Fairey Delta 2 by Dora Wings
1/72 scale
Kit No. 72009
Retail: $32.00
Decals: Four versions, three for WG 774, which made the record-breaking speed flight; one for WG 777
Comments: Engraved panel lines
History
The Fairey Delta 2 was a British supersonic research aircraft that was produced by the Fairey Aviation Company in response to a specification from the Ministry of Supply for a specialized aircraft to investigate controlled flight at transonic and supersonic speeds. The Delta 2, featuring a delta wing and a drooped nose, was the final aircraft to be produced by Fairey as an independent manufacturer.
In the late 1940s Britain was trailing far behind in supersonic aircraft design. To try to retrieve matters the Ministry of Supply issued a specification for a supersonic research aircraft. In February 1949, it was suggested that Fairey examine the prospects for a single-engine transonic aircraft to investigate controlled flight at transonic and supersonic speeds. There was some skepticism about Fairey’s suitability for this task, since at the time, Fairey was mostly known for producing naval aircraft, such as the Fairey Swordfish biplane and the Fairey Firefly monoplane; the design team lacked experience with high speed projects.
As a remedy to this, in October 1951, Sir Robert Lickley of Hawker Aircraft was promptly recruited as Fairey’s new Chief Engineer and became a major force behind the programme. By the end of the year, the company had produced their new project, out of which the Fairey Delta 2 (FD2) would directly originate. Accordingly, the Ministry issued Air Ministry Specification ER.103 for the project, ordering that a pair of prototype aircraft be produced.
The final design was a single-seat, delta-winged aircraft powered by a Rolls-Royce Avon engine with an afterburner. The aircraft was named the Fairey Delta 2, or FD2. To improve the pilot’s forward view during landing, taxiing and take-off, the cockpit and nose section could be hinged downwards by ten degrees. A similar feature was used on the Concorde.
Fairey test-pilot Peter Twiss flew the first FD2, WG774, on its maiden flight on October 6, 1954. During early flight tests, repeated supersonic test runs over southern Britain were conducted; as a result of these flights, a number of claims for damages against the supersonic booms were received. Tests of the Delta 2’s low-level supersonic flight capability were disrupted due to the perceived heightened risk posed by supersonic booms being produced during lower altitude flight; as such, the Ministry of Supply refused to allow this testing to be performed over the UK. Despite this refusal, Fairey was able to base the Delta 2 temporarily in France and later in Norway so that the tests could be performed.
Given its performance, there was interest in having the Delta 2 attempt to break the world speed record, then held by the North American F-100 Super Sabre, clocking in at a speed of 1,215 km/h (755 mph), set on August 20th, 1955. But when it came to breaking this record, Fairey found the British government surprisingly disinterested. Fairey found the Ministry of Supply unsupportive, having adopted the prevailing belief being that manned military aircraft would soon be replaced by guided missiles. Fairey had great difficulty in obtaining permission for the attempt. Twiss stated that the situation was “curiously inverted” from expectations, having expected that government agencies would have been enthusiastically pressing for a record-breaking flight as a means to bolster national prestige.
Fairey was confronted by a combination of scepticism and apathy from the government, to the extent that it appeared opposed to the endeavor. The Ministry of Supply wanted to avoid any association with a speed record bid, and even Rolls-Royce, the FD2’s engine manufacturer, dismissed the attempt, claiming that the air intakes were unsuitable for speeds around Mach 1.5, and that the Avon engine would disintegrate at such speeds, despite an absence of any practical data to support this assertion. In spite of this opposition, Fairey perservered, and were given permission to proceed on condition that it finance its own insurance for the attempt.
On March 10, 1956 an attempt was funally made on the World Air Speed Record. At the time, the F-100C, an upgraded variant of the F-100, held the standing speed record at 1,323 km/h (822 mph). Twiss broke the speed record by more than 483kph (300mph). The new record was 1820kph (1132mph).
Subsequent to establishing the speed record, the Fairey Delta 2 assisted in the development of the Concorde supersonic airliner. A testbed aircraft was required to verify design calculations and wind tunnel results for the Concorde “ogee delta” wing design so one of the aircraft was extensively rebuilt as the BAC 221. On 1 May 1964, the modified aircraft performed its first flight. The FD2 was also used as the basis for Fairey’s submissions to the Ministry for advanced all-weather interceptor designs, culminating in the proposed Fairey Delta 3 to meet the F.155 specification; however, the FD3 never got past the drawing-board stage.
The Kit
Dora Wings’ Fairey Delta 2 is injection molded in dark grey plastic and consists of 70 parts, including two clear parts for the canopy and windshield. Paint masks and a small photo etch fret for the wing fences are provided. The cockpit is nicely detailed with a main instrument panel featuring delicate recessed detail (and for which a decal is also provided), a separately mounted control yoke, and a five-part ejection seat assembly that also features photo etch seat straps. The cockpit assembly also features a separate hood for the instrument panel, and front and rear bulkheads.
The kit has detailed interior parts for the intakes, as well as an engine exhaust pipe assembly that runs fairly deep into the fuselage before ending in an exhaust fan. The thin two-part delta wings feature interior wheel well detail, and each wing has two separately mounted elevons in addition to the photo etch wing fences. There is a separately mounted rudder, and the nose assembly can be positioned in the in-flight position, or the “drooped” take-off and landing position. The landing gear also feature painstaking detail, as does the nose wheel well.
Markings
The kit provides decals by Decograph with realistic color that are fully in register. There are three versions of WG 774, which shattered the world air speed record on March 10, 1956: The first is in its world air speed livery of overall natural metal with orange flashes along the top, bottom, and sides of the pointed nose. The second is the same aircraft as it appeared in September 1955, similar to the first version with the only difference being the absence of the orange flashes. Third is WG 774 appearing in a schem of overall scheme of what the instructions call Violet, but which looks like a Deep Red, almost a Fuchsia — this is how the aircraft appeared at the September 1958 Farnborough Air Show. Fourth is WG 777, painted in overall Royal Blue, a color the instructions call Aircraft Blue. To help settle color discrepancies, the instructions identify colors by paint numbers corresponding to Tamiya, Mr. Hobby, Ammo MIG, Hataka, and LifeColor paint lines.
Conclusion
This is a beautiful updated kit of a recordbreaking supersonic research aircraft that assisted in the development of the Concorde airliner, and is rumored to have influenced the development of the Mirage III. A long awaited modernization to complement the venerable Frog/Novo kit. Highly recommended.
References
- https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/collections/fairey-fd2/
- https://simpleflying.com/fairey-delta-2-history/