RAF turbo-prop fighter-bomber

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[Tuck]

A COIN Whirlwind on steroids...gotta love it!

[Slerski]

Merci beaucoup gentlemen !!

Now time has come !! Backstory and more profiles !!

Supermarine Wildfire (from Jane's WW2 Aircraft Encyclopedia)

The Supermarine Wildfire was a British fighter-bomber conceived at the end of WW2 by the engineers Jack Daniel and Philippe Dessler for Supermarine aircraft manufacturer. The Wildfire prototype made her first flight on December 20th, 1944 in Jeffrey Quill's hands.

Design

The Wildfire was conceived as an answer to the specification F.13/42, concerning the study of a twin-engined heavy fighter for Royal Air Force, intended to support Tempest in the long-range fighter missions. The specification concerns a plane capable of flying during four hours at a cruising speed of 310 mph with a dense armament consisting of four 20 mm cannons.

Two men are in charge of the project: Jack Daniel, Supermarine's chief designer, and Philippe Dessler, a French turboprops specialist. For Dessler, the major difficulty is the lack of power of the conventional engines. So, he chose Rolls-Royce RB.49 turboprops, at the time in full development, which seem promising.

Both think about various configurations: two engines in front of wings, two in tandem in the fuselage, etc. However, the twin-boom configuration quickly draws their attention. The plane they draw is a tricycle landing gear aircraft, equipped with two engines in the continuation of which are two booms welcoming the main landing gear, connected between them by the horizontal tail. For the armament, four 20 mm cannons are installed in the nose, whereas hardpoints under wings and fuselage allow the carrying of bombs or additional fuel tanks.

The Wildfire prototype takes back some distinctive elements of past Supermarine's planes, such as the elliptic wings. But the design quickly evolves, after numerous tests in wind tunnel. Sponsons or "stub wings", which reduce the aerodynamic drag under the fuselage, are implanted on the base of this one, whereas wings see their shape reworked to be finally changed in a laminar flow wing. Once these modifications done, the definitive prototype (s/n VA187) rolled out of the Supermarine factories in January 2nd, 1945 and makes its first trial flight one week later in the hands of Jeffrey Quill, Supermarine's test pilot.

The plane seems to be sinless, and quickly the production is launched. The first operational aircraft (named Wildfire F Mk I) makes its first flight on May 3rd, 1945.

Operational Service

Fighter-Bomber

It is in mid-May 1945 that the first deliveries to the experimental units, 74 and 222 Squadrons, begin. During its operational debut, the Wildfire shows to be a relatively fast and handy device, capable of face off the Messerschmitt Me262 and the last versions of Ta 152 and Fw 190D. However the D-Day imminence is going to change the primary missions of the plane to ground attack, where it will prove its capacity to be a stable firing platform. But the version currently in service misses of fire power to be an effective support-fire plane.

The sponsons are then modified, to welcome four M2 .50 machine guns and two hardpoints for the external armament. This gives birth to the Wildfire FB Mk IA, designed for long-range interdiction missions, fast and heavily armed.

Wildfire FB Mk IA enters in service within the 2nd Tactical Air Force in August, 1945, at first within the Squadron 602 and Squadron 132 (as a Spitfire Mk IX replacement). These squadrons will be the base of Wing 158, which will see later the addition of two other squadrons, 611 and 85.
The plane knew its baptism of fire on August 21st, 1945, which was D-Day in Normandy. Little by little 12 other units were equipped with the plane, so carrying the number of squadrons using the Wildfire to 18 in December, 1945.

The second major version of the plane is the Wildfire FB Mk III, which is characterized by the Rolls-Royce Wye RWy.25, overpowered version of Wye RWy.10 equipping the first versions of the Wildfire. The gain of power allows an increase of the maximal speed but reduces the combat range, and increases the consumption significantly. This version was the most produced and was rapidly known as a very reliable and strong plane, easy to maintain and to pilot.

