Aircraft of the ADF – Nl Fairey Firefly

The first carrier for Australia had been laid down as HMS Terrible and, being of WW2 vintage, was fitted with the conventional through deck. It was completed as HMAS Sydney and commissioned in the UK on December 16, 1948.

Meanwhile, a mixture of RAN and RN crews had been working up at the Royal Naval Air Station at Eglinton, Northern Ireland, flying Sea Furies and Fireflies on loan from the RN. The first of the Australian Fireflies were handed over in the UK on October 27, 1948.

The Firefly selected for the RAN was the FR.5 attack reconnaissance aircraft. Compared with the first generation of Fireflies, which had first flown during World War Two, the Mark 4 and 5 variants introduced the 2,250 hp (1,680 kW) Rolls-Royce Griffon 74 engine with a two-speed, two-stage supercharger and a four-bladed propeller. In addition, these new Fireflies had a reduced span with leading edge radiators and increased fin area.

HMAS Sydney arrived at Jervis Bay on May 25, 1949, to unload the Fleet Air Arm’s first 56 aircraft. These aircraft formed the 20th Carrier Air Group (20 CAG), comprising No. 805 Squadron with Sea Furies and No. 816 Squadron with Fireflies. The Fireflies included two older FR.4 models for training and instructional airframes (VG989 and VH122), and 25 FR.5 variants (serialled between VT500 and VX390) for 816 Squadron’s carrier-borne operations, with others held in reserve. The aircraft were unloaded from HMAS Sydney by lighter in Jervis Bay, in “Operation Decant”, and towed by road to HMAS Albatross during the last week of May.

A return voyage by the Sydney to England was necessary to collect the RAN’s second air group, 21 CAG, comprising 808 Squadron with Sea Furies and 817 Squadron with Fireflies. Some 65 new naval aircraft were delivered on this voyage, including 32 more Fireflies (serialled between WB371 and WB840).

This batch of aircraft were AS.6 anti-submarine variants, which were structurally similar to the earlier Marks 4 and 5, but with no defensive armament and specific submarine detection equipment under the wings and fuselage.

Over 1949 and 1950, some of the RAN Mark 5 aircraft were modified to AS.6 standard by Fairey Aviation at Bankstown. This upgrade involved the removal of the four 20 mm cannon and the installation of specialised sonobuoy equipment. In all, a total of 352 Firefly Mark 5 and Mark 6 aircraft were built between January 1947 and September 1951.

Australian Aviation June 1995

HMAS Sydney carried out its first tour of Korea between September 1951 and January 1952, with the two Sea Fury units and 817 Squadron’s Fireflies embarked. Before departing, 817 had exchanged its AS.6 aircraft with the earlier armed FR.5s of 816 Squadron, as the primary role of the Fireflies would be ground attack – interdicting the North Koreans’ transport routes.

Sydney replaced HMS Glory to mount air operations over Korea and alternated in the Yellow Sea with the American light carrier, USS Rendova, and later USS Bandoeng Strait. A cycle of nine days on patrol and nine days for passage to and from the Japanese port of Sasebo for replenishment was maintained during Sydney’s tour of duty.

The first patrol with Australia’s air group began on October 5 off Korea’s west coast, and on the second day Sydney equalled Glory’s light fleet carrier record of flying 89 sorties in a single day. Korean service exercised the Fleet Air Arm’s capabilities to the limit, maintaining three squadrons, totalling 35 aircraft, on high-intensity carrier operations. The squadrons were manned by 24 Sea Fury pilots and 14 Firefly crews.

The role assigned to the Firefly was primarily ground attack against the North Korean bridges as part of a major United Nations air interdiction campaign. Anti-submarine patrols were a low priority, with only one Firefly normally assigned to this task.

Having completed the first patrol, Sydney had to face the 100-knot winds of Typhoon Ruth off Japan, which ripped aircraft from their lashings, resulting in the loss of four aircraft overboard and damage to others. Sydney’s second patrol began on October 18, 1951, and over October 25–26, three of her aircraft were shot down. This included two Sea Furies and a Firefly (WB393), which had been forced down southwest of Sariwon, making a crash landing in a paddy field. Apart from the loss of these three aircraft, a further 28 were damaged by flak.

