Barracuda: Big fish from Fairey

[lazarus]

Rob Richardson's latest, the much maligned Barracuda. Many hated it, those who mastered it's quirks loved it. Knew a few old RCN grey beards out of Calgary who flew Barracuda's post-war who positively adored it.

View attachment 53822


http://www.robertjamesrichardson.co.uk/

 

[Roger]

Thanks for the hu Lazarus!

 

[Cees Donker]

Thank you for the HU!



Cees

 

[Roger]

It's a beaut and the sad thing is, I bet DaveB would have loved this...

 

[Roger]

Oh and I love the sound pack too!

 

[Bjoern]

Must...not...comment...on...aircraft...looks.

 

[WarHorse47]

Yes, beautiful.

How much weight do you add for the bomb racks?? Anybody know??

 

[DaveWG]

Thanks for the HU.
Lovely job Rob.

 

[DaveWG]

Yes, beautiful.

How much weight do you add for the bomb racks?? Anybody know??

It's in the cfg:

station_load.0 =       0,      0.0,   10.48,      0.5,    "500lb_bomb1" // (500)      
station_load.1 =       0,      0.0,     8.28,      0.3,    "500lb_bomb2" // (500) 
station_load.2 =       0,      0.0,    -8.28,      0.3,    "500lb_bomb3" // (500) 
station_load.3 =       0,      0.0,  -10.48,      0.5,    "500lb_bomb4" // (500) 
station_load.5 =       0,      0.0,     9.38,      1.0,    "bombrack"       // (20) 
station_load.6 =       0,      0.0,    -9.38,      1.0,    "bombrack_R"   // (20)
station_load.4 = 1500,        0,         0 ,   -3.55,    "torpedo1"         // (1500)
station_load.7 =       0,        0,         0 ,   -3.51,    "AN-Mk1"          // (1600)

 

[Roger]

Must...not...comment...on...aircraft...looks.

Yes it's ugly... in a really beautiful way

 

[Cees Donker]

It's a beaut and the sad thing is, I bet DaveB would have loved this...

That's what I was thinking too..... I really miss him......

Cees

 

[Ferry_vO]

Great job Rob!

 

[hairyspin]

Looks like a later mark, the originals had the exhaust recessed in the nose fairing IIRC - an odd idea. Good to see Rob hasn't lost his touch with the move to Blender.

 

[robcarrich]

Looks like a later mark, the originals had the exhaust recessed in the nose fairing IIRC - an odd idea. Good to see Rob hasn't lost his touch with the move to Blender.

Your quite right Tom.
The early models had a recessed exhaust but the main production batch of Mkll's had the Spitfire type.
A number of alternative setups were tried.


RobR

 

[Pips]

Fantastic model, well done.

But it is an awful and most ungainly looking aeroplane. Fairey designers had to be amongst the worst in the world. They really didn't design a pleasant looking aeroplane until the Fairey Firefly.

Really interesting insight into flying the Barracuda here:
http://www.key.aero/view_article.asp?ID=5969&thisSection=historic

 

[magoo]

If asked to describe the Fairey Barracuda, I would have said it looked,"antediluvian..."

 

[strykerpsg]

Beautiful plane! I admittedly never heard of this plane till I bought the latest DLC (Burma Road) for Order Of Battle WWII and the Barracuda features prominently as the British close air support bird during that conflict. Interesting history and love seeing developers making the less famous or more obscure warbirds. Thank you Richard.

 

[SPman]

They really didn't design a pleasant looking aeroplane until the Fairey Firefly.

Fairey Fox, Fairey Phantome.....

 

[Switchblade408]

A most wonderful addition to the British WWII virtual aircraft collection!

 

[wombat666]

The designers at Fairy (and all manufacturers who designed aircraft for the Royal Navy) were hampered by a multitude of obsolete Admiralty 'requirements'.
Technically (IIRC) the Fleet Air Arm had a deal of Royal Air Force oversight but they were rather busy in other areas.
The 'Barra' suffered from the same strictures as those that gave us 'unfortunate' designs such as the Short Sturgeon, Blackburn's appalling Firebrand and the Westland Wyvern, to name a few.
Nice rendition of the Barracuda Rob.