Fairey proposed retaining a team to improve the interim design, but competing programs removed that capacity before a Mark III or Mark IV could be developed. The Mark II mainly gained a 1,300-horsepower Merlin 30, a new propeller, and tropical equipment. Sources differ over whether some aircraft exchanged eight .303-inch Brownings for four .50-inch guns. Roughly one hundred Fulmars received AI Mark IV or Mark X radar for night fighting. No. 746 Naval Air Squadron operated them from Lee-on-Solent and sent occasional detachments to escort carriers before the type left night-fighter service in late 1943 or early 1944.
Chapter · 26:52-31:28
Limited Fulmar upgrades and the night-fighter role
A cancelled improvement team limited the Fulmar to modest Mark II changes, while radar-equipped aircraft found useful work in night defence.