I feel firmly put back in my place <g> What a good job I have been using a pseudonym to hid my ignorance behind!
There was a posting on this forum a while ago by Ed Bremner of the Classic & Vintage Racing Dinghy Association
http://www.cvrda.org/ (who at that time owned Fairey Jollyboat J3, J400 Fairey Int 14 K556 & Fairey Firefly F2942) concerning Aluminium lifeboats apparently produced by Faireys at Hayes). Related to this topic, I always thought, encouraged over the years no doubt by sloppy journalism, that Faireys produced, in WW2, some hot moulded wooden airborne lifeboats to Uffa Fox’s design after he had built a number of prototypes over at Cowes. This assumption was I guess encouraged by the oft printed assertion that the Fairey Atalanta was in terms of the hull shape a derivative of these lifeboats. Similarly I had assumed for many years that Faireys (because of the Uffa link) made many of the moulded wooden hulls, completed by others, for F15s. I don’t think I was alone in this incorrect assumption.
The fact that Fairey Marine did not mould F15 hulls probably accounts for the fact that so few of the wooden F15s survive. Early synthetic glues for cold moulding were not a patch on the heat cured stuff used by Faireys which together with the choice of Agba made their hulls long lived.
John Boggis may be interested to read if he has not already done so, the chapter on F15s in Uffa Fox’s “Sailing Boats� published by Newnes in 1959. In the 1969 Lloyds Register of Yachts, page 1099, F15 #28 is listed with L G White as the owner. I GUESS that Uffa Fox probably conceived the F15 in late 1946 (his books are somewhat vague about exact dates) but the first one was not built until 1947. I may have mislead by implying in my last post by implying that F15 #29 survives - she may do or she may have been scrapped long ago - I have no idea as to her fate.
Whilst browsing through some old editions of the Yachting World Annual I came across two brief reviews with line drawings (that I assume are known to the FOC) and may be of passing interest to Christina & Huntress owners:
Yachting World Annual 1959 page 177 Christina
Yachting World Annual 1961 page 172 Fairey Huntress
Interestingly, the Christina review whilst it refers to the hull construction, makes no mention of Fairey Marine. Incidentally, a Yachting World article of 1946 (about Fireflies) describes Fairey Marine as hailing from Hayes, Middlesex. This was presumably where the press releases were manufactured (at head office).
The following extract from pages 129 & 130 of June Dixon’s “Uffa Fox - A personal Biography� published by Angus & Robertson in 1978 may shed some light on the subject of early Fairey dinghies:
By the end of the war Uffa was run down both physically and mentally.
Over and above the extra heavy workload he had carried, he had been
burning the candle in the middle as well as at both ends and, after a
race under the Ocean Racing Club's Rules in one of his airborne
lifeboats, he caught a severe chill which developed into pneumonia.
When he recovered he was for many months without his usual strength
and vigour, and the stresses of post?war Britain bore heavily upon him.
The Government put an immediate clamp?down on boat building for
the home market, and it was a question of export or die. Fortunately
England had some good friends in Bermuda so that, when the Bermuda
Sailboat Club opted to form an International fourteen?footer class, they
129
were swayed by patriotism to order an initial ten boats from Uffa,
against strong competition from the Americans who could offer dinghies
constructed in the new moulded ply. With an export licence, Uffa
experienced little or no difficulty obtaining the timber; but chasing the
fittings, which had been out of production for six years, caused many a
headache.
Another ray of hope was an approach from the Fairey Aviation Group
to design moulded plywood boats for their new marine section. Although
Uffa was not particularly impressed with the medium as he knew it,
having produced a not too successful experimental moulded plywood
airborne lifeboat for carrying under the Warwick aircraft, he was
excited at the project as there was the possibility of a royalty for him
on each of the boats constructed. He also felt the wind of change, and
if there was to be a swing against traditional boatbuilding, he wanted
to be in on the ground floor. Fairey Marine were investing in the best
of equipment, and their boats would not be expected to stand up to a
drop from an aircraft as had Uffa's plywood airborne lifeboat, so in
time he became quite enthusiastic.
The first of Uffa's designs to come off the moulds was the twelve?foot
RYA Firefly. When the Royal Yachting Association invited several
designers to submit plans for a twelve?footer, Uffa, who had already
previously designed dinghies in that range for both Oxford and
Cambridge Universities, submitted the plans of his Cambridge Univer?
sity Twelve Foot One Design. The RYA judged Uffa's design the best
and Fairey Marine, who had set up two autoclaves (large ovens) in
which the moulded plywood boats would be glued together and baked,
received official RYA blessing to go ahead and produce the Firefly by
this method.
The Firefly was selected for the 1948 Olympics and, despite the
timber shortage, permission was given for British helmsmen who
intended participating in the eliminating trials to purchase them.
Hundreds of helmsmen were filled with a sudden desire to sail for their
country only to find, after they had purchased their Fireflies, that they
had urgent commitments elsewhere.