In the late 1920s Argentina began to build the Flota de Mar, a powerful naval fleet to defend the country's 2,500-mile coastline and vital sea lanes. Ship- borne spotter aircraft were required to enable fleet commanders to see over the horizon, and in 1927 the Ministerio de Marina began to seek out a suitable reconnaissance machine for its naval air arm, the Servicio de Aviación Naval. On 30 May 1928 the Argentine government signed a contract with Fairey Aviation Company for six Fairey IIIF Mk IIIM (Special) seaplanes, including spares, for £43,580. These aircraft were to operate from the battleship Rivadavia in both seaplane and landplane configuration.
In an endeavour to support the nation's aircraft industry, the Argentine govern- ment obtained a licence for the Fabrica Militar de Aviones in Provincia de Cordoba to build the French 450hp Lorraine Dietrich Ed12 twelve-cylinder, broad-arrow, liquid-cooled engine, and stipulated that this engine was to be used in all the new aircraft types then being acquired, the Supermarine Southampton, Dewoitine D.21 and Fairey IIIF. Unfortunately, the Ed12 was insufficiently power- ful for these aircraft, and this misjudged attempt to standardise on one engine type proved to be a costly mistake.
Views of first of the six Lorraine Dietrich Ed12 - engined IIIF Mk IIIM (Specials) for Argentina, AP-1, in landplane configuration shortly after completion. The
Argentine government's choice of an insufficiently powerful engine proved to be a costly mistake.
Fairey began production of the Argentine IIIFs almost at once at its Hayes factory, under Works Production Order No 1370. The machines had constructor's numbers F1122 to F1127 and were allotted the Argentine Navy escuadrilla (squadron) codes AP-1 to AP-6, respectively. Their Lorraine engines had helmeted cylinder banks. As it was also planned to use the IIIFs for survey work, they were fitted out to carry a Williamson Eagle Mk III camera in fuselage Bay 6, where the starboard portion of the floor was made removable to permit camera operation. For communications, a Marconi AD-6H wireless telegraph and telephone were provided, the transmitter and receiver being housed in Bay 5. When they were not in use they could be stowed along the starboard side of the fuselage and could be swung into position diagonally across the fuselage to be operated by the observer. For electrical power a 1,200-volt wind-driven generator on the starboard side of the fuselage was swung out into the slipstream. The 300-foot aerial was wound out from a reel on the starboard side of Bay 4. The armament followed the pattern of the RAF machines.
The fabric-covered areas of the Argentine IIIFs were finished in silver, aluminium-pigmented dope, and the fuselage top-decking from immediately behind the engine to the tailplane was painted in anti-glare matt black. The engine cowlings and light-alloy panels were given an anodised finish, and the 21 foot 9-inch-long duralumin floats were coated with gloss white yacht enamel. The escuadrilla codes were applied to the rear fuselage sides, and the Argentine national insignia, of light blue and white horizontal bands with a yellow sun symbol on the central white band, was carried on the rudders. Each aircraft's code was painted in large letters on the upper wing, with anchor symbols towards each wingtip. The first machine, AP-1, was complete by early October 1928, and made its maiden flight as a land- plane, in the hands of test pilot Captain Norman Macmillan, on 31 October. Several test flights followed, the machine making its final acceptance flight on 12 November.
Three days earlier Macmillan had flown AP-2 and AP-3, and the latter aircraft was then delivered to the company's Hamble site for the fitment of Type FE 18 floats in readiness for sea trials. Macmillan conducted the acceptance tests for the Lorraine-engined seaplane at Hamble, off Southampton Water, on 14 November. Endurance, climb, speed and water handling were tested with the Hamble works manager and the senior Argentine naval officer on board as observers.
Macmillan made the first flights of the last three machines, AP-4, AP-5 and AP-6, on 19 November, and the flight test programme was completed on the 23rd. With the exception of some of AP-1's early flights, a representative of the Comisión Naval Argentina was carried on all test flights. This duty was shared by delegation leader Capitán de Navio Marcos A. Zar, Jefe del Servicio de Aviación Naval; Teniente de Fragata Gregorio Portillo; and Cabo Juarez. Fairey Works Production Order No 1370 was finally closed on 14 December 1928.
