The Fairey Fulmar FTSR MK1 and MK2 - the first multi role carrier aircraft

(Note the major POD's here is a slightly earlier rearmament by the UK and the FAA coming back under control of the Admiralty 18 months earlier at the beginning of 1937 and a minor POD's being a 27000 ton Armoured carrier design starting with Ark Royal and that Albert George "Ramp head" Elliott does not join Rolls Royce).

Conceived as a Multirole carrier aircraft (specification O.8/37) the Fairey Fulmar was a development of Faireys earlier light bomber concept the Fairey P.4/34 - an aircraft capable of close support and stressed for 'Drop Altitude Bombing' itself a slightly smaller version of the single engined Fairey Battle light bomber.

This particular aircraft lost out to the Hawker Henley but was presented in modified form as the Fairey 0.8/37.

This aircraft was subjected to a series of differing requirements over the next 18 months as the Navy sought to modernise its Fleet Air Arm in the face of the massive expansion of the RAF and a rapidly changing situation around the world.

Initially it was intended to be a aircraft that combined the attributes of Fighter, Bomber (with capability to dive bomb) and reconnaissance aircraft.

In 1938 Admiral Dowling (Brother of Air Marshall Dowding of the RAF) picked the new Vickers/Supermarine Spitfire as the basis of a new Fleet fighter and so the requirement of being a fleet fighter was removed from the Faireys O.8/37 design.

At roughly the same time the ability to carry a Torpedo was added. The new Swordfish torpedo bomber was already being declared as obsolete in the face of rapid improvements in aircraft design and performance, despite only just starting to replace the older Blackburn Baffin and Blackburn Shark torpedo bombers and the Fulmar with its legacy design being a light bomber was further modified to carry a Torpedo with the aim of replacing the Swordfish and Skua dive bomber by EOY 1939

These changes delayed the final prototype until March 1939 and with the clouds of war appearing across Europe the aircraft was immediately ordered by the RN (now desperately trying to modernise their aircraft 'estate') before acceptance trials had even finished and the type was put into production with an initial run of 600 aircraft made the same month.

The final aircraft the Fulmar FTSR MK1 had the following attributes

General characteristics (licked finger in the air needs work)

Crew: Two
Length: 40 ft 2 in (12.25 m)
Wingspan: 46 ft 4¼ in (14.13 m)
Height: 14 ft 0 in (4.27 m)
Wing area: 342 ft² (32 m²)
Empty weight: 7,015 lb (3,182 kg)
Loaded weight: 9,672 lb (4,387 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 11,200 lb (5,080 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Rolls-Royce Merlin 30 liquid-cooled inline V-12, 1,450 hp

Performance
Maximum speed: 278 mph at 7,250 ft (447 km/h at 2,200 m)
Range: 760 mi (1,255 km) without drop tanks
Service ceiling: 27,200 ft (8,300 m)
Wing loading: 28 lb/ft² (137 kg/m²)

Armament
8 × 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Browning machine guns wing-mounted, and occasionally 1 × .303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers K machine gun in rear cabin

1 × 1,670 lb (760 kg) torpedo or 1,500 lb (700 kg) mine under fuselage or 1,500 lb total of bombs under fuselage and wings.

Fairey however quickly ran into problems.

The company was struggling to fulfil RAF orders for the Fairey Battle Light Bomber (despite wanting to abandon light bombers production of suitable medium bombers was not enough to equip the growing number of RAF Squadrons so the Battle remained in production) and had also been chosen as the principle producer for the Navy's version of the Spitfire and was struggling to get the Fulmars production numbers into double figures by Sept 1939.

Worried by the delays and also concerned by the competition for the shared components for the Spitfire that the Sea Spitfire would use potentially delaying its production the Navy acted.

In Sept 1939 - war very nearly started for the UK when the Combined German-Russian invasion of Poland started - Britain being in another major war was no longer seen as a mere possibility but now a certainty.

