Fairey Battle Conversions

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Walter_Warlimont
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Fairey Battle Conversions

#1

Post by Walter_Warlimont » 02 Aug 2007, 15:54

Split from: http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=69066 by the moderator - Andreas
Hop wrote:TT is target tug, T is trainer. 100 Battles were built with a distinct dual cockpit layout for use as dual control trainers. It turned what was a rather nice looking aircraft into one of the ugliest to fly during the war.

Edit: Tried to find a decent picture but couldn't, but there's some photos of a completed model at http://su22m4.free.fr/battle.htm
But that is the way that The Fairey Battle Looked.

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#2

Post by Hop » 02 Aug 2007, 16:04

The normal Battle had a single long glazed cockpit, as opposed to looking like 2 Hurricanes mating.

See the photos at http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/battle.html for what most Battles looked like.


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#3

Post by RichTO90 » 02 Aug 2007, 17:08

Hop wrote:The normal Battle had a single long glazed cockpit, as opposed to looking like 2 Hurricanes mating
:lol: 8-)

Thanks for solving the mystery.....snort, wheeze, choke, as he goes back to work.

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#4

Post by phylo_roadking » 02 Aug 2007, 17:47

(There was also the legendary Battle IT - a variant with a Bristol Type1 turret in the rear for aircrew training, but the vast majority were sent to or converted to this configuration in Canada. I've never been able to turn up a pic of that...)

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#5

Post by RichTO90 » 02 Aug 2007, 18:31

phylo_roadking wrote:(There was also the legendary Battle IT - a variant with a Bristol Type1 turret in the rear for aircrew training, but the vast majority were sent to or converted to this configuration in Canada. I've never been able to turn up a pic of that...)
:D To me the Battle always looked like pregnant Hurricane, with a nose job. I can't even imagine what kind of abortion the IT would have looked like?

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#6

Post by Walter_Warlimont » 02 Aug 2007, 18:38

phylo_roadking wrote:(There was also the legendary Battle IT - a variant with a Bristol Type1 turret in the rear for aircrew training, but the vast majority were sent to or converted to this configuration in Canada. I've never been able to turn up a pic of that...)
Sometimes, Diligence Pays Off. Ask & Ye Shall Receive.

Gentlemen, The Fairey Battle IT:

http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/les_ ... f&id=13966

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#7

Post by RichTO90 » 02 Aug 2007, 18:47

Walter_Warlimont wrote:Sometimes, Diligence Pays Off. Ask & Ye Shall Receive.

Gentlemen, The Fairey Battle IT:
Wow! That's uglier than I thought it would be? Looks like someone couldn't find an X-Wing so stuck their R2-droid into a Battle? And what the heck is hanging off of the engine cowling? Are those mountings for a trapeze? :D

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#8

Post by phylo_roadking » 02 Aug 2007, 21:17

There also seems to be a bit of a strange bulge inboard where the wing meets the fuselage....these didn't tug their own targets for the trainee gunner???

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#9

Post by phylo_roadking » 02 Aug 2007, 21:22

Rich, I've found the pic in its original location, and a port 11 o'clock-on view as well - which isn't as dark; the strange lines are actually the photo archive copyright mark!!! :-)

http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/les_ ... tion%20Co.

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#10

Post by RichTO90 » 02 Aug 2007, 22:19

phylo_roadking wrote:There also seems to be a bit of a strange bulge inboard where the wing meets the fuselage....these didn't tug their own targets for the trainee gunner???
Uh, I think that may have made the gunnery problem a bit too simple for the trainee! And also may have been a bit hazardous for the tailplane! :lol:

Seriously, that poor thing really looks like it took a big whack from the aircraft designers ugly stick....and I thought the standard Battle looked odd.

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#11

Post by RichTO90 » 02 Aug 2007, 22:24

phylo_roadking wrote:Rich, I've found the pic in its original location, and a port 11 o'clock-on view as well - which isn't as dark; the strange lines are actually the photo archive copyright mark!!! :-)

http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/les_ ... tion%20Co.
Thanks, I was truly wracking my brain to try to figure out what the heck that was. And knowing Brit aircraft design, I was figuring it could literally have been just about anything (well, see, we figured it would be jolly good if we had a teapot rack where we could do a damn fine brew-up by making efficient use of the heat from the exhaust manifold, but then of course we had to have some way for the gunner trainee to fetch the tea, so installed a....).

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#12

Post by Walter_Warlimont » 03 Aug 2007, 01:58

phylo_roadking wrote:Rich, I've found the pic in its original location, and a port 11 o'clock-on view as well - which isn't as dark; the strange lines are actually the photo archive copyright mark!!! :-)

http://www.aviation.technomuses.ca/les_ ... tion%20Co.
If you go to pages 3 & 4 of that Link you'll see some colorized pictures of The Fairey battle IT & then page 8 has a Good Up Close Colorized picture of it as well.

Page 9 includes something called a Fairey Gannet which looks really odd if you ask me.

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#13

Post by phylo_roadking » 03 Aug 2007, 02:49

WW, the Gannet wasn't a WWII aircraft, it was a child of the 1950's a Royal Navy airborne early warning aircraft - basically a the minimum airframe that could be built around a feckin' big radar set! Designed for use from RN aircraft carriers, they were to provide the Fleet Air Arm with an airborne "look-down" radar capacity, in the same way as a Boeing AWACS E2C nowadays.

Says it all really - the Americans get big comfy converted airliners, the British get a cockpit, a parachute and possibly a Thermos....

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#14

Post by edward_n_kelly » 03 Aug 2007, 10:31

Close - but not close enough.

Fairy Gannet was designed as a carrier bone ASW aircraft. The configuration was determined by many things but AEW was not one of them - it came later.

One mark was built as an AEW aircraft. The radar was apparently re-used on AEW Shackletons when the Gannet AEW was withdrawn

See this for a good round up ==> Fairey Gannet

Edward

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#15

Post by Walter_Warlimont » 03 Aug 2007, 17:18

edward_n_kelly wrote:Close - but not close enough.

Fairy Gannet was designed as a carrier bone ASW aircraft. The configuration was determined by many things but AEW was not one of them - it came later.

One mark was built as an AEW aircraft. The radar was apparently re-used on AEW Shackletons when the Gannet AEW was withdrawn

See this for a good round up ==> Fairey Gannet

Edward
I kinda thought it looked like a Torpedo Bomber.

Kinda like a grossly overweight TBD or something.

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