Fairey Flycatcher
The Fairey Flycatcher was a British carrier-based biplane fighter aircraft of the 1920s, which was produced by the Fairey Aviation Company. It made its first flight on 28 November 1922.
Development
The Fairey Flycatcher was designed as a single-seat fighter who could both start from aircraft carriers as could be used as a catapult aircraft of capital ships from. She was one of the first aircraft specifically designed for this use. To this end, received the Flycatcher flaps on both wings, and the start landing distance allowed a short. Although the wings could not be folded, but be disassembled into segments each of 4 m. For use as a catapult aircraft could the chassis to float, are used for the water landing ship nearby, replaced. Also a combination of chassis with wheels and floats for amphibious use was present.
Description
Although developed after the First World War, the Flycatcher but the aircraft of those years was arrested, what in particular relates to the materials used. The wing and the rear part of the hull were covered with fabric, wood, only the front part of the trunk was made of metal. Instead of a tail wheel, the model has a hull spur. Production began in 1923, in the following years came the Flycatcher for use on all aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy, alongside other more famous airplanes like the Fairey III or the Blackburn Ripon. In 1935 it was decommissioned.
There is still an airworthy replica in the UK. It can be seen in the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovil in the south of the county of Somerset.