Fairey Fleetwing

The Fairey Fleetwing was a two-seat, single-engine biplane built as Fairey's answer to Air Ministry Specification 22/26 for a carrier-borne spotter reconnaissance aircraft for the Fleet Air Arm, stressed for catapulting and with a limited fighter capability. It used the all-metal construction techniques of the Fox IIM and, like the Fox II, had a lower wing of much narrower chord than the upper. It first flew on 16 May 1929 powered by a Rolls-Royce Kestrel and competed against the Hawker Osprey and others, but the Osprey won. The sole Fleetwing served as a seaplane trainer for the 1931 Schneider Trophy team and was damaged beyond repair after catapult trials in April 1932.