Two Fairey Delta FD-2 delta winged aircraft were built under Ministry of Supply contract to investigate the characteristics of flight and control at high supersonic and transonic speeds. The design featured a very thin delta wing with a symmetrical section, A Rolls-Royce Avon RA28 with an eyelid section hinged downwards at 10 degrees for take-off and landing. The First FD-2 WG774 was flown from Boscombe Down on 6^th October 1954 and on 10^th March 1956 established a new World Air Speed Record of 1,132 mph. Previous to this easily gained record an F-100C Super Sabre powered by a 17,000lb thrust J57-P-21A turbojet broke earlier YF-100A prototype’s World speed record on 20^th August1955 by achieving 822Mph. The second FD-2 WG777 was flown a month previous to this and joined the trials work until it was concluded in 1957.The first FD-2 went on to become the BAC 221 for Concord wing research.

 Preserved example WG777  (construction number F9422) was built in 1956 at Hayes and first flown from Boscombe Down on 15 February 1956. It joined the research programme at RAE Bedford with the high-speed flight and in October/ November 1956 was based at Cazeaux, France, for low-level supersonic flights. It had made 429 flights when it was withdrawn in 1957. It was stored at Bedford, Finningley and Topcliffe before being moved to the Aerospace Museum at Cosford in 1972. It was allocated the maintenance number 7986M. WG777 was on static display during an air show that I attended at Finningley, Doncaster, UK in September 1968.

 The age of the mold certainly showed and the modern day modeller may be tempted to fall into the trap of passing unkind remarks about the fit of some of the parts and the coarseness of the details. The ex-Frog /Novo were among the first of the manufacturers to introduce many of the features that we take for granted today, namely multi lingual instructions and alternate parts with decals. Molded in silver grey styrene, with rather crude thick parts by today standard and heavy rivets. The parts have a fair amount of joint lines and light flash but in general the fit is good and is reasonably accurate and could be improved with a little extra work done to the parts being mainly on the thick side in section. There are some 30 components and a clear front canopy part. Markings cater for FD-2 WG774, which was the world speed record breaker when flown in the hands of Lt.Cdr Peter Twiss, D.S.C. The kit featured an original ‘Concord like’ moving nose section so that during landing the nose area can be lowered to allow better front view to the pilot during approach, landing and taxiing.

Building the kit was rather basic but there was room for improving the overall look of the model. The extra work involved included reshaping the eyelid engine outlet by filing the area with an oval section thin file, making reference to photos published in Flight magazine. The air intakes and undercarriage legs were also trimmed to more acceptable appearance. Undercarriage doors were sanded down in section. Canopy windows were blanked with pieces of plastic and scribed and opened new ones in new position as the position of the ones in the kit were incorrectly placed. I also added an instrument panel. Wing fences were also reshaped as kit ones had thick section. Filler was only needed in small amounts to wing joints.

 Colour is given on a colour diagram on the underside of the box. The kit was airbrushed in overall Humbrol silver, kit decals can vary but generally these appeared to be thin and experienced no breaking up in spite that I trimmed around the decal periphery. After these were slid in place I applied a high gloss coat of lacquer in the end. Engine outlet and anti glare panel in front of cockpit was semi matt black.

In spite of being a kit of many years ago, it is hard to have a serious collection without these types. This is a typical kit that never appeared in kit form since. The overall accuracy of the finished model is high and the important piece of history attached to the FD-2 makes it all the more interesting making it worth the space it occupies on the showcase shelf.

Carmel J. Attard