The Navy in Oct re added the requirement for the Fulmar to act as a fleet fighter - luckily the design still retained the ability to mount 8 x Browning .303 MGs a holdover from the original requirement

Secondly Blackburn was contracted to build the Fulmar at its brand new modern facility at Sherburn-in-Elmet in Yorkshire - built to produce the Fairey Swordfish and its own Skua design the decision to replace both Aircraft with the more modern Multirole Fulmar had resulted in a sudden lack of orders for this factory as the original orders for both types had been cut/stopped and with the company familiar with Naval aircraft the choice made sense, and as it worked out, the majority of the first 600 Fulmars MK1s would be produced there.

The modern plant was soon out producing Fairey and on the outbreak of war with Germany in July 1940, 8 frontline and 10 training / replacement squadrons had been formed with a growing operational reserve.

This was enough to totally replace the Swordfish and Skuas on the New Armoured carriers Ark Royal and Illustrious as well as replacing 1 squadron of Swordfish on Furious, Courageous and Glorious.

While the Sea Spitfire was initially delayed by several issues enough had been produced to stand up 4 operation Squadrons with 4 Training / replacement squadrons and production issues had been largely overcome and the fighter was being produced at Faireys Hayes plant, Westland Aircraft Limited in Yeovil and Follands on the Hamble near Southampton.

This happy state of affairs lasted until the end of October 1940 and I must now bring the reader up to date with historical events as they had enfolded.

The war so many in Britain had predicted and feared eventually came to pass.

Despite having ensured Czechoslovakia's borders and sovereignty by standing up to Herr Hitler during the Munich conference in September 1938 and as many had hoped staved off war at least for a few years Germany's Military might had grown and had now effectively eclipsed that of France.

Germany having absorbed Austria during the relatively bloodless Anschluss in March 1938 and Much of Poland following the Joint German / Russian invasion of Poland on the 17th Sept 1939 (the day after the signing of the Molotov–Tōgō agreement) now turned its sights on Czechoslovakia - now surrounded both geographically and politically and weakened by what is now known to have been German backed factions dividing the nation.

On June 30th 1940 following days of violence after a Slovakian independence movement declaring the succession of Slovakia on the 19th June and on the same day several regions of the so called 'Sudetenland' also seceded from Czechoslovakia - Germany invaded the country under a pretext of restoring order and preventing what it claimed were the ethnic cleansing of Germans and Slovakians by the Czech armed forces.

The Reporter Clare Hollingworth despite heavy censorship was in the region and had noted the heavy German military build up from as early as the End of May and somewhat cynically would write that the German Government seemed very concerned for its 'citizens' welfare in Czechoslovakia.

On July 2nd Britain and France's ultimatum to Germany having not received a response both nations declared war on Germany.

The fighting in Czechoslovakia was fierce with heavy losses on both sides - but despite a spirited effort the main fighting only lasted 24 days until the last major military unit surrendered although the Government - now in London never formally did so.

Germany quickly then moved the bulk of its armed forces into the West of Germany before the French army had fully mobilised and the limited somewhat hesitant advance by a single French Army Corps quickly fell back on the Maginot line as the BEF's eventual total of 17 Divisions rushed into France as quickly as it could deploy taking up preplanned positions ready to advance into Belgium.

However Belgium remained Neutral.

At the end of July, Germany fearing efforts by the UK and France would interdict the strategically important iron ore supplies via Narvik invaded Denmark and Norway and both Britain and France scrambled to react.

This would be the first test of the Fulmar and early clashes with ME109 fighters, twin engine bombers exposed its fortes and foibles.

An early successes occurred when Ark Royals airgroup bombed Admiral Hipper and 2 of the 4 destroyers that had transported troops to Trondheim on Aug 1st - the 2 surviving destroyers quickly left the port and headed for open seas leaving the 1700 troops without much of their heavy equipment and supplies.

Several radar directed fighter interceptions resulted in a number of kills but conversely on 2 occasions dog fights with ME109s resulted in a negative kill rate proving the need for a modern fighter.

The successes by the RN during this campaign were all for nought as the German army invaded the Lowlands, Belgium and France in the first week of August and in an 11 campaign defeated the Allied armies and air forces with the Netherlands surrendering on Oct 3, Belgium on Oct 7th (the same day Italy declared war on the UK and France) with France asking for a ceasefire on the 17th Oct (when German advanced units reached the outskirts of Paris).