The six aircraft were crated for shipment and left Liverpool docks on 20 Janu- ary 1929, destined for Puerto Belgrano, Bahía Blanca, Provincia de Buenos Aires. According to the manufacturer's Works Inspection Records, a seventh airframe, c/n F1128, was also included as part of an undisclosed number of spare airframe components which might have comprised a complete disassembled airframe or a collection of major spares.
Fairey engineering representatives assisted in reassembling the aircraft at Puerto Belgrano. Once the aircraft had been test-flown and the requisite customer satis- faction certificates had been signed, they were assigned to the Escuadrilla de Patrulla y Propósitos Generales (Patrol and General Duties Squadron) at Base de Aviation Puerto Belgrano, part of the Base Naval Puerto Belgrano naval complex at Bahía Blanca.
By the autumn of 1929 Rivadavia had been modified to enable it to operate aircraft, mainly by the installation of a crane for aircraft deployment and recovery. On 2 October IIIF AP-2 took part in very promising trials at BN Puerto Belgrano. From 7 to 13 November AP-1, AP-3 and AP-5 flown, respectively, by Teniente de Fragata Evaristo Velo, Sub-Oficial Arturo Feilberg and Alferez de Navio Juan Carlos Mason, made a series of survey flights over Caleta Valdez, Provincia de Chubut, supported by Keystone K 24A Pelican HE-16. In January 1930 AP-1 and AP-2, flown by Teniente de Fragata Alberto Sautu Riestra and Sub-Oficial Arturo Feilberg, respectively, carried out aerial survey photography flights over the Río Negro and Río Limay rivers, being deployed to Bariloche, Provincia de Río Negro for the purpose.
On 2 February 1931 the pilot of AP-3 wrecked the aircraft's undercarriage, engine and wings when he landed on an 'unsuitable field' at Puerto Romero
Starboard elevation of AP-1, the first IIIF Mk IIIM (Special) for Argentina.
A sequence of photographs taken as the second of Argentina’s Fairey IIIF’s AP-2 in Seaplane form. Taxies upto the battleship Rivadavia and is hoisted on board during trials t Puerto Belagrano naval base on 2 October 1929. It operations were not a practical proposition with the French engines
The Argentine IIIF AP-3 undergoes pre-delivery waterborne trials on the Hamble River, November 1928.
Chico, Provincia de Rio Negro, while on a co-operation flight with the Comisión Hidrográfica de Puerto Belgrano. The three crew escaped injury and the IIIF was repaired.
Although they had initially been assigned to patrol duties, in 1931 the IIIFs were reassigned to reconnaissance work and joined the newly formed Escuadrilla de Reconocimiento de la Flota de Mar (Fleet Reconnaissance Squadron). For this rôle they were given the codes R-51 to R-56, the first in a new series for observation and reconnaissance aircraft. The IIIFs supported the Flota de Mar during its operations from BA Puerto Belgrano. The first of the type to be lost was R-52, which flew into thick fog while making a cross-country flight from Aeródromo de Campo Sarimento on 16 July 1931 and crashed in a field near Villa Arias, Provincia de Buenos Aires. The three crew members were injured. The aircraft, which had amassed a total flying time of 182 hours 40 minutes, was written off. Then R-53 (ex-AP-3) survived an emergency landing at Campo Sarimento on 17 October.
Fairey IIIFs AP-3, AP-5 and AP-1 in service in Argentina
Fairey IIIFs AP-1 and AP-2 moored on the River Limay in Provincia de Rio Negro, possibly January 1930.
Later in 1931 R-53, R-54, R-55 and R-56 were assigned to the new Escuadrilla de Bombardeo Liviano y Exploración (Light Bombing and Exploration Squadron) at Estación Aeronaval Punta Indio, Verónica, Provincia de Buenos Aires. The other machine, R-51, remained at Puerto Belgrano.
