The Fairey Fulmar is, like many Fleet Air Arm types ofWorld War Two,an aircraft of contradictions. It was generally popular with its crews and was the most successful fighter in Royal Navy service, with 112 kills, but was still derided for its lacklustre performance and two-seat configuration. The best-known individual Fulmar is an aircraft that never went into combat, nor even left the UK during the war: N1854, now enjoying a quiet retirement in the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton, and rightly honoured as the only surviving example. Even this aircraft is a contradiction - not quite a prototype, yet not really a production aircraft either.
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