The Majority of BEF forces had already evacuated from several ports abandoning much of their equipment after the break through in the south of Belgium had isolated just over half the British force (and many allied units) against the Channel coast.

The same day Prime Minister (Alternative to Winston?) fearing that BEF forces would be trapped in France ordered all British forces now mostly West of the Seine to retreat to the closest port and as the French leadership were signing the Armistice and with that the western campaign came to a unhappy end.

What does all that have to do with the Fulmar?

Well as the last major units of the BEF were arriving back in the UK the RAF had lost over 1500 aircraft including over 600 precious fighters mostly Hurricanes but also a large number of Spitfires.

The decision was made to equip as many squadrons as possible with the Spitfire and this impacted production of the Sea Spitfire as all factories capable of building Spitfires and the associated components were now being leveraged to build up as many Spitfires as possible before Germany's gaze inevitably fell upon the United Kingdom.

This mean that the Royal Navy was unable to increase numbers of Sea Spitfire Squadrons before production restarted in Feb 41 and only had a limited stock of replacement airframes and spares and was forced to disband several 'Home Fleet' squadrons in order to maintain the interceptor Squadrons on the 2 Armoured carriers operating in the Med towards the end of 1940 and so the greater burden towards the latter part of 1940 and the early part of 1941 fell upon the Fulmar.

In the next installment - 'Judgement Day' the Fulmar verse the Italians in the Mediterranean
 
An attack on Norway in July would be a disaster for the KM.
In OTL, they gained a couple of days of grace against the RN dues to the bad weather. Even off Norway, you dont get too many blizzards in July.
So the attack groups that didnt get intercepted will be. More of the KM will be sunk, and more damaged. It willmake OTL look apositive outcome.
(The RN may lose/have damaged more ships, but they are perfectly happy to trade 1:1 if they have to).
Its quite possible the KM doesnt even try for Narvik, it really would be suicide, although Hitler might do it anyway.

There is also a ground advantage for the Entente - fighting in the Summer reduces the advantaged Germany had by using Mountain troops used to fighting in snow. Not a lot, but it all helps.

I'm really not convinced about what seems like a copy of the Battle of France, for a numberof reasons.
Swapping Poland and CZ means the Germans dont get the output of the CZ factories for a year. Fewer medium tanks.
I dont think they'd get as much useful loot from Poland as they did from CZ, so they would be more limited in production in 39-40.
They also lose troops and tanks in CZ, and have to occupy the country.

So ther force atttacking west is smaller, with a lot fewer tanks(at least, a lot fewer Pz3/4). Against a French army with more armour, and a BEF twice as strong. The OTL Battle of France was dicey for Germany as it was, given weaker attackers and stronger defenders it seems very likely the French collapse doesn't happen. There are a lot of changes and butterflies here I think you need to address.

There is also another option for the FAA MPA.
The RAF wasn't happy with the Battle as they wanted a bigger bomber (of course, that was always the case in the AM).
A slightly modified Battle would do the dive bomber/TBR roles very adequately.
It had the range. With the higher power merlin, it as the speed and performance. Even at 1000hp it could carry 1500lb of bombs ith 3 men, going up 300 to carry a torpedo is easy. There is also bombing equipment that would be unnecessary to allow for navalisation.
Two men for the DB role - the Battle was stressed for 80 degree dives already.

Given a Sea Spitfire (or even a Sea Hurricane) as the fighter, two planes is all you need.
Battle production by late 1939 was big, so allocating some to the FAA isnt too hard,especially as the RAF really prefer a bigger bomber (the Battlelooks far too much like an army support plane for the AM's taste).
The SeaBattle would supercede the Skua and the Swordfish, with better performance. Ideally have it looked at around 37 as to the mods required - Fairey understand naval planes, so that helps - with an eye to getting some in 1939 when production rates soared.
 
How do we get a 1500Hp merlin so early? Is this solely due to not having Albert George Elliott design a dud ramp head. If so then without the protracted development cycle of the Merlin I into the Merlin II, is it not possible ITTL to develop the Griffon earlier as well, it is the engine the FAA always wanted.
?
 
