The British Fairey company developed the Battle as a single-engined light bomber in the 1930s. First flight was in March 1936. It had a 3 man crew and with a single Merlin engine rather slow with a max speed of about 410 km/hr and vulnerable to enemy fighters. Several versions were developed. During the start of the Second World it had heavy losses and was later deployed to Overseas areas and in training roles. The Battle was also used in several foreign air forces including Belgium, South Africa, Turkey.
Fairey Battle
The Belgian Air Force had 16 Battles that only played a limited role at the outbreak of the War. This Battle TT.I coded RE3950 spent much of its career in Canada and was acquired by the Brussels museum in 1990. It was painted as a representation of an aircraft that served with the Belgian Air Force in 1940. Some panels are seen removed and it is on display at the Museum in the Jubelpark in Brussel, Belgium.
Photographed 2016 by Meindert de Vreeze, (c) copyright IPMS Nederland
Fairey Battle mk. 1
This aircraft serialled L5343 was manufactured under license by Austin Motors. In September 1939 it was assigned to RAF no.24 maintenance unit. It was than used by no. 266 squadron, No. 20 maintenance unit and no.98 squadron. It crashed in Ireland September 1940. Parts were recovered and stored. In the 1970 it was restored to become an exhibit with also many other parts from the Battle serialled L5340.
It was seen on display at the RAF museum in Hendon (London).
Photographed September 2018 by Ronald van Voorst ,(C) Copyright IPMS Nederland
Several models were released: in the popular 1/72 scale first an old kit of Airfix and better MPM kit. In 1/48 by Classic Airframe and 1/144 by Zvezda.
This walk around page was first published March 2018 by M. de Vreeze. ; note the Copyright!