Battle

Click the thumbnails to enlarge them

226-B, 226-C and 226-D

Abandoned Battle HA-K of No 218 Squadron RAF 1940

Abandoned Battle L5248 RH-B of No 88 Squadron RAF

Abandoned Battle P22?? France 1940

Abandoned Fairey Battle

Abandoned Fairey Battle of 142 squadron RAF France 1940

Abandoned Fairey Battle of 142 squadron RAF France 1940 2

Abandoned Fairey Battle of No. 142 squadron RAF France 1940 code QT+H

Abandoned Fairey Battle of No. 142 squadron RAF France 1940 QT+H

Air gunner with .303 Vickers K type MG rear cockpit of a Fairey Battle of No 103 Sqn 1940

Airmen loading fresh oxygen cylinders into a Battle of No. 226 Sqn RAF at Reims Champagne

Armourer loads a 4.5 inch reconnaissance flare into the Battle of No. 218 Sqn at Auberives-sur-Suippes

Armourers load a bomb into the Battle of No. 103 Squadron RAF at Betheniville

Battle 142 Sqn 1940

Battle 218 Sqn 1940

Battle 63 practice bomb carrier 1939

Battle assembly line

Battle Canada 1943

Crashed Battle of No. 103 Squadron RAF Betheniville

Battle code PM-B L5234 of No. 103 Squadron RAF

Battle Destroyed by Fleeing French at St Denis Airfield - July 1940

Fairey Battle K9204 QT-Q of No. 142 Squadron RAF at Berry-au-Bac

Battle K9204 QT-Q of No. 142 Squadron RAF, Advanced AirStriking Force in France

Battle K9274 on the ground

Battle K9324 HA-B France 1939-1940

Battle light bomber of Advanced Air Striking Force at a forward airfield in France

Battle light bomber at a forward airfield in France

Battle Mk I of No. 12 Operational Training Unit lined up at Benson

Battle Mk I of No. 226 Sqn being prepared for a night flight at Reims Champagne

Battle P5235 Le Chene Tonneau, Barby France 1940

Battle PH-F P2332

Battle QT-B of No 142 Squadron RAF 1940

Battle rear gunner training

Battle RH-L Mourmelon airfield, France, May/June 1940

Battle Trainer R7365

Battle Trainer R7365 "12" of No 1 FTS

Battle Trainer R7365 12 of No 1 FTS prepares for take off at Netheravon

Battle wreck

Battles 1699 and 1691 at RCAF No 1 Bombing and Gunnery School at Jarvis Canada 1941

Battles K9353 K9324 HA-B K9325 HA-D of No 218 Sqn RAF France

Battles K9353 HA-J, K9324 HA-B K9325 HA-D of No 218 Squadron RAF France

Battles K9353 HA-J, K9324 HA-B K9325 of No 218 Squadron RAF in flight over northern France.

Battles of No. 226 Squadron on a practise flight in 1939

Battles of No. 226 Squadron on a practise flight in August 1939

Bomb sight

Bouy-Luxembourg 1940 - 88 Squadron RAF

Canadian '39' 2072 in flight

Canadian 1737 1942

Demonstrator K7561 at Evore 1937

Destroyed Battle QT-H of No. 142 Squadron RAF

Destroyed Battle code QT-H of No. 142 Squadron RAF

Destroyed Fairey Battle

Fairey Battle 142 squadron QT+I

Fairey Battle 142 squadron QT+I 4

Fairey Battle 150 Squadron JN+C, May 1940

Fairey Battle bomber France 1940

Fairey Battle bombers P2190, P5238 and Hawker Hurricane P2959. Épernay Plivot Airfield 1940.

Fairey Battle France 1940

Fairey Battle HA-E P2192 of No. 218 Squadron RAF - 1940

Fairey Battle light bombers of No. 63 Squadron in flight

Fairey Battle Mk I of 52 Squadron Royal Air Force at Upwood

Fairey Battle Mk I 52-B of 52 Squadron Royal Air Force at Upwood

Fairey Battle MQ-O of No. 226 Squadron

Fairey Battle N2119 of No 2 Anti Aircraft Cooperation Unit at Gosport

Fairey Battle of 142 squadron RAF France 1940 QT+H front

Fairey Battle of No. 142 squadron RAF code QT+I

Fairey Battle of No. 150 squadron RAF code JN-C, near Grevenmascher, Luxemburg 1940

