[Siwi]

I started this plane a week ago but didn't post a build log until now due to the forum issues.


I became aware of the Fulmar earlier this year whilst reading a book about the raid on Taranto in 1940, where an audacious action by the celebrated Swordfish biplanes sunk a number of Italian capital ships in harbour and significantly aided the British campaign in the Mediterranean. Whilst the Swordfish is rightly famous the fighters based on the aircraft carriers such as Illustrious are not. These were in the early war the Blackburn Skua (an outdated, mis-shapen design with inadequate performance) and the Fairey Fulmar (which also lacked the performance of landplanes but was more modern and well armed). Both actually did a reasonably good job of protecting the fleet from attacks, chasing enemy reconnaisance and serving as reconnaisance platforms themselves.


In any case, I rather like this aircraft, an opinion shared by most of its pilots who found it easy to fly. The Fulmar had the Merlin engine and the eight guns of the Spitfire but there the similarity ends. Due to the considerations of carrier operations in the middle of the sea, it was deemed neccesary for 'fighters' to carry a navigator and radio operator in the back, plus a lot more fuel, which meant that the aircraft was less a light, nimble interceptor and more the size of a light bomber. In fact the Fulmar was actually derived from the same plan as the Fairey Battle. It was around 100mph slower than a Spitfire but carried three times the ammunition, and in reality never really had to face any potent opposition such as Bf109s given the theatre it was operating in. The Fulmar was more than up to the job of shooting down Ju88s, Stukas, Cantieri and Savoia-Marchetti reconnaisance planes and seaplanes that might attack the fleet.


The Fulmar is not particularly well represented either in paper or plastic, and the only kit available was a S&P, which was available in repaints by Gerry and Brent. I went for the Gerry repaint as it was in my preferred 1/72 - I never know if 1/100 will be practical to enlarge due to page layout. This is a Mk1 from 1941, based on HMS Ark Royal.