what is it?
The Fairey Seal was a British carrier-borne spotter-reconnaissance aircraft, operated in the 1930s. The Seal was derived – like the Gordon – from the IIIF. To enable the Fairey Seal to be launched by catapult from warships, it could be fitted with floats.
How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 13.9 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 96 years ago, in 1930.
- Top speed is 1.7× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 13.9 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1930
- introduced
- 1933
- retired
- 1943
- status
- retired
- number built
- 91
- role
- spotter-reconnaissance
- makers
- Fairey Aviation Company
- engines
- 1× Armstrong Siddeley Panther IIA
- crew
- 3
- length
- 10.3 m
- wingspan
- 13.9 m
- height
- 3.9 m
- max take-off weight
- 2,722 kg
- top speed
- 222 km/h
- range
- —
- ceiling
- 5,182 m
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
family
Sources: Wikidata Q3883220, Wikipedia: Fairey Seal (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.