Fairey Spearfish

MerlinPete : looks as though the roundels have been re-touched or doctored in some way on your photos : are the originals like that? and sagindragin, the tone of the rudder is very similar to that of the roundel red and on the fin flash in published photographs I have in a few books on the shelf. The red was almost a ‘brick red’, possibly a little more muted,than your example, but colour and tonal differences can be somewhat objective. The photos I’ve seen of RN241 as in the photographs above show sharper definition of the fuselage roundel with standard yellow surround ,blue white and red inner.

Looks all right to me, but someone might provide you with a sample!

hi all,

like this, or is this to bright.

hi james,

thanks for that, i thought that what it was but needed confirmation.
mind you it probably is painted another colour completely:)

in the process of doing some profiles now, but i have a query, in the photos posted by pete you can see a dark coloured rudder.
now the rudder is fabric covered, could this be a recovering that as not been painted silver yet, i asume the fabric dope is red, can anyone confirm this( the colour of the dope) or have they painted it for some other reason:rolleyes:

A very dark ‘brick red’ was a common colour for the fabric dope in the period. IIRC, it was the first coats of dope that were red, then a later one was silver to protect the fabric from sunlight – I’m sure someone with hands-on experience can correct that!

hi guys,

in the process of doing some profiles now, but i have a query, in the photos posted by pete you can see a dark coloured rudder.
now the rudder is fabric covered, could this be a recovering that as not been painted silver yet, i asume the fabric dope is red, can anyone confirm this( the colour of the dope) or have they painted it for some other reason:rolleyes:

Excellent result, I think It’s the first time I have seen it with the wings folded!

Looks like you’ve cracked it. Ian Huntley is definately the guy to speak to about post-war Faireys.

hi all,

hi all,

some of you will know i am in the process of doing a major set of drawings of the Spearfish, one of the major setbacks was lack of good images, or even images for that matter, i am please to say that thanks to Dogsbody (AWF) and John Adams ( Aeroclub) and Merlinpete and now today i have recieved 7 good quality images from the Research Section at the RAF Museum, at no charge.
so here is how much was done before todays windfall.

i would just like to give a big THANK YOU, to the guys at the museum, a service like this is worth a fortune, keep up the good work guys.

i am still looking for even more images, so if you know where there is some, or have any please let me know.

john
sagindragin
airwarfareforum.com

He is the man to help you!

hi guys,

good response, i already have the Flight cutaway and the Air International one, i have a couple of 3 views, which are very rough to say the least.

the three images from Pete are fantastic, they will be fine Pete, no need for larger ones, i have found several detail shots in the Flight magazine Archive section 1946 i believe, also i have some still images from a film from Pathe News, so the more i get the better.

intention is for accurate drawings, maybe 6 view and a couple of profiles, so keep your fingers crossed.

also hoping to recieve some help from Ian D Huntley, who used to work at Fairey’s.

john

Heres a general arrangement three view drawing, this along with the cutaway link above shows quite nicely how the remote control Frazer Nash turret was mounted.

Are these any help to you?
E-mail me if you want better copies as my scanner doesn`t do them justice!
The originals are 7 1/2″ x 4 1/2″

Pete

There is a photo of RA356 taken by Charles Brown in the RAF Museum archives 6093-2. Also Flight cutaway http://www.flightglobal.com/AIRSPACE/photos/militaryaviation1903-1945cutaways/fairey-spearfish-cutaway-10577.aspx

Spearfish

A chap named Alan Clark scratchbuilt a large-scale (about 1/12th) static display model a few years back for the IPMS at Telford. It was superb with loads of detail including a (good old) Centaurus engine.
It had access panels removed and cutaways of the structure (IIRC) in superb miniature detail so the info must be available somewhere.
It may be worth Googling his name and seeing what comes up. You may even be able to contact him for info.

Tony Buttler book

british secret projects 1935-1950 fighters and bombers has a nice piccie accredited to Flypast, maybe worth a punt?

A beautiful beast indeed, possibly the pinnacle of piston engined topedo bomber design.
Is this for a 3 view line drawing or full colour images?