An attack on Norway in July would be a disaster for the KM.
In OTL, they gained a couple of days of grace against the RN dues to the bad weather. Even off Norway, you dont get too many blizzards in July.
So the attack groups that didnt get intercepted will be. More of the KM will be sunk, and more damaged. It willmake OTL look apositive outcome.
(The RN may lose/have damaged more ships, but they are perfectly happy to trade 1:1 if they have to).
Its quite possible the KM doesnt even try for Narvik, it really would be suicide, although Hitler might do it anyway.

There is also a ground advantage for the Entente - fighting in the Summer reduces the advantaged Germany had by using Mountain troops used to fighting in snow. Not a lot, but it all helps.

I'm really not convinced about what seems like a copy of the Battle of France, for a numberof reasons.
Swapping Poland and CZ means the Germans dont get the output of the CZ factories for a year. Fewer medium tanks.
I dont think they'd get as much useful loot from Poland as they did from CZ, so they would be more limited in production in 39-40.
They also lose troops and tanks in CZ, and have to occupy the country.

So ther force atttacking west is smaller, with a lot fewer tanks(at least, a lot fewer Pz3/4). Against a French army with more armour, and a BEF twice as strong. The OTL Battle of France was dicey for Germany as it was, given weaker attackers and stronger defenders it seems very likely the French collapse doesn't happen. There are a lot of changes and butterflies here I think you need to address.

There is also another option for the FAA MPA.
The RAF wasn't happy with the Battle as they wanted a bigger bomber (of course, that was always the case in the AM).
A slightly modified Battle would do the dive bomber/TBR roles very adequately.
It had the range. With the higher power merlin, it as the speed and performance. Even at 1000hp it could carry 1500lb of bombs ith 3 men, going up 300 to carry a torpedo is easy. There is also bombing equipment that would be unnecessary to allow for navalisation.
Two men for the DB role - the Battle was stressed for 80 degree dives already.

Given a Sea Spitfire (or even a Sea Hurricane) as the fighter, two planes is all you need.
Battle production by late 1939 was big, so allocating some to the FAA isnt too hard,especially as the RAF really prefer a bigger bomber (the Battlelooks far too much like an army support plane for the AM's taste).
The SeaBattle would supercede the Skua and the Swordfish, with better performance. Ideally have it looked at around 37 as to the mods required - Fairey understand naval planes, so that helps - with an eye to getting some in 1939 when production rates soared.

Hello mate - yeah I need to flesh out the campaigns a bit more but effetively the Germans do not capture Narvik (the attempt is 'defeated/abandoned at sea due to a faster british reaction - but do capture the more populous south of the country and cling on to Trondheim despite heavier than OTL losses - then the invasion of the Lowlands and France etc makes the campaign a real sideshow and with the defeat of France the British evacuate

As for CZ the country was undergoing a great deal of internal strife particulalrly in the Easern 'Slavakian' part and the Sudetenland region (due to genuine civil and internal issues as well as those stired up by Germany) which seriously hamstrung their ability to resist the invasion - and of course the German Army had learned all of the lessons from its Poland campaign including sending all of its battalion commanders through a refresher course ensuring that all units were aligned going into 1940 as they did OTL. So now for the invasion of France yes they have fewer tanks but are conversly more experianced with now 2 campaigns under their belts.

The subsequant Lowlands and France campaign lasts several weeks longer than OTL (Im going for 9 weeks) as a result of the BEF being slightly larger and the French being marginally more ready than OTL but not enough to change the fotunes of war.

As for the Fulmar in my head it is a half breed between the OTL Fulmar and the Battle in that it has a sligtly larger wing and a more powerful engine - I still need to work on the actual dimensions.

But basically a Fulmar Fighter that can carry a 1,670 lb (760 kg) torpedo

How do we get a 1500Hp merlin so early? Is this solely due to not having Albert George Elliott design a dud ramp head. If so then without the protracted development cycle of the Merlin I into the Merlin II, is it not possible ITTL to develop the Griffon earlier as well, it is the engine the FAA always wanted.
?

Wait for it......