Fairey Battle of No. 218 squadron RAF code HA+K

Fairey Battle of No. 226 Squadron RAF tail

Fairey Battle of No.142 squadron RAF code QT+I

Fairey Battle PM-N 103 Squadron

Fairey Battle prototype

Fairey Battle prototype 1

Fairey Battle prototype 11

Fairey Battle prototype 2

Fairey Battle prototype 3

Fairey Battle prototype 4

Fairey Battle prototype 5

Fairey Battle prototype 6

Fairey Battle prototype 7

Fairey Battle prototype 8

Fairey Battle prototype 9

Fairey Battle prototype K4303

Fairey Battle QT+D L5502 of No 142 Squadron RAF July/August 1940

Fairey Battle Reims airfield 1940

Fairey Battle #57 serial 1934 – Canada 1943

Fairey Battle serial 1934 - Canada 1943

Fairey Battle shot down during the Battle of France and wehrmacht bikers

Fairey Battle shot down during the Battle of France in 1940

Fairey Battle trainer L5251

Fairey Battle shot down during the Battle of France

Fairey Battle world war 2 bomber

French and British Airmen Hold Conference by Fairey Battle Bomber

German soldier posing beside a Fairey Battle 1940

German soldiers inspect wrecked Fairey Battle L5190 PH-P of No. 12 Squadron RAF - 1940

Ground crew working on a Battle of No. 218 Sqn at Auberive-sur-Suippes

K4303 1936

K4303 in 1937

K4303 in flight

K4303 in flight, 1936

K4303 over The Great West Aerodrome

K7558 in flight 1937

K7575, K7578 and K7580 in flight

K7581 in 1937

K9218 abandoned at Chateau Bougon, 1940

K9222 as Rolls Royce Exe Test Bed

K9348 RH-Y at Boscombe Down

K9349 and L5583 abandoned in Sommesous

K9369 coded JN-G of No 150 Squadron RAF

K9370 P24 Prince Test Bed, 1938

K9370 with counter-rotating propellers

K9374 PM-J, Machault-Cauroy France 1940

King George VI watching bombs being hand winched into the bomb bays of a Fairey Battle

King George VI watching bombs being hand winched into the bomb bays of a Battle

L5080 of No. 142 Squadron RAF Binbrook 1940

Low Level attack by Battle on German column France 1940

Main landing gear

Mechanics of No. 226 Squadron RAF overhaul the engines of Battles at Reims

No 218 Sqn RAF Men and Battle K9324 HA-B in France 1939/40

P2192 HA-E

P5235 JN-H of No. 150 Squadron RAF, Le Chene Tonneau, Barby France 1940

PH-X Winter 1939/40

Pilot climbing into the cockpit of a Battle

PM-B L5234 of No. 103 Squadron RAF

Polish Battles L5136 S and N2045 of No 18 OTU

Prototype in its initial form

Prototype K4303 1936

QT-D L5502 of No 142 Squadron RAF Summer 1942

RAAF L5156 of 1 BGS over the Gippsland Australia 1940

RAF Aircrews Heading to Fairey Battle Bombers in France 1940

RCAF 1737 ex-K9265

RCAF Battle 1319

Reims Champagne, Battle K9183 code MQ-R of No. 226 Squadron RAF

Trainer Battle TT Mk I L5598 on the ground

Trainer P6683 1940

wehrmacht soldier next to a Fairey Battle

wehrmacht soldiers next to a Fairey Battle

Well camouflaged Fairey Battle in France 1940

Wreck of K9374 Machault-Cauroy France 1940

Wreckage of a Fairey Battle

WW2 aircraft Fairey Battle

Fairey Battle was a British single engine, three-seat light bomber built by the Fairey Aviation Company, Austin Motors and Avions Fairey Belgium. The prototype Battle (K4303) flew in March 1936 and the first production aircraft entered service a year later. Plane was designed to Specification P.27/32 as a replacement for the biplane Hawker Hart and Hind. The Battle, although obsolete by 1939, was used in front-line service as a reconnaissance bomber during the “phony war”, and as a bomber when the war in the west started in May 1940. A Fairey Battle gunner claimed the first Luftwaffe aircraft shot down during the World War II in West Europe, and the RAF’s first two Victoria Crosses of the WW2 were won by Battle pilots. Fairey Battle was underpowered and underarmed and was soon transferred to training (many with separate instructor and pupil cockpits), target towing and test beds duties. Some were shipped to Canada or Australia as trainers or used as target tugs. Total production: 2185 planes.

Bibliography:

The Fairey Battle - Philip J. R. Moyes, Aircraft Profile Number 34
Fairey Battle - Ian D. Huntley, SAM Publications Aviation Guide No. 1
Bomber Command 1939-1940: The War Before the War - Gordon Thorburn
Royal Air Force Bomber Command and Its Aircraft vol 1 1936-40 - James Goulding, Philip John Richard Moyes
The British Bomber Since 1914 - Francis K. Mason 1994
The Beginnings of Strategic Air Power, A History of the British Bomber Force 1923-1939 - Neville Jones
British Bombers of World War 2 - Aeroplane Collectors' Archive, Kelsey Publishing
RAF Bomber Stories, Dramatic First-hand Accounts of British and Commonwealth Airmen in World War 2 - Martin W. Bowman
Bomber Command - Max Hastings, Pan Books 2010
H.A. Taylor: Fairey Aircraft since 1915, Putnam 1974
Fairey: Company Profile 1915-1960, Aeroplane Company Profile 2012