On 17 November 1931 the engine of R-56 failed as it took off from Aerodromo de Concordia, Provincia de Entre Rios, for a test flight, and the aircraft overturned on landing. Its pilot was unhurt and the machine was repaired.
The following year all five IIIFs were reassigned yet again, this time to Escuadrilla Aeronaval de Reconocimiento de la Escuadra Aeronaval (Naval Air Fleet Reconnaissance Squadron) No 2. On 22 March 1932 R-54 suffered an engine failure after take-off from Punta Indio, but was returned to service.
Top, left and right: The wreckage of R-52, the first Argentine IIIF to be written off, after it flew into thick fog and crashed near Villa Arias, Provincia de Buenos Aires, on 16 July 1931.
Above, left: The wings, undercarriage and engine of AP-3 were wrecked when its pilot landed on an unsuitable field at Puerto Romero Chico, Provincia de Rio Negro, on 2 February 1931, but the crew were unharmed and the aircraft was repaired.
Above, right: The upper-wing markings of Argentine IIIFs are clearly depicted in this shot of R-53 after its emergency landing at Campo Sarimento on 17 October 1931.
While the aircraft were still performing valuable service, their Ed 12 engines had proved insufficiently powerful for water-based operations. Moreover, the indigenous licensed engine manufacturer was seldom able to supply replacement components because the raw materials failed to arrive from France. Consequently, orders ceased to be placed with the Argentine company, the Aviación Naval dealing directly with Société Commerciale Lorraine in 1932. Things came to a head when the French company ceased production of the Ed 12 and the orders for spares became special custom requests. This resulted in extended delivery times and a steep rise in prices, a single cylinder block, for example, increasing from US $350 in 1928 to US $1,200 six years later. From 1930 to 1934 a phenomenal US $800,000 was spent on Lorraine engine spares. As a result the Aviación Naval could barely keep its Ed 12s serviceable, though the IIIF's airframes were in excellent condition. The only solution was to seek an alternative engine having greater power and better spares support.
Above, left and right: Having already suffered a mishap on 22 March 1932, R-54 ended up in this unhappy position on 24 July 1934 when it suffered a loss of power on approach at Estatión Aeronaval Punta Indio, stalled and dived into the ground. Its pilot was killed and the mechanic and observer were injured.
Four of the IIIFs, R-53 to R-56, were assigned to a new unit, the Escuadrilla de Reconocimiento y Ataque (Reconnaissance and Attack Squadron) in January 1934. Based at Estación Aeronaval Punta Indio, this unit also had six Vought V-65F Corsairs. On 24 July that year IIIF R-54 lost power on approach at Estatión Aeronaval Punta Indio, stalled and dived into the ground, killing its pilot and injuring the mechanic and observer. It was replaced by a Fairey Seal (c/n F2111), which entered service in April 1935, with the same identity, R-54, as the IIIF it replaced.
By the autumn the choices among the possible replacement engines had been reduced to two, the 525hp Pratt & Whitney Hornet SD1-G and the 550hp Armstrong Siddeley Panther VI. Four engines, propellers and conversion kits for the Hornet were priced at US $53,116, while a similar package for the Panther was offered at £11,440. (The exchange rate in 1935 was approximately £1 = $5, and thus the figures were comparable.) Although both engines were assessed as efficient and of proven reliability, United Aircraft, manufacturer of the Hornet, imposed a minimum of six months' lead time on delivery. Moreover, a IIIF would have had to be taken out of service and have its mid-fuselage section sent to Chance Vought in the United States as part of an engineering evaluation, and the conversion would be hitherto untried. On the other hand, Fairey offered a short lead time, and the engine/airframe combination had already been proved in service on the RAF's Gordons.
Left: The 550hp Panther installation gave the Argentine IIIFs the power they needed for successful operation from water. The four remaining aircraft had this engine installed at Punta Indio in January 1935. This is R-53, ex AP-30.
Consequently, Panther VI conversion of the Argentine IIIFs was approved late in September 1934, and the order was placed on 11 November. Meanwhile, on 1 October, IIIFs R-53, R-55 and R-56 returned to the Escuadrilla de Bombardeo Liviano until 1 November, when they were withdrawn from service and overhauled in readiness to receive their new engines. Similarly, the other IIIF, R-51, still at BA Puerto Belgrano, was also overhauled.
