The Fairey Fulmar was a British carrier-borne fighter aircraft that served with the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) during the Second World War. A total of 600 were built by Fairey Aviation at its Stockport factory between January 1940 and December 1942. The Fulmar's design was based on that of the earlier Fairey P.4/34 that was in turn developed in 1936 as a replacement for the Fairey Battle light bomber. Although its performance (like that of its Battle antecedent) was lacking, the Fulmar was a reliable, sturdy aircraft with long range and an effective eight machine gun armament.
Variants[]
- Fulmar Mk.I: First production variant powered by a 1,035 hp (772 kW) (1,275 hp at take off) Rolls-Royce Merlin VIII; 8 × .303 Browning Mk.II (750 rounds per gun), 250 built.
- Fulmar Mk.II: Updated variant powered by a 1,300 hp (970 kW) Merlin XXX with a new propeller and the addition of tropical equipment; 8 × .303 Browning Mk.II (1,000 rounds per gun) or 4 × 0.5 in (13 mm) Browning AN/M2 – part of the last batch (170 rounds per gun, in other sources specified 370 rounds per gun), some finished as night fighters, one prototype converted from a Mk.I and 350 built.
- Fulmar NF Mk.II: Mk.II night fighter with an Air Interception AI Mk. IV radar (1 aircraft) or AI Mk.X radar (other); 4 × 0.50 Browning AN/M2 – about 50 aircraft (other 8 × .303 Browning Mk.II), total were converted from the Mk.II nearly 100 aircraft.
Users[]
See Also[]
Related Development[]
- Fairey Battle
- Fairey Firefly
