Supermarine Swift
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| Supermarine Swift | ||
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| Image caption | ||
| Description | ||
| Role | ||
| Crew | ||
| First Flight | ||
| Entered Service | ||
| Manufacturer | ||
| Dimensions | ||
| Length | ft in | m |
| Wingspan | ft in | m |
| Height | ft in | m |
| Wing Area | ft² | m² |
| Weights | ||
| Empty | lb | kg |
| Loaded | lb | kg |
| Maximum Takeoff | lb | kg |
| Capacity | ||
| Powerplant | ||
| Engines | ||
| Dry Thrust | lb | kN |
| Afterburner Thrust | lb | kN |
| Performance | ||
| Maximum Speed | mph | km/h |
| Combat Range | miles | km |
| Ferry Range | miles | km |
| Service Ceiling | ft | m |
| Rate of Climb | ft/min | m/min |
| Wing Loading | lb/ft² | kg/m² |
| Thrust/Weight | ||
| Avionics | ||
| Avionics | ||
| Armament | ||
| Guns | ||
| Bombs | ||
| Missiles | ||
| Rockets | ||
| Other | ||
The Supermarine Swift was a single-seat fighter-jet of the Royal Air Force (RAF), built by Supermarine, most famous for the Supermarine Spitfire of World War II fame.
The Swift evolved from a number of prototypes, the first being the Type 510, a prototype fighter-jet. It was basically a Supermarine Attacker, a straight-wing FAA jet, but with swept-wings, and first flew in 1948; a year after the first nasalised prototype Attacker had flew. The Type 510 became the first British aircraft to have both swept-wings and a swept-tailplane. The Type 510 also had the distinction of becoming the first swept-wing aircraft to take-off and land from an aircraft carrier, during trials for the Fleet Air Arm (FAA), the air branch of the Royal Navy (RN). However, RN interest soon waned and so Supermarine made a number of modifications to the aircraft to improve aspects of the aircraft's performance.
The second aircraft in the ancestral lineage that led to the Swift was the Type 528, which first flew in March 1950. However, many modifications were subsequently made to its structure soon after its first flight and it was then designated the Type 535. The aircraft made its first flight as the Type 535 in August 1950. The final variant was the Type 541, a pre-production model of the Supermarine Swift, over one hundred of which had had been ordered by the Air Ministry who were keen on an aircraft to fall-back on just in case the Hawker Hunter programme turned out to be a failure, as-well as an aircraft to replace the Gloster Meteor in the air-defence role. The Type 541 replaced the Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet engine of the predecessors with the Rolls-Royce AJ.65 turbojet engine, which would be the basis for the Avon series of engines. The fuselage, which was quite large to accommodate the Nene engine, was not redesigned for the smaller Aj.65 engine, and subsequent Avon engines. Two Type 541s were produced, with the first prototype taking to the sky for the first timed in 1951 while the second prototype made its first flight the following year.
The Swift had been ordered into super-priority production, a policy created by Sir Winston Churchill who had become Prime Minister in 1951 during very tense times between NATO and Warsaw Pact countries during the Cold War; the Korean War had begun in 1950. The first Swift production variant was a fighter-jet designated the F.1, with eighteen eventually being built. The first flight occurred in 1953 and it entered service with No. 56 Squadron in February 1954, becoming the first swept-wing RAF aircraft in the process. It had an armament of two Aden 30 mm cannon and was powered by a 7,500 lbf (33.4 kN) thrust Rolls-Royce Avon 109 turbojet engine. The second Swift variant was the F.2 (sixteen built) and was simply an F.1 with two extra Aden 30mm cannons. However, this caused problems; the structure was redesigned to give extra room for the increased ammunition load. The structural modifications caused dangerous handling problems with the aircraft, which would not be resolved until numerous modifications had taken place.
Tragedy began to strike early on in the career of the Swift, with a number of accidents occurring with the F.1 and F.2, some ending fatally. Because of these accidents, the F.1 was grounded in August, in the same year it had entered service, while the F.2, which had replaced the F.1 in August as-well, was also soon grounded. The third Swift variant was the F.3, with twenty-five being built and powered by a Rolls-Royce Avon 114 engine with reheat (afterburner). However, it was never taken into service with the Royal Air Force and was used just as an instructional airframe. The next Swift variant was the F.4, which included a variable incidence tailplane intended to correct the handling problems that the Swift suffered from. It did indeed fix the problem, however, it was found that reheat could not actually be ignited at high altitude, added further the problems that the Swift variants suffered from.
All fighter variants of the Swift were eventually withdrawn from service by the RAF, after only a brief time in service, and were replaced by the far more capable Hawker Hunter. Despite this, another Swift was produced, the FR.5, and was this time a fighter-reconnaissance variant. It had a longer nose to accommodate a number of cameras and had other modifications to its structure. The FR.5 also reverted to the F.1's armament of two Aden 30mm cannons. It first flew in 1955 and entered service the following year. It performed its reconnaissance mainly at low-level, thus making the reheat problem at high altitude irrelevant. Unlike its predecessors, the FR.5 wasn't useless and it performed its role very well, being based at RAF Germany during the tense times of the Cold War. The FR.5 was the last Swift variant to enter service with the RAF, and was eventually replaced by the Hawker Hunter FR.10, and left the RAF in 1961. Two further variants were designed; the PR.6 was an unarmed photo-reconnaissance variant. However, it was a short-lived program due to ever-present reheat problems. The last variant was the F.7, and was the first Swift variant to be fitted with guided-missiles, being armed with the Fairey Fireflash air-to-air missile and was powered by a new Rolls-Royce Avon engine. Though about a dozen were built, none ever entered service with the RAF and were used for guided-missile trials.
The Swift never saw action during her brief time with the RAF, though the FR.5 performed its duty on the doorstep of Eastern Europe, controlled by the Soviet Union during some of the most tense times of the Cold War. It did break a number of speed records in its time, indeed in Libya, in 1953, an F.4, piloted by Commander Mike Lithgow, broke the world absolute speed record, reaching a speed of 737.7 mph (1187 km/h), though it was broken only hours later by the Douglas Skyray, a United States Navy (USN) fighter, which itself proved to be a bit of a disappointment in service with the USN. Under two hundred Swifts were built from an order of just under five hundred. By its last variant, the Swift had sorted out the many problems that had blighted its career, yet the RAF did not persist in keeping the Swift programme running, for it had been superseded beyond reach by the Hunter, and thus ended any possibility for the Swift to prove its worth in roles other than just reconnaissance.
Squadrons that operated the Supermarine Swift
- Royal Air Force
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