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FAIREY BIPLANES 100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE

BOMBERS RAF CENTENARY CELEBRATION 19

FAIREY BIPLANESFAIREY BIPLANESFAIREY BIPLANESFAIREY BIPLANESFAIREY BIPLANESFAIREY BIPLANESFAIREY BIPLANESFAIREY BIPLANES 100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE100 YEARS OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE

Above

Built in 1931 as a

Series III Mk.IVB, K

was converted into a

Gordon in 1932. It was

issued to 35 Squadron

at Bircham Newton in

July 1932 and moved

with the unit to the

Sudan in late 1935. It

crashed at 35’s base

at Gebeit, close to

the Red Sea coast, on

January 27, 1936.

© ANDY HAY

http://www.fl yingart.co.uk

Above

A gunner/observer

takes a camera from

a member of the

ground crew ready

for stowage in his

compartment on

board a Gordon of 40

Squadron at Upper

Heyford in 1931.

Note the externally

mounted Vickers

machine gun.

thinking from the ministry

and the rest of the industry: the

aircraft circumvented procedure

and used a foreign engine (Fairey

intended to build the D-12 in

Britain as the Felix, but with such a

small order, it was not economical).

There can be no doubt that

Hawker’s Sydney Camm was

enthused by the potential of the

thinking that had brought about

the Fox. Even the Air Ministry took

notice, realising that, occasionally,

manufacturers might be more in

tune with cutting-edge technology.

Foxes outshone all the ‘opposition’

in every exercise or demonstration

they attended. Their success, and

unique use by the unit, provided the

inspiration for 12 Squadron’s badge

• the face of a Vulpes vulpes, the red
  fox. Approved by King George VI
  in February 1937, the badge had the
  appropriate motto ‘Leads the Field’.
  After the Fairey Fox, 12 Squadron
  went on to operate Hawker Harts
  and Hinds (from 1931), Fairey
  Battles (1938), Vickers Wellingtons
  (1940), Avro Lancasters (1942),
  Avro Lincolns (1946), English
  Electric Canberras (1952), Avro
  Vulcans (1962) and Hawker
  Siddeley Buccaneers (1969).
  Its current equipment is the
  Panavia Tornado, which was
  adopted in 1993, and 12 Squadron
  will be one of the last to fly the
  swing-wing strike aircraft.

Fawn look pedestrian. Belgian-
born designer Marcelle Lobelle
came up with the Fox, the
first taking to the air on January
3, 1925. It did everything the Fawn
could do, but was nearly 50mph
(80km/h) faster – an incredible leap in
performance.
As the Fox wasn’t officially
sanctioned, it would be difficult to
get it accepted. The Chief of the Air
Staff, ACM Sir Hugh Trenchard,
visited the Fairey test airfield at
Northolt on July 28, 1925, when
chief test pilot Norman Macmillan
put the Fox through its paces. The
story goes that Trenchard was so
impressed he ordered a squadron of
Foxes from Richard Fairey there
and then.
Trenchard was true to his word:
Fairey built 28 of the revolutionary
bombers, but no more (although a
single-seat fighter development, the
Firefly, was produced for Belgium).
The only operational unit with Foxes
was 12 Squadron which took its first
examples in June 1926, some of which
were re-engined with Rolls-Royce
Kestrels, before they gave way to the
equally ground-breaking Hawker
Hart in 1931.

FACE OF THE FOX
Fairey is believed to have lost a
fortune developing the Fox. The
company was fighting entrenched

GORDON’S ALIVE

The final development of the Series

III abandoned the faithful Napier

Lion engine and adopted the

Armstrong Siddeley Panther radial.

As such it was referred to as the

Series IIIF Mk.V for the RAF and

the Mk.VI for the Fleet Air Arm

(FAA). The prototype, a conversion

of a IIIF Mk.IV, appeared in

April 1929.

It was high time to drop the ‘Series

III’ label and the new version was

called Gordon by the RAF and

Seal by the FAA – the RAF name

reviving memories of 19th century

warrior Major-General Charles

George Gordon.

Gordons entered service with the

re-formed 40 Squadron at Upper

Heyford in April 1931, and were

widely used in the Middle East,

replacing the last of the Bristol F.2b

Fighters. The last British-based

Gordons retired in November 1937.

The final Gordons rolled out of

the factory in 1934, completing

an astounding 17 years of

manufacturing Series III derivatives.

During the Iraq insurrection in

May 1941, the beleaguered 4 Flying

Training School at Habbaniya still

had some Gordons on hand to quell

German-backed hostilities.

AboveAbove

A gunner/observer A gunner/observer A gunner/observer A gunner/observer

Gordons entered service with the

re-formed 40 Squadron at Upper