In August, 1947, took out the Wildfire FB Mk VI, radical evolution of the Wildfire FB Mk III. This one was characterized by the installation of a new armament in an under fuselage gondola, constituted by two 40 mm cannons. Eight points under each wing allowed the installation of antitank rockets instead of bombs. This version, conceived specifically for the attack of hardened objectives but also for antitank fighting, was allocated in very small number to the RAF.

The ultimate development of Wildfire as a fighter-bomber was the Wildfire FB Mk IX. This version made its appearance in March, 1949, five months before the end of the hostilities in Europe. It was propelled by two Wye RWy.56, developing more than 3100 hp, which consumed sharply less that the previous engines. The production of this version stopped a little time after the end of the hostilities and she was the last one to bring out assembly lines.

Night-fighter

The excellent conception of the plane pushed RAF has to ask for the study of a night-fighter version. At first studied to assure the night operations over the European theatre and the national territory against the German bombing raids, the role of Nightfire (nickname of the night-fighter version) evolved little by little towards a more offensive mission, namely to lead in-depth harassment raids, intended to cut enemy communications. These missions gave birth to the Wildfire NF Mk II, derived of the FB Mk IA, and then to the Wildfire NF Mk V, which equipped a wing of the RAF.

Photographic Reconnaissance

The long combat range and the high cruising speed of the Wildfire were the argument used by Supermarine, which proposed in November, 1945, a version of photographic reconnaissance issued from the Wildfire FB Mk IA. This version distinguishes itself by the cameras installation, fitted in the nose. Two Photo Recce versions were made: the Wildfire PR Mk IV, issued from the Wildfire FB Mk IA, and the Wildfire PR Mk VIII, which is a version derived from the Wildfire FB Mk III.

Variants

• Wildfire F Mk I: 50 aircrafts built. Pre-production version, used only as fighter. Armament made of only four 20 mm cannons. Two Rolls-Royce Wye RWy.10 turboprops, 2200 hp.
• Wildfire FB Mk IA: 262 aircrafts built. Increased armament with four M2 .50 machine guns. Same engines.
• Wildfire NF Mk II: 28 aircrafts built. Night-fighter variant, similar to Wildfire FB Mk IA, but fitted with AI Mk X airborne radar and without two 20 mm cannons. Two Rolls-Royce Wye RWy.17 turboprops, 2350 hp.
• Wildfire FB Mk III: 407 aircrafts built. Same airframe as Wildfire FB Mk IA. Two Rolls-Royce Wye RWy.25 turboprops, 2400 hp.
• Wildfire PR Mk IV: 43 aircrafts built. Issued by conversion of Wildfire FB Mk IA. No weapons, but 3 cameras in the nose.
• Wildfire NF Mk V: 87 aircrafts built. Similar to Wildfire NF Mk II but with AI Mk XII radar.
• Wildfire FB Mk VI: 27 aircrafts built. Same airframe as the Wildfire FB Mk III, but fitted with two Vickers 40 mm cannons. M2 .50 machine guns removed.
• Wildfire T Mk VII: 37 aircrafts built. Advanced training variant. Issued form the recuperation of the older Wildfire F Mk I airframes, no weapons.
• Wildfire PR Mk VIII: 109 aircrafts built. Issued by conversion of Wildfire FB Mk IA. No weapons, but 3 cameras in the nose.
• Wildfire FB Mk IX: 343 aircrafts built. Last version built, similar to Wildfire FB Mk III. Two Rolls-Royce Wye RWy.56 turboprops, 3100 hp.
• Wildfire TT Mk X: 17 aircrafts built. Target-tug variant, built for Royal Navy.
• Wildfire FA Mk XI: planned variant, unbuilt. Known as "Ultimate Wildfire", two 30 mm cannons, six M2 .50 machine guns. Two Rolls-Royce Wye RWy.69, rated at 4090 hp.

Operators

• Royal Air Force (1945-1957)
• Royal Navy (1945-1949)
• Free French Air Force (1945-1947), then Armée de l'Air (1947-1962)
• United States Army Air Force (1945-1948), then United States Air Force (1948-1953)

[IanH]

I have a plan forming...