The classic Reliant Robin is one of the most recognizable cars ever built:
Little remembered today, this wasn't the
first Reliant Robin. The very first Reliant Robin was actually an aircraft:
It all began with horrible teething problems that delayed production of the famous Merlin engine.
Without that iconic power-plant, things would be a little different for the Royal Air Force. Seeking a stop-gap replacement, the Ministry of Aircraft Production approached the
Reliant Motor Company LTD of
Tamworth, Staffordshire.
With the help of a generous government subsidy, the Reliant Motor Co. obtained the rights to produce the Curtiss P-36 under license. This was seen a quite a coup for the RAF as the American Curtiss monoplane was the cutting edge fighter of the day.
Finding Curtiss-supplied power-plants to be either too lackluster or too expensive, Reliant modified the license-produced fighter to fit the 1101 hp Britsol Mystery 9 cylinder radial, then the best aero engine to be found in the British Isles.
The windscreen was re-fitted with armoured glass and the canopy was also modified to improve pilot vision and allow the use of Perspex panels. The propeller was replaced with an indigenous, spinnered
Rotol model.
Armament was also updated to be compatible with RAF standard. Four
.303 caliber Vickers guns were mounted in the wings and two heavy Rolls-Royce 7.92 mm guns were in the cowling. There was no doubt that this baby packed a punch, but its sprightly manner led to it being called the Robin.
By the middle of 1938, half of RAF Fighter Command strength was composed of Reliant Robin fighters. It certainly looks wonderfully colorful in those late 1930's markings as this aircraft, K7984 of No 3 Squadron from
RAF Kenley attests.
Unfortunately, the first Reliant Robin packed more than just a punch. It also packed a tendency to
ground loop, much as its more famous automotive brethren would decades later.
Eventually, the bugs would be worked out of the Merlin engine and none too soon as the Britsol Mystery would be found prone to unexplained failure after operating under war scare conditions.
Spitfires and Hurricanes started coming off the line entering service in 1939. By the start of W.W. II, there were only five RAF home defense and two expeditionary squadrons still equipped with the Robin.
The last Reliant Robins of No. 58 & 2/3 squadron defending Fallshfreaaaghuuleevhaageferlinaaaugghhh in Wales were withdrawn from service during the
Phoney War after being replaced with imported
Bell P-39 Airacobras.
There are no flying examples nor even museum or gate-guard survivors left of the first Reliant Robin as all were recycled back into pots and pans once scrapped. These photos are of a post-war plastic toy model imported from the Far East which was only sold at news agents in Ipswich in the spring of 1961.
Despite its drawbacks, for one brief, shining moment the Reliant Robin held the line and defended the Realm until more modern, capable aircraft were available, even if it did so in complete ignominy.
Brian da Basher
