page_title: Fairey Delta 2
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Fairey Delta 2 / Development / Background
caption_attribution_description: English: The first Fairey Delta 2 WG774 in original form landing at the 1956 Farnborough Air SAhow using its 'droop snoot'.
context_page_description: The Fairey Delta 2 or FD2 was a British supersonic research aircraft produced by the Fairey Aviation Company in response to a specification from the Ministry of Supply for a specialised aircraft for conducting investigations into flight and control at transonic and supersonic speeds. Features included a delta wing and a drooped nose. On 6 October 1954, the Delta 2 made its maiden flight, flown by Fairey test pilot Peter Twiss; two aircraft would be produced. The Delta 2 was the final aircraft to be produced by Fairey as an independent manufacturer.
  The Fairey Delta 2 was the first jet aircraft to exceed 1000 mph in level flight. On 10 March 1956, it set a new world speed record of 1,132 mph. The Delta 2 held the absolute World Air Speed Record for over a year. It continued to be used for flight testing, and was allocated to the Royal Aircraft Establishment in 1958.
  A testbed aircraft was required to verify design calculations and wind tunnel results for the Concorde "ogee delta" wing design so one of the aircraft was extensively rebuilt as the BAC 221. On 1 May 1964, the modified aircraft performed its first flight.
context_section_description: During the late 1940s, Fairey Aviation, a British aircraft manufacturer, had become interested in delta wing technology and proceeded to submit multiple submissions based on the delta wing concept to the Ministry of Supply. The Ministry, being interested in these proposals, issued orders for models to test the envisioned delta wing, the first of which being built in 1947; testing was performed by the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE). The program was succeeded multiple times, including an investigation into potential VTOL operations, leading to further flight tests of the delta wing models to be conducted in Cardigan Bay, Wales and Woomera, Australia. In 1947, Air Ministry Specification E.10/47 was issued for a full-scale piloted delta wing aircraft, resulting in the Fairey Delta 1, which conducted its maiden flight at RAF Boscombe Down on 12 March 1951.
  Meanwhile, throughout the early and mid 1950s, the Royal Air Force (RAF) had developed an intense desire to advance the performance of their aircraft; in particular, the service sought new fighter aircraft that would be capable of routinely flying at very high speeds and high altitudes as a long-term replacement for its existing inventory of roughly 700 first-generation jet fighters. At the time, there was a perception that Britain was trailing behind in supersonic aircraft design, and there was pressure to correct this. Events such as the Korean War and rapid advances in the fields of supersonic aerodynamics, structures and aero engines by the British aircraft industry had the effect of increasing demand and the potential capabilities of new fighters. In addition to developing improved versions of existing and emerging fighters such as the Hawker Hunter and Gloster Javelin, there was an appetite for even more promising entirely new aircraft.
  Following on from the Delta 1, the Ministry of Supply requested that Fairey conduct a further model programme for the purpose of transonic investigations. However, Fairey did not find this proposal attractive, believing that a piloted aircraft would be mandatory if the project was to produce any worthwhile data. Fairey commenced work on a highly swept twin-engine aircraft; however, the Ministry lacked enthusiasm for the twin-engine configuration, largely due to an existing rival project underway to produce a twin-engine supersonic aircraft – this would become the English Electric Lightning. In February 1949, it was suggested that Fairey examine the prospects for a single-engine transonic aircraft as an alternative; by the end of the year, the company had produced their new project, out of which the Fairey Delta 2 (FD2) would directly originate. Accordingly, the Ministry issued Air Ministry Specification ER.103 for the project, ordering that a pair of prototype aircraft be produced.
  At the time, Fairey was mostly known for producing naval aircraft, such as the Fairey Swordfish biplane and the Fairey Firefly monoplane; the design team lacked experience with high speed projects. As a remedy to this, in October 1951, Sir Robert Lickley of Hawker Aircraft was promptly recruited as Fairey's new Chief Engineer and became a major force behind the programme. Data that had been obtained from the earlier model work also proved to have been highly valuable to the Fairy Delta 2 programme. Early development work on the FD2 would be hindered by two major factors, a lack of available information on wing and intake design, and the declaring of Fairey Gannet as a 'super-priority' by the British government, which had necessitated delays.
  In September 1952, technical drawings of the Fairey Delta 2 were issued and the development proper commenced. From the project's beginning, Fairey designed the parameters of the FD2 to intentionally exceed that which was necessary only to achieving Mach 1. In addition to seeking very high performance, the design adopted a general configuration and structure that would be readily adapted to future military requirements, so that it could potentially become a fighter aircraft. In total, a pair of flight-capable aircraft
caption: The first Delta 2 WG774 in its original design format landing at Farnborough in 1956 during that year's SBAC Show using its 'droop snoot'
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