One of the many ingredients required for creating a great aircraft
company is the ability to diversify, and this was just one of the
strengths that would keep the Fairey Aviation Company in business for
more than four decades. Like so many other aircraft manufacturers of the
day, it found its feet by taking on subcontract work, as well as
building up its own aircraft portfolio. Fairey did not just sit back and
produce aircraft in line with specifications, it designed new features
that would be incorporated in all aircraft in the future.
The company's greatest, and most surprising, success story also came
about in the 1930s, when the ubiquitous Swordfish entered production in
1936. This basic torpedo bombing biplane proved to be very effective
against enemy warships. Post World War Two production saw the naval
theme continue with the Firefly, which would see action in Korea, and
finally the Gannet, which continued to serve the Royal Navy well into
the 1970s. The company's venture into rotary wing aircraft would
eventually become its undoing, despite huge technical achievements being
achieved in a very short space of time, and it was absorbed into
Westlands in 1960. With over 150 images, this book charts the history of
the company and examines each aircraft it produced over its 45-year run.
This is a new edition of Fairey Company Profile 1915-1960.
