The
Supermarine Swift was a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
single-seat
jet fighterJet fighter may refer to:* Jet fighter, a class of fighter aircraft* Jet Fighter , a 1975 arcade game by Atari...
of the
Royal Air Force (RAF)The Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts.The RAF operates almost 1,109...
, built by
SupermarineSupermarine was a British aircraft manufacturer that became famous for producing a range of sea planes and the Supermarine Spitfire fighter.-History:Noel Pemberton-Billing set up a company, Pemberton-Billing, Ltd, in 1913 to produce sea-going aircraft...
during the 1950s. After a protracted development period, the Swift entered service as an
interceptorAn interceptor aircraft is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft, particularly bombers, usually relying on great speed...
, but, due to a spate of accidents, its service life was short. A
photo reconnaissanceReconnaissance is a military and medical term denoting exploration conducted to gain information. Militarily, its shorthand Canadian and British form is recce , its American usage form is recon...
variant resolved some of the Swift's teething problems.
The Swift evolved from a number of prototypes, the first being the
Type 510, a prototype jet fighter.
The
Supermarine Swift was a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
single-seat
jet fighterJet fighter may refer to:* Jet fighter, a class of fighter aircraft* Jet Fighter , a 1975 arcade game by Atari...
of the
Royal Air Force (RAF)The Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts.The RAF operates almost 1,109...
, built by
SupermarineSupermarine was a British aircraft manufacturer that became famous for producing a range of sea planes and the Supermarine Spitfire fighter.-History:Noel Pemberton-Billing set up a company, Pemberton-Billing, Ltd, in 1913 to produce sea-going aircraft...
during the 1950s. After a protracted development period, the Swift entered service as an
interceptorAn interceptor aircraft is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft, particularly bombers, usually relying on great speed...
, but, due to a spate of accidents, its service life was short. A
photo reconnaissanceReconnaissance is a military and medical term denoting exploration conducted to gain information. Militarily, its shorthand Canadian and British form is recce , its American usage form is recon...
variant resolved some of the Swift's teething problems.
Design and development
The Swift evolved from a number of prototypes, the first being the
Type 510, a prototype jet fighter. It was based on the
Supermarine AttackerThe Supermarine Attacker was a British single-seat naval jet fighter built by Supermarine for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm . It was the FAA's first jet fighter.-Design and development:...
, a straight-wing
Fleet Air ArmThe Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the Royal Navy responsible for the operation of aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters, as well as the Harrier GR7/GR9...
jet with a tailwheel undercarriage, but had swept wings, first flying in
1948This is a list of aviation-related events from 1948:- Events :* Publication of Nevil Shute's novel No Highway set in the world of research into air safety.-January:...
; a year after the first navalised prototype Attacker had flown. The Type 510 became the first British aircraft to have both
swept wingA swept wing is a wing planform with a wing root to wingtip direction angled beyond the spanwise axis, generally used to delay the drag rise caused by fluid compressibility. Swept wings provide lateral stability and it was for this reason that the concept was first employed in the designs of...
s and a swept
tailplaneA tailplane, also known as horizontal stabilizer, is a small lifting surface located behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplanes...
. The Type 510 also had the distinction of becoming the first swept-wing aircraft to take off and land from an
aircraft carrierAn aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power great distances without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
, during trials for the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
's (RN)
Fleet Air ArmThe Fleet Air Arm is the branch of the Royal Navy responsible for the operation of aircraft. The Fleet Air Arm operates the AgustaWestland Merlin, Westland Sea King and Westland Lynx helicopters, as well as the Harrier GR7/GR9...
(FAA). However, RN interest soon waned despite Supermarine's modifications to the aircraft to improve aspects of its performance.
The second aircraft in the ancestral lineage that led to the Swift was the
Type 528, which first flew in March
1950This is a list of aviation-related events from 1950:-March:* March 20 - Royal Air Force Avro Lincoln bombers are sent to Singapore to be used against the Communist guerillas of Malaya in the Malayan Emergency.-April:...
. Soon after its first flight, many modifications were made to its structure and it was then designated the
Type 535, making its first flight under this name in August 1950. The final variant was the
Type 541, a pre-production model of the
Swift for which the
Air MinistryThe Air Ministry was formerly a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, existing from 1918 to 1964...
had placed an order of over one hundred as a fallback in case the
Hawker HunterThe Hawker Hunter was a UK jet fighter aircraft of the 1950s and 1960s. The Hunter served for many years with the Royal Air Force and was widely exported, serving with 19 air forces. A total of 1,972 Hunters were produced by Hawker Siddeley and under licence....
programme failed. The Swift was also seen by the Ministry as a replacement for the
Gloster MeteorThe Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies' first operational jet. Designed by George Carter, it first flew in 1943 and commenced operations on 27 July 1944 with 616 Squadron of the Royal Air Force...
in the role of air defence.