Soon after the third patrol commenced off the west coast on November 5, another Sea Fury was lost. The Fireflies had continually improved their bombing accuracy, so that at the end of the patrol on November 13, no North Korean railway line in Sydney’s area of responsibility was serviceable. As aircraft replacements were required, Sydney sailed to Kure near the RAAF base of Iwakuni where 77 Squadron was operating, to replenish and take on new aircraft.

More Sea Furies were lost in action during early December, and on the 8th, flak damaged a Firefly (WB358), necessitating a forced landing on the island of Techong To. The crew were rescued by helicopter and returned to the Sydney.

When Sydney completed its seventh and last patrol on January 25, 1952, she had lost nine aircraft shot down, seven Sea Furies and two Fireflies, and her aircraft had been hit by flak on no less than 99 occasions. Altogether Sydney had spent 122 days in Japanese and Korean waters.

The completion of the second Australian carrier, HMAS Melbourne, had been delayed as it was being modified with the latest innovations for aircraft carriers – an angled deck, steam catapult, and a mirror landing system. The resulting delay of the Melbourne in incorporating these features was overcome in 1952 by the loan to Australia of another light British carrier, HMS Vengeance. On November 13, 1952, HMAS Vengeance was commissioned at Devonport in England, and on March 11, 1953, the Vengeance berthed in Sydney Harbour. On board were more aircraft for the RAN – 20 Fireflies (between WD842 and WJ121), 10 Sea Furies, and the first helicopters for the Fleet Air Arm, three Sycamores.

The next major deployment for HMAS Sydney was a return to the UK for the Queen’s coronation celebrations during June 1953. Embarked were 817 Squadron’s Fireflies, and the Coronation Contingent from the three services, when HMAS Sydney left her home port on March 21. In England, a further 17 Fireflies (serialled between WD841 and WH632) were collected, and the Sydney participated in the carrier review on June 17. Departing the UK the following day, Sydney returned via Baltimore, Pearl Harbor, and New Zealand, to arrive home on August 14. During the transit between the Panama Canal and Hawaii, Sydney’s 10,000th deck landing was accomplished.

Meanwhile, during 1953, four Fireflies had been modified by the addition of a second cockpit for use as trainers. These aircraft, which were designated the T.5 variant, were VT440, VT502, VX373, and VX385.

Although Sydney completed a further extended deployment to Korea from October 1953 to June 1954, this was after the end of hostilities and in the peacekeeping role. The Fireflies now concentrated on the anti-submarine mission, which they maintained with the RAN until replacement in 1956 with the arrival of the Melbourne, equipped with Fairey Gannets.

Fireflies then were relegated to second-line units, primarily as target towers. Seven aircraft were modified for the target towing task by Brain and Brown at Avalon, Victoria. As a result, most RAN Fireflies that have survived were the aircraft that had been converted to target towing, and consequently were the last aircraft to see service.

When the RAN introduced the “N” serial allocations in 1964, N1 was allotted to the Firefly. As the type was withdrawn from service the following year, no N1- serial numbers were actually applied to the remaining aircraft.

Surviving RAN Fireflies include WB271, restored to flying in England with the Royal Navy’s Historic Flight, to represent 204/R of the RN’s 812 Naval Air Squadron. Closer to home, WD826 is with the RAN’s Historic Flight as 245/K, with the civil registration VH-NVU, but is currently on static display at the Australian Naval Air Museum (ANAM) at Albatross, pending restoration to airworthiness. In addition, ANAM holds WJ109, being restored to static display as 207/K, VX388 is at the Camden Museum of Aviation, and WD827 is on display at the Moorabbin Air Museum.

Unfortunately, WD828 (271/K), which had flown the airshow circuit in Australia during the 1980s as VH-HMW “Mickey’s Mouse”, was badly damaged in a crash soon after takeoff at Camden in December 1987. Repairs then commenced using major components from WB518, which had been on static display on a pole at the Griffith RSL. The intention was to restore “Mickey’s Mouse” to airworthiness, but before work was complete it was sold abroad to the USA. The loss of this aircraft to overseas had followed the path of several other ex-RAN Fireflies (WD833, WD840, WD901, and WH632) which had found their way to Canada and the US over the past decades.