You are correct basically the Griffon is developed earlier due to an earlier development of the Merlin (no ramp head fisasco) and Vulture (which is abandoned earlier) is going to be used on the Mk2 and later Sea Spitfires (might have to do something about that name...Seaspits? Spitseas??? I'll think of something!) which by 1941 will start to properly diverge from its RAF brethren

Naturally this developing Fulmar will evolve into a Baraccuda / Firefly hybrid ;)
 
In the PAM time line I have a monoplane Fairey Albacore with a 1300Hp engine based on a cross between Fairey's original monoplane Swordfish proposal and a Battle/P4.34 mash up!!
 
From the Dear late lameted JustLeo's archive:-

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Now Ark Royal et al full of these beauties in 1938 would have been awesome, give it a wartime development program like the Spitfire and in 1945 she is still among the best.
 
To Judgement Day and beyond - Oct - Dec 1940 - Part 1 - A most hateful decision
To Judgement Day and beyond - Oct - Dec 1940 - Part 1

With the Battle for France now over, the British withdrawing from Norway despite the Allies having handled the KM very roughly during that campaign and the French Hunting group 'Force L' based around the carrier Bearn and the Battleship Dunkerque having famously sunk the panzerschiffe Deutschland off the Brazilian coast leaving the German Navy with just a handful of surface vessels and the Luftwaffe bringing its might to bear on the UK things were not looking good for the remaining Allies

The Subsequent epic defence of the 'Home Island' in what was to become the Battle of Britain is out of scope for this account except where the quite correct demands for resources impacted the Fleet Air Arm - which was already impacting deliveries of the Sea Spitfire and would continue to do so until the new year putting greater pressure on the Fulmar Squadrons.

One small silver lining was that the Battle had been found seriously wanting during the Battle for France and had been withdrawn as a day bomber and all remaining orders cancelled with the type relegated to coastal command and training units

The entry of the Italians on the side of the Axis on Oct 7th might have come as a shock to some - but not the Royal Navy.

The entry of the Italians into a future war had been predicted or at least heavily planned for.

"Just because we at the Admiralty are paranoid does not mean that some one is 'not' out to get us" - or so went the saying

As early as 1935 senior naval commanders had been making plans to deal with the Italian fleet in a conflict in the Mediterranean and during the Munich in 1938 crisis then Captain Lumley Lyster at the time Captain of the Glorious and the senior commander in the Med - Admiral Pound and a small staff formulated a plan that would involve initially a single carrier conducting a night strike using Swordfish TBDs and over the next 2 years the plan backed by multiple exercises evolved into the one used on a moonless night at the end of Oct 1940.

The Italian Army in North Africa following the Armistice with France made an abortive advance into Egypt in the last week of Oct but woefully underprepared for such an operation stopped and dug in around Sidi Barrani (much to the relief of the understrength British forces in the region).

Admiral AB Cunningham who had been commander of the Mediterranean fleet since 1939 had been verbally briefed on the plan to attack the Italian fleet by Admiral Pound when the latter became first Sea Lord (indeed no operational plan was ever committed to paper until the eve of the actual attack).

So when the Italians entered the war and declared the Mediterranean 'Mare Nostrum' - or 'Our Sea' the Royal Navy was fully prepared to prove that statement a lie.

But before that fateful night - a series of distasteful and somewhat tragic events would unfold in the region.

"This was the most hateful decision, the most unnatural and painful in which I have ever been concerned". Sir Winston Churchill, Then First Lord of the Admiralty

Following the French Armistice there was a great deal of concern in Whitehall mostly driven by the First Lord of the Admiralty Sir Winston Churchill that the French would be pressured into handing over its fleet to the Italians (principly its 7 battleships) and at a stroke upset the balance of power in the region and beyond.

