Fairmile Marine
Fairmile Marine was a British boat building company founded in 1939 by the car manufacturer Noel Macklin.
Macklin used the garage at his home at Cobham Fairmile in Surrey for manufacturing assembly which is why the boats he designed came to be called Fairmiles.
As a former Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve officer, he was inspired to turn his talents and his technical staff to producing boats after reading an article by Vice-Admiral Cecil Vivian Usborne.
After his first designs were accepted and ordered by the Admiralty, Macklin found he had insufficient capital. To solve the problem the Fairmile company became an agency of the Admiralty with Usborne as one of the directors.[1] As a result, the company carried out business without turning a profit, the staff being in effect part of the civil service.
Many Fairmile Bs were built in Commonwealth countries: 80 in Canada, 12 in New Zealand, and six in South Africa.
Boats designed
| Class | Type | Designation | Built | Number built | Penant numbers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairmile A | Motor Launch | ML | 1940 | 12 | ML 100 to ML 111 |
| Fairmile B | Motor Launch Air Sea Rescue |
ML ASR |
1940–42 1940–45 |
616 668 |
|
| Fairmile C | Motor Gun Boat | MGB | 1940–41 | 24 | MGB 312 – MGB 335 |
| Fairmile D | Motor Gun Boat MGB / MTB Motor Torpedo Boat |
MGB MGB / MTB MTB |
1942–43 1942–43 1943–44 |
95 229 134 |
|
| Fairmile F | Motor Torpedo Boat | MTB | 1944 | One (experimental) | |
| Fairmile H | Landing Craft Infantry Landing Craft Support |
LCI (S) LCS (L) |
40 10 |
501–540 251–260 |
References
- Lambert, John and Ross, Al . Allied Coastal Forces of World War Two, Volume I : Fairmile designs and US Submarine Chasers. 1990. ISBN 978-0-85177-519-7.
Notes
- John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon, the Lord Chancellor (14 June 1945). "Questions in the House of Lords - Government Directorships". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard).
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