19kilo wrote:
I would say the RN was right up there in the top three of carrier operating nations, and was probably the best equiped carrier navy in Europe at that time, indeed the only real deficiancy I could find would be distressing lack of development of a high performance single engine single seat shipboard fighter.
Unfortunately though the Fulmar was the best carrier fighter until the Zero arrived in mid 41 the concepts behind it became pretty obselete even before that. The RN was operating within range of modern land based aircraft and the age of the Capital ship raider died with the Bismarck. Britain did not have the resources to design and build a suitable single naval seat fighter as a replacement and with lend lease and coupled with the decimation of the RN's carrier fleet it would have been a pointless exercise anyway. I dont see it too much of a deficency but rather a practical course. No one would argue that Britain was stretched to the limit and Germany was the main foe and the main naval threat posed by her was now UBoats. Range was not a factor for the remaining 3 years of the war at sea in Europe thats why a Seafire despite its numerous drawbacks was useful.
Unfortunately though the Fulmar was the best carrier fighter until the Zero arrived in mid 41 the concepts behind it became pretty obsolete even before that
Part of the problem with the Fulmar was that its performance development ended in Jan 1941 when the Fulmar II/Merlin30 arrived. The Merlin 30 produced about 1300hp, but a Merlin 45M, for example was able to produce 1440-1585hp, depending on the boost level, and this would have given the Fulmar better climb and speed than a F4F-4 under about 15000ft. The 45M was the same size and weight as the Merlin 30 and would have kept the Fulmar competitive for another year or two.
19kilo wrote:Didnt the Fulmar lead to the superb (as an attacker and night fighter) Firefly?
In some ways, but the Firefly was the product of a different Fairey design team, and apparently didn't have much in common with the Fulmar, although both had a similar appearance. The Fulmar was descended from an earlier design, the P.4/34, where the Firefly was a clean sheet design and was intended to use the RR Griffon engine, rather than a Merlin.
Pretty ironic that the Firefly had a long career as a strike aircraft though not its intended role and the dive bombers got pensioned off straight after the war.
Gopher wrote:Pretty ironic that the Firefly had a long career as a strike aircraft though not its intended role and the dive bombers got pensioned off straight after the war.
The Firefly was always intended to be strike-fighter, and served in that role in 1944/45.
