page_title: Fairey Battle
section_title: Design
hierarchical_section_title: Fairey Battle / Design
caption_attribution_description: English: IWM caption&#160;: The Royal Air Force in France 1939 - 1940: Three Fairey Battle fighter bombers of No 218 Squadron over France.
context_page_description: The Fairey Battle was a British single-engine light bomber that was designed and manufactured by the Fairey Aviation Company. It was developed during the mid-1930s for the Royal Air Force as a monoplane successor to the Hawker Hart and Hind biplanes. The Battle was powered by the same high-performance Rolls-Royce Merlin piston engine that powered various contemporary British fighters like the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire. The Battle was much heavier, with its three-man crew and bomb load. Though a great improvement over the aircraft that preceded it, the Battle was relatively slow and limited in range. With only two .303 in machine guns as defensive armament, it was found to be highly vulnerable to enemy fighters and anti-aircraft fire.
  The Fairey Battle was used on operations early in the Second World War. During the "Phoney War" the type achieved the distinction of scoring the first aerial victory of an RAF aircraft in the conflict. In May 1940, the Battles of the Advanced Air Striking Force suffered many losses, frequently in excess of 50 percent of aircraft sorties per mission.
context_section_description: The Fairey Battle was a single-engine monoplane light bomber, powered by a Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. Production aircraft were progressively powered by various models of the Merlin engine, such as the Merlin I, II, III (most numerous) and V but all bomber variants were called the Battle Mk I. The Battle had a relatively clean design, having adopted a slim oval-shaped fuselage which was manufactured in two sections. The forward section, in front of the cockpit, relied mainly upon a steel tubular structure to support the weight of the nose-mounted engine; the rear section was of a metal monocoque structure comprised hoop frames and Z-section stringers which was built on jigs. The structure of the aircraft involved several innovations and firsts for Fairey, it had the distinction of being the company's first low-wing monoplane; it also was the first light-alloy stressed-skin construction aircraft to be produced by the firm.
  The wing of the Battle used a two-part construction, the centre section being integral with the fuselage. The internal structure of the wings relied upon steel spars which varied in dimension towards the wing tips; the ailerons, elevators and rudder all were metal-framed with fabric coverings, while the split trailing edge flaps were entirely composed of metal.
  The Battle was furnished with a single cockpit to accommodate a crew of three, these typically being a pilot, observer/navigator and radio operator/air gunner. The pilot and gunner were seated in a tandem arrangement in the cockpit, the pilot in the forward position controlling the fixed .303 Browning machine gun mounted in the starboard wing, while the gunner was in the rear position where he could use the manually-aimed .303 Vickers K machine gun. The observer's position, who served as the bomb aimer, was situated directly beneath the pilot's seat; sighting was performed in the prone position through a sliding panel in the floor of the fuselage using the Mk. VII Course Setting Bomb Sight. Complete with a continuous glazed canopy, the cockpit of the Battle had several similarities to that of a large fighter rather than a bomber.
  The armament and crew of the aircraft were similar to the Bristol Blenheim bomber: three crew, 1,000 lbs standard bomb load and two machine guns, although the Battle was a single-engine bomber with less horsepower. The Battle had a standard payload of four 250 lb (113 kg) bombs which was carried in cells contained within the internal space of the wings. Maximum bomb load was 1,500 lb (680 kg), with two additional 250 lb (113 kg) bombs on underwing racks or with two 500 lb (227 kg) bombs carried externally under bomb bays and two 250 lb (113 kg) bombs on underwing racks. The bombs were mounted on hydraulic jacks and were normally released via trap doors; during a dive bombing attack, they were lowered below the surface of the wing.
  The Battle was a robust aircraft which was frequently described as being easy to fly, even for relatively inexperienced pilots. The pilot was provided with good external visibility and the cockpit was considered to be roomy and comfortable for the era but the tasks of simultaneously deploying the flaps and the retractable undercarriage, which included a safety catch, has been highlighted as posing considerable complication. Climate control within the cockpit was also reportedly poor.
  By the time that the Battle was entering service in 1937 it had already been rendered obsolete by the rapid advances in aircraft technology. The performance and capabilities of fighter aircraft had increased to outstrip the modest performance gains that the light bomber had achieved over its biplane antecedents. For defence, the Battle had been armed only with a single Browning machine gun and a trainable Vickers K in the rear position; in service, these proved to be woefully inadequate. The Battle lacked other common defensive features of the era, such as an armoured cockpit and self-sealing fuel tanks. The Battle was considered well-armoured by the standards of 1940, although there was an emphasis on protection ag
caption: RAF No. 218 Squadron Fairey Battles over France, circa 1940
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