Fairey Battle RAF light bomber

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: Bomb sight

: Battle wreck

: Battle wreck

: K9370 with counter-rotating propellers

: Battle P5235 Le Chene Tonneau, Barby France 1940

: P2192 HA-E

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

: Trainer P6683 1940

: PM-B L5234 of No. 103 Squadron RAF

: PH-X Winter 1939/40

: RAAF L5156 of 1 BGS over the Gippsland Australia 1940

: L5080 of No. 142 Squadron RAF Binbrook 1940

: K9370 P24 Prince Test Bed, 1938

: Wreck of K9374 Machault-Cauroy France 1940

: K9374 PM-J, Machault-Cauroy France 1940

: K9349 and L5583 abandoned in Sommesous

: K9348 RH-Y at Boscombe Down

: K9222 as Rolls Royce Exe Test Bed

: K9218 abandoned at Chateau Bougon, 1940

: K7581 in 1937

: Demonstrator K7561 at Evore 1937

: K7575, K7578 and K7580 in flight

: K7558 in flight 1937

: Pilot climbing into the cockpit of a Battle

: Canadian ’39’ 2072 in flight

: Battle assembly line

: Bouy-Luxembourg 1940 – 88 Squadron RAF

: Battle Canada 1943

: RCAF 1737 ex-K9265

: Canadian 1737 1942

: 226-B, 226-C and 226-D

: Battle 218 Sqn 1940

: Battle 142 Sqn 1940

: Battle 63 practice bomb carrier 1939

: K4303 over The Great West Aerodrome

: Main landing gear

: Main landing gear

: K4303 in flight, 1936

: K4303 in flight

: Prototype K4303 1936

: K4303 in 1937

: Fairey Battle prototype

: K4303 1936

: K4303 in 1937

: Fairey Battle prototype 11

: Prototype in its initial form

: Fairey Battle prototype 9

: Fairey Battle prototype 5

: Fairey Battle prototype 6

: Fairey Battle prototype 7

: Fairey Battle prototype 8

: Fairey Battle prototype 4

: Fairey Battle prototype 3

: Fairey Battle prototype 2

: Fairey Battle prototype 1

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

: QT-D L5502 of No 142 Squadron RAF Summer 1942

: K9369 coded JN-G of No 150 Squadron RAF

: Low Level attack by Battle on German column France 1940

: Battle Trainer R7365 “12” of No 1 FTS

: Abandoned Battle P22?? France 1940

: Abandoned Battle L5248 RH-B of No 88 Squadron RAF

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

: RCAF Battle 1319

: Polish Battles L5136 S and N2045 of No 18 OTU

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

: Battle QT-B of No 142 Squadron RAF 1940

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

: Battle Trainer R7365

: Abandoned Battle HA-K of No 218 Squadron RAF 1940

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

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

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

: Fairey Battle of No. 226 Squadron RAF tail

: Well camouflaged Fairey Battle in France 1940

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

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

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

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

: RAF Aircrews Heading to Fairey Battle Bombers in France 1940

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

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

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

: Battle light bomber at a forward airfield in France

: Battle Destroyed by Fleeing French at St Denis Airfield – July 1940

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

: Fairey Battle light bombers of No. 63 Squadron in flight

: Trainer Battle TT Mk I L5598 on the ground

: German soldier posing beside a Fairey Battle 1940

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

: Fairey Battle prototype K4303

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

: Battle K9324 HA-B France 1939-1940

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

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

: Battle rear gunner training

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

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

: French and British Airmen Hold Conference by Fairey Battle Bomber

: Fairey Battle serial 1934 – Canada 1943

: Battle K9274 on the ground

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

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

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

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

: Fairey Battle 142 squadron QT+I

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

: Fairey Battle MQ-O of No. 226 Squadron

: Battle PH-F P2332

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

: Fairey Battle 150 Squadron JN+C, May 1940

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

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

: Fairey Battle 142 squadron QT+I 4

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

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

: Fairey Battle PM-N 103 Squadron

: Fairey Battle trainer L5251

: Fairey Battle France 1940

: Abandoned Fairey Battle of 142 squadron RAF France 1940 2

: Fairey Battle Reims airfield 1940

: Abandoned Fairey Battle of 142 squadron RAF France 1940

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

: Destroyed Fairey Battle

: WW2 aircraft Fairey Battle

: Abandoned Fairey Battle

: Fairey Battle world war 2 bomber

: Fairey Battle bomber France 1940

: Wreckage of a Fairey Battle

: Fairey Battle shot down during the Battle of France in 1940

: wehrmacht soldiers next to a Fairey Battle

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

: wehrmacht soldier next to a 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