun turret . Conventional aircraft, such as

1462-405: The stick from a spring, as an interim measure but Brown found "the second prototype was much less the pleasant aircraft to fly as the stick continually hunted either side of neutral and there was no build up of stick force with increase in speed." The Spearfish lacked any sort of stall warning, which would have been a problem in operational use as the stall and approach speeds were fairly close. For

1505-479: The weight of most aircraft allowed them to be launched from aircraft carriers under their own power, but required assistance in stopping. Catapults were installed but were used only when the ship was stationary or adequate wind over the deck could not be arranged by sailing into the wind. Even aircraft as large as the North American B-25 Mitchell were launched in this manner. This was possible because

1548-419: Was a cantilever , mid-wing monoplane , with an all-metal, monocoque fuselage. The centre wing section was built integral with the fuselage and the outer wing panels could be hydraulically folded for carrier operations. A distinguishing feature of the wing was the large Fairey-Youngman flaps that spanned 73.5% of the wing's trailing edge. The Spearfish had an outward-retracting conventional landing gear with

1591-613: Was crucially important. At the onset Japan used 125 Mitsubishi A6M Zeros launched from 6 aircraft carriers to attack the Naval base at Pearl Harbor , with the result of sinking or damaging 21 warships, and destroying 188 aircraft. The war saw the creation of new carrier capable aircraft such as the Vought F4U Corsair , and further variants of the Zero . Often carrier aircraft would have folding wings or wingtips to maximise space conservation on

1634-408: Was damaged in a heavy landing on 1 September 1949 and sold for scrap on 22 August 1950 as uneconomical to repair. The fourth prototype never flew and was used as a source of spares. The sole Heaton Chapel-built aircraft was the closest to the planned production configuration and it was used for engine-cooling and power-assisted flying-control trials, until it was struck off charge on 24 July 1951. In

1677-544: Was done with no cargo and little fuel on board the aircraft. [REDACTED] Media related to Carrier-based aircraft at Wikimedia Commons RNAS Ford HM Prison Ford (informally known as Ford Open Prison ) is a Category D men's prison , located at Ford , in West Sussex , England , near Arundel and Littlehampton . The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service . An 85 acres (34 ha) site next to Yapton village opened as an airfield for use by

1720-461: Was itself cancelled thereafter. Seven prototypes were ordered, but only five were built, of which four actually flew. They were mostly used for experimental work until the last aircraft was scrapped in 1952. The Spearfish was designed by Fairey Aviation to Admiralty Specification O.5/43 as a replacement for the Fairey Barracuda in the torpedo/dive bomber role. In comparison to the Barracuda,

1763-467: Was on this day the Germans attempted to destroy a number of airfields with three air raids taking place during the afternoon comprised 850 sorties and involving 2,200 aircrew. Sturzkampfgeschwader 77 , a Luftwaffe dive bomber wing, supplied a total force of 109 Junkers Ju 87 or “Stuka” dive bombers . It was the largest concentration of Ju 87 to operate over Britain to date and of those twenty-eight aircraft were assigned to attack Ford. The casualties at

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1806-447: Was soon acknowledged and therefore 750, 751, and 752 Naval Air Squadrons were despersed at RNAS Yeovilton (HMS Heron ) in May. The attack on the airbase caused more extreme action. 751 NAS departed for RNAS Arbroath (HMS Condor ) the following day, 750 Naval Air Squadron stood down and the unit prepared to sail overseas for the island of Trinidad . 752 and 793 Naval Air Squadrons moved to RNAS Lee-on-Solent and also prepared for

1849-552: Was the single first-line squadron of the Fleet Air Arm that passed through HMS Peregrine in 1939. In the following October, the Observer School had two more squadrons stand-up with 782 Naval Air Squadron , tasked as an Armament Training Squadron, and 793 Naval Air Squadron , whose role was an Air Towed Target Unit, and was equipped with Blackburn Roc , a naval turret fighter aircraft, but 782 NAS disbanded after just three weeks and having received no aircraft. January 1940 saw

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