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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 1133.PDF
3223; FIREFLASH FAIREY'S AIR-TO-AIR GUIDED WEAPON DESCRIBED AND ILLUSTRATED IN DETAIL ALTHOUGH a photograph of the Fireflash missile waspublished (but could not permissibly be named as such) in^ Flight four years ago, and although there has been a trickle of information about the weapon since that time, it has not so far been possible to describe the background and engineering features of any guided weapon in such detail as in the article and drawings which follow. Fireflash has been described as a relatively simple weapons system consisting of a number of missiles (four have been fitted under the wings of Swifts for example), a fighter aircraft fitted with a fixed-dish radar beam that is conically scanned, a gun-sight, a simple "permission-to-fire" computer, and various aircraft-to- missile services. A brain-child of the Fairey weapon division, this radar-beam-riding missile is the first training and indoctrina- tion guided weapon to go into production for the Royal Air Force, and in combination with its Hunter carrier, it is also being offered for export sale. Proof of its success was forthcoming as long ago as 1953, when a drone Firefly target was destroyed off Aberporth by a Fireflash fitted with an explosive warhead and a proximity fuse. This sequence was filmed from the attacking aircraft and has been since publicly shown on several occasions, notably at the S.B.A.C. show last year. Fairey's research division, from which the weapon division was evolved, was created in the closing stages of the last war. Its objectives were to pioneer British guided weapons and, in par- ticular, to evolve a defence against Japanese suicide bombers. The missile developed for this purpose was called the Stooge; of similar shape to a small aircraft, with conventional wings and tail unit, it was propelled by solid-fuel rockets and was "twist and steer" command-controlled along the line of sight. Although the war was over by the time that Stooge was brought to fruition, it was quite advanced in conception and its success boded well for the future of further projects from the team by which it was developed. On completion of the Stooge project, the division turned their attention to varied fields of research, some of which offered further experience in guided weapons engineering and techniques. This ST.V.I separation test vehicle was used to develop the boost separation system for Fireflash and for ground-to-air missiles. Development and research for a vertical-take-off Fairey Delta aircraft led to the design and development at Heston of pilotless, simplified flying scale models powered by liquid bi-fuel rockets. The hydrogen-peroxide and methanol hydrazine Beta motor was specially designed for the project by the R.A.E. Rocket Propul- sion Department and developed by the Fairey team. A novel feature of these models was that the combustion chambers were made steerable in pitch and yaw to give adequate low-speed con- trol. A Fairey autopilot was used to enable the models to execute complicated pre-set programmed manoeuvres or to obey command guidance signals relayed by radio links. These pilotless models were used by the Fairey research divi- sion for investigation into various control and guidance problems. Provision was made for a progressive change from rocket control at low speeds to purely aerodynamic control as the speed increased. A peroxide steam-driven generator and battery pack provided electrical power for multi-channel telemetry equipment trans- mitting to ground receiving stations, and ground instrumentation —radar tracking gear, kine-theodolites, Doppler equipment and high-speed cameras—supplemented the data obtained in flight. A number of successful trials were completed, both from a ship in Cardigan Bay and from Woomera, Australia. A special trials team led by Mr. L. W. Reeve, head of the division's trials depart- ment, went to Australia for this purpose. The first full-scale trials programme was carried out at the new range with the support of the special projects division of Fairey's Australian subsidiary. When the Fairey Aviation Company first turned its thoughts towards a supersonic aircraft—to materialize so successfully as the Fairey Delta 2—parallel work began at Heston on the design of ground-launched pilotless models of an early swept-wing version of the design. When this work was eventually curtailed to make way for the Fireflash project, a good deal of basic development work had been completed. For example, the model required a new liquid bi-fuel rocket motor of higher thrust which was again developed by Fairey engineers in association with the R.A.E. and designated Beta 2. Among other design features of the models that were satisfactorily developed before the project was cancelled were a completely new sub-miniature, highly stabje multi-channel telemetry transmitter and receiver, electrostatic clutch-control actuators, and a number of novel transducers. Simple drag-measuring models of this and other aircraft were manufactured and fired at Larkhill, Salisbury Plain. A further activity of the weapon division during its early life, and one that was to influence Fireflash, was the design and manu- facture of a boost-separation test vehicle, the S.T.V.l. About fifty of these elementary missile rounds were fired, and they pro- vided valuable lessons which contributed to the design knowledge that was to go not only into Fireflash, but into the boost systems of all subsequent surface-to-air missiles. Early in 1949 a small technical working party at Heston began the study of possible air-launched defensive guided-weapon
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