The Fairey Pintail and Parnall Puffin answered Specification XXI for a two-seat amphibian able to operate from land, water, and carrier decks. Neither aircraft entered service, and the established Fairey III family effectively absorbed the reconnaissance role. Their failure shows that a superficially attractive multi-environment requirement was not necessarily practical aboard evolving aircraft carriers. The lesser-known Parnall firm's experimental designs belonged to the wider search for reconnaissance, bombing, torpedo, and dive-bombing aircraft.
Chapter · 27:17-33:44
Why the Fairey Pintail and Parnall Puffin went nowhere
An ambitious 1919 requirement for a two-seat carrier-capable amphibian produced awkward prototypes that lost out as carrier needs evolved.