Fireflash
Fireflash | |
---|---|
Fairey Aviation | |
No. built | c. 300 |
Specifications | |
Mass | 150 kilograms (330 lb) |
Length | 111.75 inches (2,838 mm) |
Wingspan | 28.11 inches (714 mm) |
Detonation mechanism | Proximity fuze |
Engine | Two solid fuel rocket motors |
Operational range | 1.9 miles (3.1 km) |
Maximum speed | Mach 2 |
Guidance system | beam rider |
Steering system | control surfaces |
Launch platform | Aircraft |
Fireflash was the United Kingdom's first air-to-air guided missile to see service with the Royal Air Force. Constructed by Fairey Aviation, the missile utilised radar beam riding guidance. Fireflash had relatively limited performance and required the launching aircraft to approach the target from a limited angle astern.
The approximately 300 production Fireflash missiles were mostly expended as a training weapon to familiarize RAF pilots with missile firing. It was declared operational very briefly in 1957, thus becoming the RAF's first operational air-to-air missile, but was quickly replaced by the de Havilland Firestreak the next year.
Development
Red Hawk
In January 1945 the
In 1947, the various ongoing guided weapon projects in the UK were centralized at the RAE. In the immediately following period, a rationalized development program was laid out that called for the development of a surface-to-air missile (SAM) for the Royal Navy that became Seaslug, a similar SAM design for the British Army and Royal Air Force known by the code name "Red Heathen",[a] the Blue Boar anti-shipping bomb, and ongoing development of Red Hawk.[2]
The initial development contract for Red Hawk was released to
Pink Hawk and Blue Sky
It was soon realized that the all-aspect capability of Red Hawk was beyond the
Fairey Aviation won the contract to develop Blue Sky, which they referred to internally as Project 5. Like the original Little Ben, Project 5 called for a beam riding missile able to be launched from the rear aspect within a 15° cone.
Development of Blue Sky was aided by ongoing projects at Fairey in rocket propulsion that were being used to support the development of the
Testing and service
Fireflash was given its name by the RAF as development continued. It scored its first live-fire success in 1953, successfully destroying a
About 300 missiles had been produced by 1955, but the
Fireflash was deployed on a very limited scale by the RAF in August 1957,[8] and "had a limited capability against piston-engine bombers."[8] The RAF deployed the later and more effective de Havilland Firestreak infra-red missile from August 1958.[8]
Description
The Fireflash was a beam riding missile - it was designed to fly down a radio beam emitted by the launch aircraft, which the pilot would keep aimed at the target.
It had a very unusual configuration: the missile body was unpowered. It was propelled by a pair of
This configuration drastically limited both range and flight duration, but was used because of fears that
Steering was accomplished by four rudders in a cruciform configuration. These were moved by four pairs of pneumatic servos, operated by solenoid valves. An air bottle, pressurized to 3,000 pounds per square inch (21,000 kPa), supplied air for the servos and also supplied the air that spun the three, air-blown gyroscopes in the missile's inertial navigation system. A high pressure air supply from the aircraft was also required to spin the gyros before the missile was launched.[10]
The purpose of the control system was to keep the missile centred in the guidance beam emitted by the launch aircraft. The pilot of the aircraft would keep the beam aligned with the target using his gunsight, which was harmonized with the axis of the radio beam.[10] An advantage of this system was that it would be unaffected by the target aircraft using radar countermeasures such as chaff. The missile's receiver, fitted at the rear, only detected signals from the launch aircraft.[11]
Operators
Survivors
Fireflashes are part of the collections of the
See also
- Sea Slug missile– a contemporary naval beam-riding missile with wrap-around boosters
- Rainbow Codes
Notes
- ^ Which subsequently diverged into separate Army and RAF projects, Red Shoes and Red Duster respectively.
- ^ Perhaps under the direction of Flt Lt Benson, who had worked on the Spaniel and Artemis projects.[1]
- ^ A cordite charge within a cylinder drove a piston, that sheared the pin that attached each rocket to the missile.
- Starstreak missile.
References
Citations
- ^ a b c d e f Gibson & Buttler 2007, p. 31.
- ^ a b Twigge 1993, p. 163.
- ^ Gibson & Buttler 2007, p. 33.
- ^ Gibson & Buttler 2007, p. 32.
- ^ Flight 1957, p. 227.
- ^ a b Flight 1957, p. 223.
- ^ Flight 1957, p. 226.
- ^ ISBN 1-57607-345-9
- ^ a b "Fairey Fireflash - Air to Air Missile". Royal Air Force Museum. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
- ^ a b c Flight (1957), p. 227
- ^ "Blue Sky 4". Etko Electronics. Retrieved 29 December 2012.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Combined Military Services Museum". Combined Military Services Museum. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
- ^ "RAF Hornchurch Heritage Centre". Hornchurch Aerodrome Historical Trust. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
Bibliography
- "Fireflash". Flight. 72 (2534): 223–228. 16 August 1957.
- Twigge, Stephen (1993). The Early Development of Guided Weapons in the United Kingdom, 1940-1960. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9783718652976.
- Gibson, Chris; Buttler, Tony (2007). British Secret Projects; Hypersonics, Ramjets and Missiles. Midland Publishing. ISBN 9781857802580.
External links
- Project 'Blue Sky' (Fireflash) and Ekco
- Britain's Guided Missile, a short, 1956 film showing the Fireflash being tested against target drones. (British Pathe)