Fairey Delta 2
Comments
J35JMe 3, great start!👍🏻
Built this kit some months ago, enjoyed the build. Which version will you go with?
David SmithHi all, I'm going with WG774 after the record with yellow graphics on.the silver fuselage and the new record speed proudly stencilled under the cockpit. I just hope the yellow decals wrap around the skinny nose OK. The instrument panel and seatbelt decals were fine, which is encouraging.
J35JGreat choice! I went with the same version. 😊
A friendy advice, wait with glueing the antennas on the lower part until you have set the yellow ribbon decal under the nose/ front section. I missed this myself and had to do a painful workaround.
Otherwise the yellow decals fits great on the nose and pitot section. Looking forward to see the finished model!!👍🏻
SkyhikerOh those conservative British lords. They absolutely hate change. They completely stifled the advances in the British air industry because they felt threatened by being on the forefront of anything. If only they had been bolder this jet could have made the UK a fortune.
Robert PodkońskiWatching your build log I am more and more tempted to begin work on this beauty too (and I wish that they will also provide us with BAC 221 soon 😉 )
David SmithHi all, it's finished. An excellent kit that went together really well. There is no filler used on this model at all, due in part to my ability to make the solution look worse than the problem. The only areas that would benefit are the very rear of the fuselage/tailpipe and the canopy to cockpit joint. In hindsight, I should have cleaned this up as with so much of the canopy painted I would have had a good opportunity to cover my sins. Otherwise, the decals were a bit weird, but if I had provided a glossier surface I'm sure positioning would have been easier. The end result looks fine from my usual viewing distance, so I'm pleased to have added this pretty and important aircraft to my speed demons collection.
Robert PodkońskiGreat job, David! Looks fantastic! (and it is good to know that it is such a modeller-friendly kit 😉 )
Album info
This is a significant and very pretty aircraft. It was designed as a research aircraft to investigate delta wing behaviour at transonic speeds and a sleeker more capable follow-on to their Delta 1 (which had begun life with near-vertical ramp launching in mind). During testing it became clear that its performance was remarkably good, going supersonic without engaging reheat. Fairey were keen to make a World Airspeed Record attempt, but neither the UK government nor engine supplier Rolls Royce were supportive of the idea. In the end the Government agreed to loan Fairey one of the two prototypes for a limited period, providing Fairey paid for the use of any Royal Aircraft Establishment facilities and covered the cost of insurance. In March 1956 the Delta 2 become the first jet aircraft to exceed 1000 mph in level flight, clocking an official 2-way average speed of 1132 mph. This was 310 mph or 37% faster than the previous record held by a North American Super Sabre and the largest increase in the record at that time.
Much of the subsequent testing was undertaken in France, due to a ban on overland supersonic flights in the UK. There is speculation that the design of the Dassault Mirage may have been influenced by the Delta 2, but the UK Government's belief that anti-aircraft missiles would render fighters redundant meant no funding was provided to develop the fighter variants that Fairey proposed.
What did happen, though, is the very airframe that had taken the World Airspeed Record was extensively modified in 1961 to become the BAC 221 and successfully test the ogival delta wing proposed for the Anglo-French Concorde at high speed.
