Fairey Stooge
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Fairey Aviation The Fairey Aviation Company Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer of the first half of the 20th century based in Hayes in Middlesex and Heaton Chapel and RAF Ringway in Cheshire. Notable for the design of a number of important military a ...
Stooge was a
command guided Command guidance is a type of missile guidance in which a ground station or aircraft relay signals to a guided missile via radio control or through a wire connecting the missile to the launcher and tell the missile where to steer to intercept its ...
surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...
(SAM) development project carried out in the United Kingdom starting in
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. Development dates to a
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
request from 1944, but the work was taken over by the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
as a potential counter to the
Kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...
threat. Development was not complete when the war ended, but the
Ministry of Supply The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. A separate ministry, however, was responsible for aircr ...
funded further development and numerous test launches into 1947, assisting in the development of more advanced successor missiles.


Development

During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
a number of efforts were started to develop
surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...
s as it was generally considered that
flak Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
was of little use against
bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...
s of ever-increasing performance. While the Germans developed a number of systems in an attempt to deter Allied bombing, the overwhelming
air superiority Aerial supremacy (also air superiority) is the degree to which a side in a conflict holds control of air power over opposing forces. There are levels of control of the air in aerial warfare. Control of the air is the aerial equivalent of c ...
held by the Allies meant that the prospect of developing similar weapons was largely ignored as unnecessary. This changed when the
Kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...
threat spread in the later half of 1944. This led to the British Stooge and
Brakemine Brakemine was an early surface-to-air missile (SAM) development project carried out in the United Kingdom during World War II. Brakemine used a beam riding guidance system developed at A.C. Cossor, while REME designed the testbed airframes. Trial l ...
efforts, and the
US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...
's
SAM-N-2 Lark The Lark project was a solid-fuel boosted, liquid-fueled surface-to-air missile developed by the United States Navy to meet the kamikaze threat. It was developed as a crash program to introduce a medium-range defensive layer that would attack ta ...
.Parsch 2003 The
British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
had already ordered early studies on these weapons. According to a common account of its development, possibly apocryphal,Taylor 1975, p.45 Fairey was asked to carry out some basic research on these plans by a
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
request, but instead presented a revised design of some depth. The
Ministry of Supply The Ministry of Supply (MoS) was a department of the UK government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. A separate ministry, however, was responsible for aircr ...
(MoS) signed a contract for development of the system in 1944. The ending of the war in August 1945 led to a lower level of urgency, but the MoS continued funding as a development project.


Description

The Stooge was essentially a small subsonic aircraft with straight wings and a conventional tail layout. The missile looked substantially similar to the
V-1 V1, V01 or V-1 can refer to version one (for anything) (e.g., see version control) V1, V01 or V-1 may also refer to: In aircraft * V-1 flying bomb, a World War II German weapon * V1 speed, the maximum speed at which an aircraft pilot may abort ...
, shrunken down and with the engine removed from the top. The missile fuselage was long and in diameter, with a main wingspan of , and a tail span of . Ready for launch, it weighed .''Flight'' 1947, p.344 The rear part of the fuselage was taken up by four air-to-ground "Swallow"
solid fuel rocket A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses Rocket propellant#Solid chemical propellants, solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder; they were u ...
s. The thrust and burning time could be controlled by varying the size of a venturi nozzle. At the missile reached speeds of ,''Flight'' 1947, p.344-345 but was normally tested at a thrust level of which gave a much slower cruising speed. For launch, four rocket motors (from the
RP-3 The RP-3 (from Rocket Projectile 3 inch) was a British air to ground rocket projectile introduced during the Second World War. The "3 inch" designation referred to the nominal diameter of the rocket motor tube. The use of a warhead gave rise to ...
"3-inch" rocket weapon) were strapped in pairs to either side of the fuselage, under the horizontal stabilizer. These produced for 1.6 seconds, launching the missile off the long launching rail at an acceleration of 8 g. As the booster rockets gave the missile a tail-heavy
center of gravity In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weight function, weighted relative position (vector), position of the distributed mass sums to zero. Thi ...
, a cup-shaped counterweight was fitted to the nose. At booster burnout, the missile having reached a speed of over , the boosters and counterweight were ejected and the main rockets fired. Like many early missiles of the era, the Stooge was boosted to the approximate altitude of the attacker and then flown onto an intercept course.
Flare A flare, also sometimes called a fusée, fusee, or bengala in some Latin-speaking countries, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a bright light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for distress signaling, illumination, ...
s located in fairings on the wing tips provided a bright source for the operator to track visually. After launch the missile levelled off and a simple
gyroscope A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος ''gŷros'', "round" and σκοπέω ''skopéō'', "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in which the axis of rota ...
-controlled
autopilot An autopilot is a system used to control the path of an aircraft, marine craft or spacecraft without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator' ...
, located in the forwards portion of the fuselage, kept the Stooge flying in a straight line. Control of first the elevators and then, 3 seconds later, the ailerons were released to the operator - the delay necessary for the gyro control to stabilise first. Using radio control, the operator would fly the missile into a position in front of the target, and then adjust the path in order to collide with the target. Control was via the ailerons and elevator, the vertical stabilizer did not contain a movable rudder.


