I'm still working lads, maybe a little slow ... but still.
I presents you ... The
Fairey Fantôme, also known as the
Fairey Féroce.
This lovely looking biplane was design for Belgian Air Force in mid-1930s by Fairey Aviation and build by Avions Fairey, Belgian-based subsidiary of the British company. It was a good plane, for it's time of course. Fast, very nimble and heavy armed. But he was created in time when biplanes start to be outdated, he was doomed to failure from the beginning.
Prototype of Fantôme first flew on 6 June 1935, however, it crashed at Evere on 17 July. Unarmed of course.
Fairey had already produced parts and components for three other aircraft. These were shipped to Belgium in 1936 and completed under the name Fairey
Féroce at Gosselies. Two of these were sold to the Soviet government. ( The main problem lies in armaments: engine-mounted 20 mm Oerlikon cannon, all sources are consistent with that statement. Then we have MAYBE: 2x7.62 mm in lower wing ... or 2x7.62 mm on engine cowling ... or 4x7.62 mm in wings and on engine cowling. No idea what is true, all options are highly probable. So in that version I put guns in engine cowling )
Soviets gave both planes to the Spanish Republican air force to aid with the Spanish Civil War. ( In this version we have guns both in wings and on engine cowling )
The fourth aircraft returned to Britain where it was acquired by the British Air Ministry and put under test at Martlesham Down, no further production was undertaken. ( this is unarmed version )
Fighter has wooden propeller blades, I don't know if this is accurate. I know that prototype use wooden propeller but no idea about those 3 additional planes.
Special thanks for eswube for helping with some details, critics and suggestions.
