Supermarine Attacker

[Steve Bond]

Looking for anyone who flew the Attacker during it's Royal Navy service. This is the final type outstanding in my search for people who flew all the FAA fixed-wing types post-war for a new series of books.
Thanks in anticipation!

[MPN11]

Narrow field, eh? Good hunting!!

[BEagle]

'Baay' (Barry) was a real lounge lizard who used to drink in our local Somerset pub in the 1970s. Ex-FAA, buggers grips, cravat and blazer with rather an affected manner which he assumed would endear him to the laydeeez…

But his tale of flying an Attacker was quite amusing: "Eh was right overhead London one night when the dem engine flamed out and wouldn't relight. So eh managed to make it to Ford and landed orff a glide approach. Then to the wardroom for a stiffener or two!"

[mcdhu]

Steve, Sadly, I never flew the Attacker. But, my ol’ Dad Was the PMO (SMO) at RNAS Abbotsinch (HMS Sanderling) in the mid ‘50s.i remember him taking me around the hangars showing me the latest naval aircraft which were the Sea Prince, the Meteor and the Attacker which the kindly maintainers would let me sit in (I was around 9 at the time). I think the resident squadron was 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron.
Tail wheel jet - wow!!
mcdhu

[megan]

Tail wheel jet With Spitfire wings, well, from the Spiteful to be absolutely correct. Was called the Jet Spiteful originally.

[langleybaston]

'Baay' (Barry) was a real lounge lizard who used to drink in our local Somerset pub in the 1970s. Ex-FAA, buggers grips, cravat and blazer with rather an affected manner which he assumed would endear him to the laydeeez…

But his tale of flying an Attacker was quite amusing: "Eh was right overhead London one night when the dem engine flamed out and wouldn't relight. So eh managed to make it to Ford and landed orff a glide approach. Then to the wardroom for a stiffener or two!"

"Bugger's grips!" I have not heard of them in 60 years, but the last time was a Commander F......... RN {Rtd] who had a senior post in Met Oceanography and was i/c the Nautical branch [why we duplicated the Navy nobody told me]. His bugger's grips were magnificent, you could swing off them, but he was a creature of icy menace to youngsters so we avoided taking the proverbial.

Whereas taches, beards, stubble and the rest are commonplace, how many grips do we see in a year?. I am sure that I would notice, even if only to compare with the late Commander.

As for the Attacker, it was an ugly beast, unlike the Sea Hawk [much as Swift versus Hunter, obviously].

[treadigraph]

I believe the Swift was pretty much a swept wing Attacker with a training wheel and presumably a bigger engine wasn't it?

[Yellow Sun]

Steve, Sadly, I never flew the Attacker. But, my ol’ Dad Was the PMO (SMO) at RNAS Abbotsinch (HMS Sanderling) in the mid ‘50s.i remember him taking me around the hangars showing me the latest naval aircraft which were the Sea Prince, the Meteor and the Attacker which the kindly maintainers would let me sit in (I was around 9 at the time). I think the resident squadron was 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron.
Tail wheel jet - wow!!
mcdhu

I recall clearly the Attacker at Sanderling, in the latter years it was gate guard at the Inchinnan \Abbotsinch Road gate and I think it spent its last few years mounted on a pole. I saw a lot of things fly into or from Abbotsinch; including Gannets being towed in convoy through the streets of Paisley; but can not recall ever seeing an Attacker airborne.

YS

[cargosales]

"Bugger's grips!" I have not heard of them in 60 years, but the last time was a Commander F......... RN {Rtd] who had a senior post in Met Oceanography and was i/c the Nautical branch [why we duplicated the Navy nobody told me]. His bugger's grips were magnificent, you could swing off them, but he was a creature of icy menace to youngsters so we avoided taking the proverbial.

Whereas taches, beards, stubble and the rest are commonplace, how many grips do we see in a year?. I am sure that I would notice, even if only to compare with the late Commander.


I have obviously led a sheltered life and had never heard of them, so goggled it .. and the results were predictable and worrying in equal measure.

If I tried swinging off my nearest and dearest's "bugger's grips" then I would not be long for this world1. Or: buggery grips (https://www.definition-of.com/buggery+grips) / buggers handles (https://www.definition-of.com/buggers+handles) , long sideburns or a handlebar moustache. Chiefly British usage. 2. More rarely, the female pubic hair (https://www.definition-of.com/pubic+hair).
https://www.definition-of.com/buggers+grips

[MPN11]

The late and lamented ACM Sir Peter Squire (CAS) sported the grips. Nothing pubic to my knowledge.

[Union Jack]

I have obviously led a sheltered life and had never heard of them, so goggled it .. and the results were predictable and worrying in equal measure.