Flight testing

The first prototypes, with fixed controls, flew after seven months from the start of development at the end of World War II.Taylor 1974, p.46 Development continued with a number of test firings at the Rocket Experimental Establishment at RAF Aberporth at
Aberporth Aberporth is a seaside village, community and electoral ward in Ceredigion, Wales. The population at the 2001 Census, was 2,485, of whom 49 per cent could speak the Welsh language. At the 2011 Census, the population of the community was 2,374 a ...
, Wales.Taylor 1974, p.47 It is believed that around twelve Stooges were constructed by Fairey, the most successful of the test launches being that of the sixth missile, achieving an altitude of and a range of before the flight was terminated by
range safety In the field of rocketry, range safety may be assured by a system which is intended to protect people and assets on both the rocket range and downrange in cases when a launch vehicle might endanger them. For a rocket deemed to be ''off course' ...
, the missile having passed out of sight of the operator.Taylor 1974, p.48 The Stooge, on its launcher, was displayed at the
Radlett Aerodrome Radlett Aerodrome was an airfield and aircraft manufacturing plant in Hertfordshire, now owned by Eon Productions. Part of the airfield is now the M25 between junctions 21 ( A405) and 22 ( A1081). History The airfield was also known as RAF Radle ...
in 1947. Radlett, northwest of
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, was the site of a major
Handley Page Handley Page Limited was a British aerospace manufacturer. Founded by Frederick Handley Page (later Sir Frederick) in 1909, it was the United Kingdom's first publicly traded aircraft manufacturing company. It went into voluntary liquidation a ...
factory and host of early meetings of what would become the
Farnborough Airshow The Farnborough Airshow, officially the Farnborough International Airshow, is a trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries, where civilian and military aircraft are demonstrated to potential customers and investors. Since its fir ...
. Although the programme failed to yield an operational weapons system, experience gained from the testing of Stooge assisted in the development of the
Fairey Fireflash Fireflash was the United Kingdom's first air-to-air guided missile to see service with the Royal Air Force. Constructed by Fairey Aviation, the missile utilised radar beam riding guidance. Fireflash had relatively limited performance and requ ...
air-to-air missile.Twigge 1993, p.24


See also

*
Brakemine Brakemine was an early surface-to-air missile (SAM) development project carried out in the United Kingdom during World War II. Brakemine used a beam riding guidance system developed at A.C. Cossor, while REME designed the testbed airframes. Trial l ...
, another early UK missile using beam riding guidance rather than radio control


References

;Citations ;Bibliography
"Fairey's First Guided Missile"
''Flight'', 17 April 1947, pp. 344–345 * * * * {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Fairey Aviation Company Surface-to-air missiles of the United Kingdom