The Type 541 replaced its predecessors'
Rolls-RoyceRolls-Royce Limited was a British car and, from 1914, aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce on 15 March 1906 as the result of a partnership formed in 1904. In 1971, Rolls-Royce was crippled by the development of the advanced RB211 jet engine, resulting...
NeneThe Rolls-Royce Nene was a 1940s British centrifugal compressor turbojet engine. It was named after the River Nene in keeping with company tradition for jet engines.-Development:...
centrifugal flowCentrifugal compressor, are a special class of radial-flow work-absorbing turbomachinery that includes pumps, fans, blowers and compressors....
turbojet engine with the
axial-flowAxial compressors are rotating, airfoil based compressors in which the working fluid principally flows parallel to the axis of rotation. This is in contrast with other rotating compressors such as centrifugal, axi-centrifugal and mixed-flow compressors where the air may enter axially but will have...
Rolls-Royce AJ.65 turbojet engine and its successor Avon engines. The fuselage, which had been given a cross section suitable for the Nene engine, was not redesigned for the narrower AJ.65 and Avon engines. Two Type 541s were produced, the first prototype making its maiden flight in 1951 and the second the following year.
The Swift had been ordered into "super-priority" production, a policy created by Sir Winston Churchill who had become Prime Minister in 1951 at a time of particular tension between
NATOThe North Atlantic Treaty Organization ); ), also called "the Atlantic Alliance", is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on April 4, 1949...
and the
Warsaw PactThe Warsaw Pact is the informal name for the mutual defense Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance subscribed by eight Communist states in Eastern Europe, that was established at the USSR’s initiative and realised on 14 May 1955, in Warsaw, Poland...
during the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
; the
Korean WarThe Korean War is a war that started between North Korea and South Korea on 25 June 1950 and paused with an armistice signed 27 July, 1953...
had begun in 1950. The first production variant was a fighter designated the
Swift F Mk 1, of which 18 were eventually built. The first flight occurred in 1953 and the F.1 entered service with
No. 56 Squadron RAFNumber 56 Squadron is one of the oldest and most successful squadrons of the Royal Air Force, with battle honours from many of the significant air campaigns of both World War I and World War II...
in February 1954, becoming the RAF's first swept-wing aircraft. It was powered by a 7,500
lbfThe pound-force or simply pound is a unit of force.- Definitions :The pound-force is approximately equal to the gravitational force exerted on a mass of one avoirdupois pound on the surface of Earth...
(33.4 kN)-thrust Avon 109 engine and carried an armament of two 30 mm
ADEN cannonThe Royal Small Arms Factory ADEN is a 30 mm cannon used on many military aircraft, particularly those of the British Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm.-Development:...
.
The second variant was the
F Mk 2, of which 16 were built. It was simply an F 1 with two extra ADENs. However, the addition of these cannons caused problems as the structural modifications required to house the increased ammunition load lead to dangerous handling problems with the aircraft. Numerous further modifications were then required to resolve this issue.
The third Swift variant was the
F Mk 3, with 25 being built and powered by an Avon 114 engine with
reheatThe AfterBurner is a lighting solution for the Game Boy Advance system that was created by Triton-Labs.Originally, portablemonopoly.net was a website created to petition Nintendo to put some kind of light in their Game Boy Advance system...
. It was never taken into operational service with the Royal Air Force and was used just as an instructional airframe. The next variant was the
F Mk.4, which included a variable incidence tailplane intended to correct the handling problems that the Swift suffered from. It did indeed fix the problem; however, it was found that reheat could not actually be ignited at high altitude which added to the problems that the Swift variants suffered from.
The next in the line, the
FR Mk 5, had a longer nose to accommodate a number of cameras to suit it to a reconnaissance role and had other modifications to its structure. The FR 5 also reverted to the F 1's 2 ADEN armament. It first flew in
1955This is a list of aviation-related events from 1955:-February:* February 26 - George F. Smith becomes the first person to survive a supersonic ejection, from a North American F-100 Super Sabre travelling .-April:...
and entered service the following year. It performed its reconnaissance mainly at low level, making the reheat problem at high altitude irrelevant.
Two further variants were designed; the
PR Mk 6 was an unarmed photo reconnaissance variant. However, it was a short-lived program due to ever-present reheat problems. The last variant was the
F Mk 7 and was the first Swift variant to be fitted with guided-missiles, being armed with the
Fairey FireflashThe Fairey Fireflash was the first British air-to-air missile. Generally unsuccessful, it served only in small numbers.-Development:Produced in response to a Ministry of Supply requirement for a guided air-to-air missile. The project began in 1949 under the name Blue Sky...
air-to-air missileAn air-to-air missile is a guided missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying another aircraft. AAMs are typically powered by one or more rocket motors, usually solid fuelled but sometimes liquid fuelled...
and was powered by a new Avon engine. Only fourteen were built and none ever entered service with the RAF, being relegated - along with its prototype missiles - to guided-missile trials duties.