If I tried swinging off my nearest and dearest's "bugger's grips" then I would not be long for this world
Sadly the truly distinguished gentleman concerned is no longer with us, but here's a fine nautical example for your delectation - and of course to preserve you from the wrath of your current next of kin....

https://uboat.net/allies/commanders/83.html

Jack

[NickB]

My Dad remembers watching one make a crash landing at Culdrose in 1952 (I think)... it had a fuel problem I believe and landed very short of runway 30, actually touching down on the other side of the road that then bi-sected CU. It went through a fence, slid across the road (there was a aluminium skid mark for many years on the road) and was arrested by the fence on the other side of the road. Pilot got out OK ('Boots' Nethersole I think) and a small fire started that my Dad helped to extinguish (he was only a 16 year old 'spotter' at the time!)

Interesting times back then...

[Steve Bond]

Thanks all, sitting on one and seeing one crash is getting closer to what I need.....

[KING6024]

I can remember a family holiday on Hayling Island in the early 1950s watching Attackers attacking targets moored offshore,I can't remember if they were using guns,rockets or bombs.

[TBM-Legend]

Great stuff here. By the way did you get a pilot's view of that other wonderful fighter, the Westland Wyvern?

[Steve Bond]

Yes I did, courtesy of Bob Edward. Here is some of what he had to say about it:

“The aircraft was a delight to fly unless something went wrong, when it could be a very dangerous beast. Although often described as a fighter it was not one. Yes, it was armed with four 20 mm cannon sited in the wings, with 600 rounds per minute rates of fire and so was not defenceless in the air. It was very much an air to service weapon of war. It was not an aerobatic aircraft, was assessed as not being recoverable from a spin but was a beautifully steady weapon delivery platform. The cockpit was roomy, allowing plenty of room for re-folding maps, using hand-held navigation aids etc. There was even a flexible tube that could be used to urinate – I never heard that anyone used it."

[orca]

Did he mean ‘Air to Surface’?

(Speaking as someone who said BV in an interview meaning Blue Vixen...which got turned into Beyond Visual at some point prior to going to press).

[Wander00]

King 2*** me too, Bracklesham Bay 1953 (watched coronation on tiny TV in the village hall) but best bit was watching the aircraft presumably from Ford bombing, rocketing and cannon firing at the target wrecks off shore

[Davef68]

I believe the Swift was pretty much a swept wing Attacker with a training wheel and presumably a bigger engine wasn't it?

In a simlar way to the Hunter being a swept wing Seahawk - it was a progressive development through a series of intermediate designs

[Frostchamber]

In a simlar way to the Hunter being a swept wing Seahawk - it was a progressive development through a series of intermediate designs


Yes the Type 510 experimental prototype was the arguably main "intermediate" design - it had the swept wing but retained the Attacker's tail-wheel, whereas the Swift got a nosewheel.

[Union Jack]

Yes I did, courtesy of Bob Edward. Here is some of what he had to say about it:



I wonder if he also mentioned the policy whereby the bridge island used to be cleared of goofers because of concern over Wyvern propellers contacting the flight deck after engaging a wire and spraying shrapnel-like splinters in all directions.

Jack

[Dr Jekyll]

In a simlar way to the Hunter being a swept wing Seahawk - it was a progressive development through a series of intermediate designs


I did see a suggestion that the Seahawk evolved from the Sea Fury in much the same way. With an intermediate design having Fury wings.

[Steve Bond]

Union Jack, yes, he did say that about the danger from prop shrapnel.

[Warmtoast]

I believe the Swift was pretty much a swept wing Attacker with a training wheel and presumably a bigger engine wasn't it?

My only photo of an Attacker was taken at the 1954 ROC "Recognition Day" at Biggin Hill. The Attacker came from RNAS Ford (I think).
Coincidentally I also took a photo of one of the first Swifts at the same event. This was a 56 Sqn (Waterbeach) based aircraft.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.gmforum.com-vbulletin/800x557/supermarine_20attacker_20wp282_zpsvbsdsnzt_ffa7f93b4a9b6952a 0c5585f11c2b432921718d5.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.gmforum.com-vbulletin/800x475/56sqnswiftmk1_46c20005aa4f2c3308e56ada4b721f3b4d5cf0ff.jpg
From my notes.
The Swift was introduced into the RAF in February 1954, becoming the RAF's first British-built and into service swept-wing aircraft, but unfortunately, because of major control problems when flying at high altitude which resulted in several accidents, they were grounded for a while in August 1954 whilst attempts were made to sort out the aircraft's problems.

[Davef68]

I did see a suggestion that the Seahawk evolved from the Sea Fury in much the same way. With an intermediate design having Fury wings.
Yes, I recall seeing that in Tony Buttler's Secret projects book - so you can draw a line of progressive descent form the Hawker biplanes of the 20s and 30s to the Hunter through a process of incremental design changes.