We now know nearly 80s years after the event that the French had no intention of allowing its ships to be handed over to the Axis (as they would subsequently prove beyond any doubt in late 41) and there was no plans by the Germans to take them (mainly through not unreasonable fears that the French Navy would join the British if they tried) but the implications were so serious at the time that the British Government ordered the Royal Navy to 'force the issue'

French fleets in various ports were given 3 very blunt options

  • Hand the ships over to the British / join the Free French Forces
  • Sail to a neutral nation - such as the USA and intern the ships
  • Or destroy/disable the ships to prevent their use

Now where French ships were in Allied ports the ships were either seized or as in the case of Force L sailed to Halifax and joined the Free French where they were to prove very useful

But those fleets in African Ports gave no answer and were attacked - in Mers El Kebir several British Battleships and the Hood shelled the port after negotiations failed damaging several ships and tragically in the case of Provence detonated her magazine

The Fulmar's part in this dark episode was to provide air cover and to act in the strike role vs any ships trying to escape as well as mine the entrance to the harbour if negotiations failed.

The first clash happened when a group of 18 Fulmars From Illustrious seeded the harbour entrance with magnetic mines and were intercepted while doing so by a squadron of Hawk 75A1s - a second group of 4 Fulmars from Ark Royal had been flying top cover and managed to bounce the French fighters first shooting down 2 before the fight turned into a fur ball.

The remaining 7 Hawks were suddenly faced with 22 Fulmars including the 'Farmers' who, now having dropped their mines, were able to freely maneuver as fighters

The dog fight resulted in 1 Fulmar having to make a forced landing in Oran after its engine was damaged and it and the crew were interned. In addition 3 others were badly damaged (2 being written off) but only 5 of the 11 Hawks returned to their base with 2 of those crash landing.

However the Hawks had interrupted the mine laying operation and the planned field was not as perfect as hoped - however it had proven the Fulmars multi role capabilities particulalrly against a fighter as good as the Hawk.

During all of this the Battleship Strasburg had attempted to flee with 4 destroyers and all 5 ships exited the port without detonating any of the 18 mines.

HMS Hood attempted to give chase but being several years overdue for a major refit came back to haunt her and she was in poor material shape and this resulting in serious damage to one of her turbines as she tried to keep up with the French ships. The resulting damage effectively wrecked the outer Starboured shafts turbine and this reduced her speed to less than 25 knots obliging the Battlecruiser to abandon the chase.

Strasburg and her escorts having broken through the blockade now attempted to head back to France but an attack by a mixed formation of Ark Royal and Illustrious Fulmars plus half a dozen Swordfish from Ark Royal before nightfall managed to hit her with 2 torpedos although 2 of the Swordfish were shot down (their crews being rescued by the Destroyer HMS Wessex).

The damage while not fatal forced her to return to Mers El Kebir during the night and she was heavily damaged again 2 nights later when Fulmars from Illustrious attempted to torpedo her in harbour but managed to miss her - they did however sink the Patrol boat Terre-Neuve which was alongside and her Depth charges exploded as she sank causing serious damage Strasburg and opening up many of her wounds obliging her crew to beach her to prevent her sinking.

Another action involving the Fulmar took place of Dakar when a single squadron of Fulmars from the new Light fleet HMS Colossus attacked ships - principly the Battleship Richelieu which had not finished fitting out by the time the armistice occurred and had been sent to the West African Port for Safety.

An abortive attempt to shell the ship was first made by Resolution and Revenge which ended badly with Resolution hit by a torpedo from a French submarine and the fleet was forced to retire

6 Fulmars from Colossus that same evening made an attack on the ship (made difficult as several British Freighters interned in the port were being used as an impromptu torpedo barrier forcing them to attack from landward).

The attack hit her with 1 torpedo wrecking the outer port shaft and the ship remained crippled and incomplete until late 41 when she joined the Free French Forces and was refitted/completed in the USA.

This particular attack had several implications regarding the planning for the subsequent attack on Taranto a week later.

Next: To Judgement Day and beyond - Oct - Dec 1940 - Part 2 - Invenire Figere Et Percutere (find fix and strike)
 
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You are correct basically the Griffon is developed earlier due to an earlier development of the Merlin (no ramp head fisasco) and Vulture (which is abandoned earlier) is going to be used on the Mk2 and later Sea Spitfires (might have to do something about that name...Seaspits? Spitseas??? I'll think of something!) which by 1941 will start to properly diverge from its RAF brethren

The name you're thinking of Seafire.
 
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