Supermarine Attacker

what is it?

The Supermarine Attacker is a British single-seat naval jet fighter designed and produced by aircraft manufacturer Supermarine for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA). It was the first jet fighter to enter operational service with the FAA. In order to rapidly introduce jet aircraft to Navy service, Supermarine proposed using the wing developed for their most advanced piston-powered design, the Supermarine Spiteful, with a new fuselage for the Rolls-Royce Nene engine. Performing its maiden flight on 27 July 1946, the flight testing phase of development was protracted due to several issues, including handling difficulties.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 jet engine · 11.3 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 950 km/htop speed
• range 950 kmwithout refuelling
• size 5,339 kgmax take-off weight
• built 182made in total

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 80 years ago, in 1946.
• 🏎️Top speed is 7.3× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 11.3 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.5× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1946-07-27

introduced

1950

retired

1954

status

retired

number built

182

role

naval fighter

origin

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

makers

Supermarine

engines

1× Rolls-Royce Nene

crew

1

length

11.4 m

wingspan

11.3 m

height

3 m

max take-off weight

5,339 kg

top speed

950 km/h

range

950 km

ceiling

13,700 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.