Fairey Delta 1

Fairey Aviation Company · United Kingdom · first flew 1951 · fighter

The Fairey Delta 1 was a British research aircraft built to investigate the flight characteristics of the delta wing at transonic speeds. It was the first British-designed aircraft with a delta wing.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	Mid-mounted, delta
E — Engines	1 × turbojet, fuselage-mounted
F — Fuselage	Single-seat research aircraft with one turbojet in the fuselage
T — Tail	T-tail

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Spot it by:

Compact mid-wing tailless delta
Single-seat research aircraft with one turbojet in the fuselage
First British-designed aircraft to have a delta wing

A short, tailless delta with the wing set at mid-height, flown by one pilot and powered by one jet engine of about 3,600 lbf thrust.

Specifications

The Fairey Delta 1 has a length of 8 m (26 ft).
It has a wingspan of 5.96 m (20 ft).
Its maximum speed is 1011 km/h (628 mph).
Typical crew: 1.

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

The design began as the Type R, a ramp-launched vertical takeoff fighter, but the VTO features were dropped and the aircraft was built to Specification E.10/47. Three aircraft were ordered by the Ministry of Supply and it first flew on 12 March 1951 with Group Captain R. Gordon at the controls. A landing accident in September 1951 led to several modifications.

Variants

Only one aircraft was completed. The two further airframes were cancelled after flight testing showed unfavourable handling and stability.

Where you'll see it

After government interest ended, Fairey kept flying the single aircraft for its own research. It was badly damaged in a landing accident on 6 February 1956 and judged uneconomic to repair.

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