A Servicing Innovation: Details of a Recent Modification to the Fairey Firefly

THE accompanying photographs, which we publish by courtesy of The Fairey Aviation Co. Ltd., were received a few days too late for inclusion in our article on maintenance design features last month. The skin of the wing undersurface forming the shroud for the Young‐man flap on the Firefly is formed by stressed panels that are of a thicker gauge than is necessary for strength in order to prevent panting. Inside the trailing edge run the flap controls and components of the retracting mechanism. As originally designed, FIG. 1, several panels had to be removable and, since these were stressed, they had to be held by closely‐spaced screws and anchor nuts.