The Panther VI engines were shipped on board the SS Highland Patriot, leaving for Argentina on 6 January 1935. Later that month conversion of the four IIIFS took place at EA Punta Indio, the work being supervised by W. C. Greenacre of Armstrong Siddeley and Allan Calder of Fairey. Although considerable alterations to the forward fuselage and associated systems were required, owing to the change from a liquid-cooled inline to an air-cooled radial, the Fairey method of construc- tion made the job relatively easy. The greater frontal area of the Panther and its exhaust collector ring meant that the pilot's fixed forward-firing Vickers E gun, previously housed within the fuselage on the port side, had to be relocated extern- ally on the fuselage.
The panther engine of seaplane R-53 receives some attention
The work was completed on 2 February, but problems with engine-oil overheat- ing arose. These were finally solved by ordering oil cooler conversion kits from Britain, and the aircraft were returned to service in April with the Escuadrilla de Bombardeo Liviano with Fairey Seal R-54 for company. The new powerplant instal- lation proved very successful, an ample margin of power enabling the IIIFs to make fully loaded sea-level take-offs at above-standard temperatures. The Squadron amassed 140 hours 40 minutes up to July 1935, when the aircraft were sent to BA Peurto Belgrano. Temporarily assigned to training school Escuadra Aérea No 1, they were used to train pilots in photography, gunnery and bombing techniques. The next IIIF to be lost was R-55, which, after only four months in service in its rejuvenated form, was struck off charge on 10 August 1935 after an emergency landing at Campo Sarimento airfield while flying circuits. Its pilot was unhurt. In November 1935, on behalf of Parques Nacionales, Argentina's national parks organisation, the IIIFS R-51 and R-53, flown by Teniente Exequiel del Rivero and Teniente Angel Vaccari, respectively, along with Seal R-54 piloted by Teniente Pedro P. Rivero, carried out a series of survey flights over the Río Colorado, Río Neuquen and Río Limay rivers and several Andean lakes. Support was provided by Fokker Universal T-201. On 28 August 1936 R-51 suffered an engine failure after take-off from Campo Sarimento, stalled and crashed. The three crewmen were injured, but the aircraft was repaired.
In 1937 the IIIFs and the Seal joined four Corsairs to take up an observation rôle in support of the Escuadra de Ríos, responsible for patrolling the nation's rivers. The newly formed unit became Escuadrilla de Observación de la Escuadra Aeronaval No 3, based at EA Punta Indio. In their new rôle the IIIFs were re-coded 3-0-1, 3-0-2 and 3-O-4, the Seal becoming 3-O-3. (The '3' denoted the unit and the 'O' stood for Observación.) On 26 August 1940 3-0-1 was damaged when it swung after landing at Punta India, and on 17 December that year its engine failed near General Lavalle, Buenos Aires, but its crew was unhurt.
In 1939 the IIIFs and the Seal were relegated to second-line duties at EA Punta Indio. Of the IIIFs, 3-O-1 and 3-O-2 were struck off charge in 1941, and 3-0-4 was struck off in 1942, along with the Seal.
Fairey IIIF R-53, nearest the camera, runs up its newly installed Armstrong Siddeley Panther VI radial engine at Lago Nahuel Huapi, with Fairey Seal R-54 doing likewise in the background.
Seal R-54 and IIIFs R-51 and R-53, which carried out a series of survey flights for Argentina's national parks organisation in November 1935.
A Fairey Seal (right) and IIIF (left), both Panther-powered, photo- graphed in landplane configur ation on 6 September 1935. Notice the externally mounted Vickers E gun on the port fuselage sides, necessitated by this engine's greater frontal area and its Townend exhaust collector ring. The twin-engine monoplane visible behind the IIIF is the Armada Argentina's one and only Douglas Dolphin amphibian.
Fairey IIIF R-53 runs up its Panther engine in preparation for a flight
Note: The images on this page are used with permission from Philip Jarrett
