Fireflash and Related Topics

De Havilland Firestreak

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British first-generation, passive infrared homing air-to-air missile.

Lightning T4 trainer with a dummy Firestreak missile drill round (1964)

A Firestreak on its trolley. The fuse windows are visible adjacent to the red rubber bands used to protect them.

Firestreak was the result of a series of projects begun with the OR.1056 Red Hawk missile, which called for an all-aspect seeker that could attack a target from any launch position.

Air-to-air missile

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Missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying another aircraft.

Two F-15Es from the 90th Fighter Squadron USAF, from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, fire a pair of AIM-7Ms during a training mission.

Meteor (missile) for Saab 39 Gripen, Dassault Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets.

An IRIS-T air-to-air missile of the German Air Force.

The newest and the oldest member of Rafael's Python family of AAM for comparisons, Python-5 (displayed lower-front) and Shafrir-1 (upper-back)

AIM-9L Captive Air Training Missile (CATM) with inert warhead and rocket motor for training purposes.

An infrared homing Python-5 AAM being fired from HAL Tejas fighter

A US Navy VF-103 Jolly Rogers F-14 Tomcat fighter launches an AIM-54 Phoenix long-range air-to-air missile. Photo courtesy U.S. Navy Atlantic Fleet.

A K-5 (missile) air-to-air missile on MiG-19. (Displayed in the Military History Museum and Park in Kecel, Hungary)

Luftwaffe IRIS-T and Meteor missiles on a Eurofighter Typhoon

Post-war research led the Royal Air Force to introduce Fairey Fireflash into service in 1955 but their results were unsuccessful.

Rainbow Code

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The Rainbow Codes were a series of code names used to disguise the nature of various British military research projects.

Blue Sky – see Fairey Fireflash

Seaslug (missile)

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First-generation surface-to-air missile designed by Armstrong Whitworth for use by the Royal Navy.

Seaslug on display at Wickenby Aerodrome, Lincolnshire, UK

Test firing from the trials ship HMS Girdle Ness (A387), circa 1961.

The Seaslug launcher mounted on the quarterdeck of HMS Glamorgan, circa 1972

The firing of the first Seaslug test missile from HMS Girdle Ness (A387). This version is based on the RAE's early GPV, and retains the rear-mounted boosters before they moved forward on the "long round".

Tizard called a meeting of the Defence Research Policy Committee (DRPC) and started a process of pushing through four key missile programs that were intended to enter service in 1957, Seaslug, a corresponding Army/Air Force missile known as Red Heathen, the Blue Boar television guided glide bomb, and the Red Hawk air-to-air missile.

Infrared homing

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Passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared light emission from a target to track and follow it.

The Vampir nightscope used a photomultiplier as the sighting system and provided illumination with an IR lamp mounted above the scope.

The Madrid seeker was being developed for the Enzian surface-to-air missile.

The AIM-4 Falcon was the first IR guided missile to enter service. The translucent dome allows the IR radiation to reach the sensor.

The AIM-9 Sidewinder closely followed Falcon into service. It was much simpler than the Falcon and proved far more effective in combat.

Firestreak was the third IR missile to enter service. It was larger and almost twice as heavy as its US counterparts, much of this due to a larger warhead.

SRAAM was designed to address most of the problems found with earlier IR missiles in a very short-range weapon.

More than half a century after its introduction, upgraded versions of the Sidewinder remain the primary IR missile in most western air forces.

The R-73 was a leap forward for Soviet designs, and cause for considerable worry among western air forces.

The Stinger has been used in Afghanistan since 1986. It was provided to the anti-Soviet forces by the US

Nag (missile) with imaging infrared (IIR) seeker closeup

BAE Venetian Blind Filter for "Hot Brick" Infrared Jammer

The Type 91 surface-to-air missile MANPAD has an optical seeker mounted as a means of tracking airborne targets.

Development began as OR.1056 Red Hawk, but this was considered too advanced, and in 1951 an amended concept was released as OR.1117 and given the code name Blue Jay.

Fairey Aviation Company

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British aircraft manufacturer of the first half of the 20th century based in Hayes in Middlesex and Heaton Chapel and RAF Ringway in Cheshire.

Stockport/Ringway-built Fairey Barracuda TF.V at Manchester Airport in May 1946

Fairey Stockport/Ringway-built Gannet AS.4 in 1956

Fairey Air Surveys Douglas DC-3 outside Fairey's 1937-built hangar at Manchester Airport during servicing in 1975

A Fairey mechanical overdrive, as fitted to an early Range Rover

The Fairey Fireflash was an early air-to-air weapon guided by radar beam riding.

Supermarine Swift

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British single-seat jet fighter aircraft that was operated by the Royal Air Force .

Swift FR.5 landing at the Farnborough air show in 1955

Swift.F.1 test aircraft operated by Vickers-Armstrong in 1953

Swift FR.5 WK281 wearing the markings of No. 79 Squadron RAF

World Air Speed Record certificate for Swift WK198, piloted by Mike Lithgow.

A preserved Swift FR.5 on static display at Newark Air Museum

The last variant was the F Mk 7; this model was the first Swift variant to be fitted with guided missiles, having been armed with the Fairey Fireflash air-to-air missile and was powered by a new model of the Avon engine.