Operational history
Tragedy began to strike early in the career of the Swift with a number of accidents involving the F 1 and F 2, one fatal. The F 1 was grounded in the August of the same year it had entered service while the F 2, which had replaced the F 1 in August, was also soon grounded. All fighter variants of the Swift were withdrawn from service by the RAF, after a short time in service, to be replaced by the more capable Hawker Hunter.
The FR.5 was the last Swift variant to enter service with the RAF and was eventually replaced by the Hunter FR.10, leaving the RAF in 1961. The FR 5 was deemed to be suitable for its role and was based with RAF Germany during the Cold War. The Swift never saw combat action with the RAF. It did break a number of speed records in its time; in
LibyaLibya , officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , is a country located in North Africa...
, in 1953, an F.4 (WK198) piloted by
CommanderCommander is a military rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service...
Mike LithgowMichael John "Mike" Lithgow, OBE was a British aviator and chief test pilot for Vickers Supermarine. He became the holder of the absolute flight airspeed record in 1953 flying a Supermarine Swift.- Second World War :...
broke the world absolute speed record, reaching a speed of 737.7 mph (1,187 km/h), though it was broken in turn only hours later by the Douglas Skyray, a
United States Navy (USN)The United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
fighter. The Swift has the distinction of being the last British production aircraft to hold this record (The FD.2 was experimental). Under two hundred Swifts were built from an order of 497. A number of Swift airframes went to Australia for
Operation BuffaloOperation Buffalo may refer to one of three military history events:* The breakout from the Anzio beachhead conducted by U.S. VI Corps commencing on 23 May, 1944....
in 1956, being placed at various distances from a detonating atomic bomb.
By its last variant many of the problems that had plagued earlier Swifts were resolved but the programme was not continued. The Hunter, performing satisfactorily in the same roles, removed any requirement to persist with the Swift.
Operators
- Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts.The RAF operates almost 1,109...
- No. 2 Squadron RAF
No. 2 Squadron of the Royal Air Force is currently one of two RAF squadrons operating in the reconnaissance role with the Tornado GR4A and GR4 and is based at RAF Marham, Norfolk....
FR 5
- No. 4 Squadron RAF FR 5
- No. 56 Squadron RAF
Number 56 Squadron is one of the oldest and most successful squadrons of the Royal Air Force, with battle honours from many of the significant air campaigns of both World War I and World War II...
F 1 and F 2
- No. 79 Squadron RAF
- History :It was first formed at Gosport on 1 August 1917 as a squadron of the Royal Flying Corps. In World War II the squadron flew single engine fighters and ground attack planes. During the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain the squadron was equipped with Hawker Hurricane fighters...
FR 5
Survivors
- VV106 (Supermarine 517) is stored by the Fleet Air Arm Museum
The Fleet Air Arm Museum is located north of Yeovil, and south of Bristol. It has an extensive collection of military and civilian aircraft, as well as models of Royal Navy ships, especially aircraft carriers. Some of the museum has interactive displays...
, Yeovilton, England.
- WK198 (F.4) fuselage only of the former World air speed record holder is on display at the North East Aircraft Museum
For the aerospace museum in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, see New England Air Museum.North East Aircraft Museum is a volunteer-run aviation museum situated on the site of the former RAF Usworth/Sunderland Airport, between Washington and Sunderland, England.The museum is open all year seven days a...
, Sunderland, England. Moved 2 April 2008 to RAF Millom Museum, Cumbria
- WK275 (F.4) on display at Upper Hill, Herefordshire, England. This aircraft represents the definitive fighter variant with slab tail.
- WK277 (FR.5) on display at the Newark Air Museum
right|thumb|200px|[[Handley Page Hastings]] T5 TG517 at the Newark Air Museum.Newark Air Museum is an air museum located on a former Royal Air Force station at Winthorpe, near Newark on Trent in Nottinghamshire, England. The museum contains a variety of aircraft...
, Newark, England.
- WK281 (FR.5) on display at the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum, Tangmere, England.
- G-SWIF (F.7, the former XF114) is stored by at Solent Sky, Southampton, England.
Popular culture
One of the prototypes (
VV119) of the Swift (named the
Prometheus in the film) appeared in the
1952The year 1952 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 10 - Cecil B. DeMille's circus epic, The Greatest Show on Earth, premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York City....
film
The Sound Barrier.
Specifications (Supermarine Swift FR Mk 5)
See also
External links