Fighters. In 1942, the British introduced another naval fighter by adapting a highly successful land-based aircraft, the Spitfire, to carrier use. The Supermarine Seafire was faster than its predecessors and began replacing Hawker Sea Hurricanes for front-line service. In light wind, however, it was subject to crash landings. Also having its engine-cooling air inlets on the underside of the fuselage made ditching more dangerous for the pilot, as was also the case with the Hurricane. The Seafire's range was limited, but could be extended using drop tanks. Seafires supported the Allied invasions of North Africa, Sicily, mainland Italy, and southern France. Temporarily assigned to land bases, they also supported the invasion of Normandy. In the Pacific as part of the British Pacific Fleet, Seafires were used for CAP. Overall, the adaptations of land aircraft had inferior performance compared to US purpose-built carrier aircraft. Introduced late in the war, the UK purpose-built Fairey Firefly exhibited superior performance and had greater firepower than its predecessor, the Fairey Fulmer. It was conceived as early as 1938, but prolonged development delayed its combat use until mid-1944, by which time its performance had been eclipsed by both Axis and Allied fighters. The Firefly participated in operations against the German battleship Tirpitz in Norway in July 1944. During operations against the Japanese oil refineries at Sumatra in early 1945, a Firefly shot down a Nakajima Ki-43 (“Oscar”) fighter. Fireflies also supported carrier-based actions against Japanese shipping and against positions in the Caroline and Japanese home islands. Less than 800 were produced during the war years.