World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe Firefly carrier-borne fighters were designed by Fairey Aviation's H. E. Chaplin in 1940. In Jun 1940, the British Admiralty ordered 200 of them for the Fleet Air Arm. After the prototype took flight in Dec 1941, the low-wing cantilever monoplane design entered production shortly, but they were not delivered until Mar 1943 and were not used on the front lines until Jul 1944. Most of the Firefly fighters used during WW2 were of the Mk 1 variant. At the end of the war, they flew reconnaissance missions, anti-shipping patrols, and some of them participated in the 1944 attack on the German battleship Tirpitz. After the war, Firefly fighters served with United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Denmark, Thailand, and other forces, participating in conflicts such as the Korean War and the Malayan Emergency. The Thai air force operated them until 1966.

ww2dbaseThe Firefly aircraft were produced between 1941 and 1955, totally 1,702 units; only 700 to 800 of them were produced during WW2.

Firefly Timeline

SPECIFICATIONS

Mk I

Machinery	One Rolls-Royce Griffon IIB liquid-cooled V12 engine rated at 1,730hp
Armament	4x20mm Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannons, 2x450kg bombs or 8x27kg rockets
Crew	2
Span	13.57 m
Length	11.46 m
Height	4.14 m
Wing Area	31.00 m²
Weight, Empty	4,254 kg
Weight, Maximum	6,359 kg
Speed, Maximum	509 km/h
Service Ceiling	8,530 m
Range, Normal	1,070 km

Mk IV

Machinery	One Rolls-Royce Griffon IIB liquid-cooled V12 engine rated at 1,730hp
Armament	4x20mm Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannons, 2x450kg bombs, 8x27kg rockets
Crew	2
Span	13.57 m
Length	11.46 m
Height	4.37 m
Wing Area	30.66 m²
Weight, Empty	4,300 kg
Weight, Loaded	6,000 kg
Weight, Maximum	6,359 kg
Speed, Maximum	618 km/h
Rate of Climb	9.70 m/s
Service Ceiling	8,530 m
Range, Normal	1,070 km

Photographs