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The Airspeed A.S.39 Fleet Shadower was a British long-range patrol aircraft design that did not go beyond the prototype stage. While the concept of a fleet shadower had some promise, the resulting prototypes were soon overtaken by wartime developments in airborne radar. ==Design and development== The Royal Navy envisaged a need (Operational Requirement OR.52) for an aircraft that could shadow enemy fleets at night and the resulting Specification S.23/37 called for a slow-flying low-noise aircraft with a long range, capable of operating from an aircraft carrier's flight deck. The specified performance was to be a speed of 38 knots at for not less than six hours.〔Jarrett ''Aeroplane Monthly'' April 1992, pp. 16–19.〕 Five companies showed interest: Percival, Short Brothers, Fairey Aviation, General Aircraft Ltd and Airspeed. General Aircraft submitted the G.A.L.38, of very similar general design to the A.S.39.〔 General Aircraft and Airspeed were selected to build two prototypes each and Airspeed received a contract on 10 August 1938. The A.S.39 was a high-wing, semi-cantilever, strut-braced (on the outer panels) monoplane with wooden wings and tail unit and an all-metal monocoque fuselage. It had a fixed, divided type landing gear and tailwheel. The observation aircraft had a crew of three: pilot, observer and radio operator. The A.S.39 had a unique crew configuration with the observer accommodated in the nose with clear-vision windows on three sides and the pilot's compartment raised to allow passage to the radio operator's compartment. Four small 130 hp Pobjoy Niagara V seven-cylinder air-cooled radial engines were mounted on the wings. This maximized propwash over the wing giving extra lift at low speed. Each wing and an engine could be folded for storage when used on an aircraft carrier.〔Bridgman, Leonard. ''Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II''. New York: Crescent Books, 1988. ISBN 0-517-67964-7.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Airspeed Fleet Shadower」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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