General Aircraft Fleet Shadower
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2017}}
{{Infobox aircraft
|name = G.A.L.38 Fleet Shadower
|image = GAL38.jpg
|caption =
|type = Carrier-based fleet shadower
|manufacturer = General Aircraft Ltd
|designer =
|first_flight = 13 May 1940
|introduction =
|retired = 1941
|status =
|primary_user = Fleet Air Arm
|more_users =
|produced =
|number_built = 1
|unit cost =
|developed_from =
|variants =
}}
The General Aircraft G.A.L.38 Fleet Shadower was a British long-range patrol aircraft design of the immediate pre-Second World War period. The Fleet Shadower was a highly specialized aircraft intended to follow enemy naval task forces over long times and radio back position information. However, the concept produced an ungainly and ultimately unsuccessful type. The Airspeed Fleet Shadower, built to the same requirement and of broadly similar appearance, also did not progress past the prototype stage.
Design and development
The G.A.L.38 Fleet Shadower and the Airspeed A.S.39 Fleet Shadower were produced to meet Specification S.23/37, which came from the Royal Navy's "Operational Requirement OR.52" for an aircraft that could shadow enemy fleets at night. Three other companies were also involved initially: Percival, Short Brothers and Fairey Aviation. Following evaluation of the designs General Aircraft and Airspeed were contracted to build two prototypes each, General Aircraft contract dated 15 November 1938.
The specified performance of a successful design was a speed of {{convert|38|kn|km/h|lk=in}} at {{convert|1,500|ft|m}} for not less than six hours. The design would also have to be able to operate from an aircraft carrier flight deck and hence use a folding wing configuration for easier deck storage. It would have to give good views for the observer and be quiet at cruising speed.THE AEROPLANE No: 688 JUNE 15, 1945M
The G.A.L.38 and the A.S.39 designs were similar – both high-wing aircraft with fixed landing gear using four small Pobjoy Niagara V engines spread across the wings to generate lift at low speed. There was an observer's position in a glazed compartment in the nose and a radio operator's station in the fuselage behind the pilot's cockpit.
The aircraft was fitted with various devices to increase lift; slotted flaps and slotted ailerons and, on the low wing sponsons, split flaps. The wings folded back, pivoted close to the fuselage, on hydraulic power.
Due to development problems at Pobjoy with the Niagara V, it was decided to use the lower-powered Niagara III civil version. The first G.A.L.38 Fleet Shadower (also known as the "Night Shadower") flew on 13 May 1940 with the Niagara III engines. An innovative use of the "propwash" generated by propellers directed over the full-span flaps led to an impressive minimum speed of 39 mph (63 km/h) which would have allowed the Fleet Shadower to cruise effortlessly above an enemy fleet.Winchester 2005, p. 119. During testing the aircraft suffered from aerodynamic stability problems, but not as bad as the Airspeed design which was cancelled in February 1941. The aircraft had major modification before flying again in June 1941 with the Niagara V engines; the three tail fins having been replaced by a single large fin. With the incomplete second G.A.L.38 being used as a spares source, test flying continued until September 1941. In October 1941 the company was instructed to scrap the second aircraft, and in March 1942 instructions were issued to scrap the prototype as well.
The concept of a fleet patrol aircraft was superseded by the wartime development of effective Air to Surface (ASV) radar that could be fitted in long-range patrol aircraft such as the Consolidated Liberator I. In February 1941, the Royal Navy cancelled the project.
Specifications
File:General_Aircraft_GAL-38_Fleet_Shadower_3-view_Les_Ailes_January_25,_1947.png
{{Aircraft specs
|ref=Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War IIBridgeman, 1989, p.122
|prime units?=imp
|crew=3 (pilot, observer, radio operator)
|length ft=36
|length in=1
|length note=
|span ft=55
|span in=10
|span note=
|width ft=17
|width in=11
|width note=folded
|height ft=12
|height in=8
|height note=
|wing area sqft=472
|wing area note=
|aspect ratio=
|airfoil=
|empty weight lb=6153
|empty weight note=
|gross weight lb=8591
|gross weight note=
|max takeoff weight lb=9458
|max takeoff weight note=
|fuel capacity=
|more general=
|eng1 number=4
|eng1 name=Pobjoy Niagara V
|eng1 type=7-cylinder air-cooled geared radial piston engine
|eng1 hp=130
|eng1 note=
|prop blade number=2
|prop name=fixed-pitch wooden propellers
|prop dia ft=
|prop dia in=
|prop dia note=
|max speed mph=115
|max speed note=at sea level
|cruise speed mph=94
|cruise speed note=
- Landing speed: {{cvt|73|mph|kn km/h}}
- Minimum speed: {{cvt|39|mph|kn km/h}}
|stall speed mph=
|stall speed note=
|never exceed speed mph=
|never exceed speed note=
|minimum control speed mph=
|minimum control speed note=
|range miles=990
|range note=
|combat range miles=
|combat range note=
|ferry range miles=
|ferry range note=
|endurance=11 hours
|ceiling ft=6000
|ceiling note=
|g limits=
|roll rate=
|climb rate ftmin=390
|climb rate note=
|time to altitude=
|wing loading lb/sqft=20
|wing loading note=
|fuel consumption lb/mi=
|power/mass=
|more performance=
}}
See also
{{aircontent|
|related=
|similar aircraft=
|lists=
}}
References
;Notes
{{reflist}}
;Bibliography
{{refbegin}}
- Bridgman, Leonard, ed. Jane’s All The World’s Aircraft 1945-1946. London: Samson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd 1946.
- Bridgeman, Leonard (ed). Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II. Twickenham, Tiger Books, 1998. {{ISBN|1-85501-994-9}}.
- Butler, Phil. "The Night Shawdowers." Air-Britain Aeromilitaria Vol. 32, Issue 125, Spring 2006, p. 19-22. ISSB 0262-8791.
- Swanborough, Gordon. British Aircraft at War, 1939-1945. East Sussex, UK: HPC Publishing, 1997. {{ISBN|0-9531421-0-8}}.
- Winchester, Jim, ed. "General Aircraft Fleet Shadower (1940)". The World's Worst Aircraft: From Pioneering Failures to Multimillion Dollar Disasters. London: Amber Books Ltd., 2005. {{ISBN|1-904687-34-2}}.
{{refend}}
External links
{{commons category|General Aircraft Fleet Shadower}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070106195652/http://www.aeroplanemonthly.com/aeroarchive/Profile__Flying_Slow_news_70088.html Profile - Flying Slow - Fleet Shadower concept]
- {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070403212406/http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/Aircraft/GAL38.html Fleet Air Arm archive]}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20000107080128/http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Village/4082/brit/gal38.htm GAL 38]
{{GAL aircraft}}
Category:1940s British patrol aircraft
Category:Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United Kingdom
Category:Carrier-based aircraft
Category:Four-engined tractor aircraft
Category:Aircraft first flown in 1940