ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 241478
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| Date: | Thursday 29 September 1955 |
| Time: | day |
| Type: |  Fairey Firefly U.8 |
| Owner/operator: | RAE Aberporth GWTW (Guided Weapons Trials Wing) |
| Registration: | WM886 |
| MSN: | F.8941 |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | Cardigan Bay, 3.5 miles off Aberporth Beach, Ceredigion, Dyfed -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RAE Llanbedr, Gwynedd (EGOD) |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
Fairey Firefly U.8 WM886: Ordered from Fairey Aircraft Ltd., Heaton Chapel, Stockport, Cheshire as a Firefly AS.7, but completed as a Firefly U.8 drone, and first flown as such 10/2/1955 at Ringway Airport, Manchester
Delivered to RAE Aberporth GWTW (Guided Weapons Trials Wing) 18/3/1955.
Written off (destroyed) 29/9/1955 when crashed into Cardigan Bay, over the Aberporth Range, 3.5 miles off Aberporth Beach, Ceredigion, Dyfed. According to some sources, Firefly U.8 WM886 was shot down by a Firestreak missile fired by a De Havilland Sea Venom. As such WM886 was the first Firestreak "kill" - the first ever aircraft to shot down air-to-air by a Firestreak missile (at the time the missile was codenamed "Blue Jay Mk.1" - it was renamed Firestreak in August 1957).
Sources:
1. Fleet Air Arm Fixed Wing aircraft Since 1946 (Ray Sturtivant, Lee Howard & Mick Burrows, Air Britain,2004 p.299)
2. Gibson, Chris; Buttler, Tony (2007). British Secret Projects: Hypersonics, Ramjets and Missiles. Midland Publishing. pp. 33–35. ISBN 978-1-85780-258-0.
3. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WM
4. http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_fairey_firefly_U8.html
5. http://www.ukserials.com/losses_drones.htm
6. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060025563
7. https://www.rafaberporth.org.uk/page6.html
8. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1060025588
Media:
Fairey Blue Jay Mk.1 (later De Havilland Firestreak) air to air missile
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 14-Sep-2020 20:19 | Dr. John Smith | Added |
| 14-Sep-2020 20:21 | Dr. John Smith | Updated [Operator] |
Corrections or additions? ... Edit this accident description
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