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Spearfish
Role	Torpedo bomber
National origin	United Kingdom
Manufacturer	Fairey Aviation
First flight	5 July 1945
Status	development cancelled
Primary user	Fleet Air Arm
Number built	5

The Fairey Spearfish was a 1940s British torpedo bomber designed and built by Fairey Aviation for the Fleet Air Arm. It was one of the largest single-engine aircraft to ever operate from a British aircraft carrier.

Design and development

The Spearfish was designed by Fairey Aviation to Admiralty Specification O.5/43. Having learned the lessons of the Barracuda, the Spearfish featured a much more powerful engine and an integral ASV anti-submarine radar (the external installation on the Barracuda caused problems with longitudinal stability). Problems with the Bristol Centaurus engine delayed the first flight until 5 July 1945.

Only five aircraft were built before victory over Japan. The end of the war and the proposal for a more advanced turbopop powered anti-submarine aircraft (which became the Gannet) further work on the project was stopped and an order for 152 production aircraft cancelled.^[1]

The Admiralty refused to accept the Spearfish for service use. The aircraft had such heavy controls that in bad weather a pilot circling a carrier whilst waiting to land was forced to fly such a wide circuit that he could not keep the carrier in sight.

Operators

 United Kingdom

• Royal Navy, Fleet Air Arm

Specifications (Spearfish)

Data from Fairey Aircraft Since 1915 Taylor, H. A.^[2]

General characteristics

• Crew: 2
• Length: 45 ft 0 in (13.7 m)
• Wingspan: 60 ft 0 in (18.3 m)
• Height: 16 ft 0 in (4.9 m)
• Wing area: 530 ft² (49.2 m²)
• Empty weight: 12,435 lb (5,640 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 22,050 lb (10,000 kg)
• Powerplant: 1× Bristol Centaurus 57 18-cylinder radial engine, 2,585 hp (1,930 kW)
• Propellers: five-bladed propeller

Performance

• Maximum speed: 300 mph (480 km/h)
• Cruise speed: 260 mph (415 km/h)
• Range: 895 mi (1,440 km)
• Service ceiling: 23,600 ft (7,200 m)
• Rate of climb: 1,720 ft/min (8.74 m/s)

Armament

• Guns: 4 × .50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns, two in the wings and two in a Frazer-Nash FN95 remote-controlled dorsal barbette
• Rockets: 16× RP-3 rocket projectiles on underwing rails
• Bombs: carried in an internal weapons bay; either:
  • 1 × torpedo or
  • 2,000 lb (907 kg) of bombs or mines

See also

Comparable aircraft

• TBF Avenger
• AM Mauler
• AF Guardian
  

Related lists

• List of aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm
  

References

Notes

1. ^ Orbis 1985, pp. 1719-1720
2. ^ Fairey Aircraft Since 1915. London: Putnam, 1974. ISBN 0-370-00065-X.

Bibliography

External links

• Fleet air Arm Archive
• Two pictures of a Spearfish