During the
course of World War II, the Royal Navy had learned the value of carrier based
anti-submarine aircraft. For the post war years the Navy needed a modern
aircraft to tackle the submarine threat posed by any potential enemy.
In 1945 the
Fleet Air Arm issued a requirement GR17/45, for a carrier-based ASW
(anti-submarine warfare) aircraft which could both hunt and kill submarines.
Of two
cosmetically similar designs built to prototype standard, it was the Fairey
design that ultimately won the contract, having flown for the first time on
September 19, 1949. The aircraft had a deep barrel like fuselage to accommodate
both sensors and weapons for hunting and killing enemy craft. Power came from
Armstrong Siddeley Double Mamba engine which was actually two turboprop engines
driving a shared gearbox. This in turn drove a contra-rotating propeller
system.
The Double
Mamba was chosen because one of the engines could be shut down for more
economical
