The Fairey Battle was a light bomber of the Royal Air Force built by Fairey Aviation in the late 1930s. The Battle was powered by a single engine but laden with a three-man crew and bomb load, it was slow, vulnerable and limited in range. Despite this, it was a Battle that claimed the first RAF aerial victory of the Second World War. The original Battle was designed to Specification P.37/42 as a 2-seat day bomber to replace the Hawker Hart biplane. It first flew on 10 March, 1936. The first production order was for 155 Battles built to Specification P.23/35 and the first production aircraft was completed in June 1937. When the RAF embarked on the pre-war expansion program, the Battle became a priority production target. In total 2,185 Battles were built during its production life; 1,156 by Fairey and 1,029 by the Austin Motor Company. A further 18 were built in Belgium under license for service with the Belgian Air Force. The first squadron to be equipped with the Battles was No. 63 Squadron in June, 1937. The Battle's benign handling characteristics made it an ideal platform for testing engines and it was used in this role to test engines up to 2,000 hp. The production Battles were powered by the Rolls Royce Merlin I, II, III and V and took their Mark numbers based on their engine (i.e., a Battle Mk. II was powered by a Merlin II). The Battle's standard payload of four 250 lb (110 kg) bombs was carried in cells inside the wings. An additional 500 lb of bombs could be carried in under-wing racks. The Battle was obsolete by the start of World War II but remained a front-line strike bomber of the RAF due to a lack of other aircraft. During the Phony War phase, ten squadrons of Battles were deployed to France on 2 September 1939 as part of the Advanced Air Striking Force. On 20 September, 1939, a German Messerschmitt Bf 109 was shot down by Battle gunner Sgt. F. Letchard during a patrol near Aachen. This was the RAF's first aerial victory of the war. The Battle was hopelessly outclassed by the Luftwaffe fighters. When the Battle of France began, the Battles were called upon to halt the advancing panzers. On 10 May 1940 two sorties were carried out; in the first 3 out of 8 Battles were lost, in the second 13 out of 32 were lost and the remainder suffered damage. Bombing from as low as 250 ft (76 m), their attacks had little impact on the German columns. The following day 15 Battles of the Belgian Air Force attacked bridges over the Albert Canal, losing 10 planes. In one RAF sortie on that day, only one Battle out of eight survived. On 12 May six Battles of No. 12 Squadron RAF attacked the Albert Canal bridges; 4 of the aircraft were destroyed. Two Victoria Crosses were awarded posthumously - to Flying Officer Garland and Sgt. Gray - for pressing home the attack in spite of the heavy defensive fire. One end of the bridge was destroyed counting the mission a success. Albert Canal background courtesy of Google Earth. Fairey Battles discovered behind the valet parking booth in the underground car park at 'The Plant '......and that wasn't all we discovered.....