With the new Skyfall movie we’re having a James Bond week – how about this Fairey Huntress which has just become available
This recently restored Fairey Huntress benefits from a new acrylic glass windscreen, 1/8” plywood laminated frame and stainless steel surrounds. She is powered by a Cummins 150hp turbo diesel engine (1,138 hours October 2012) and sleeps two and boasts her original deck fittings.
The idea of the Fairey Huntress was the brainchild of Richard Fairey. Richard was a keen follower of powerboats and as a result, would often watch the Miami – Nassau race. He contacted Raymond C. Hunt, designer of Bertrams and many other boats and asked if he could use his hull drawings and so began the birth of the now classic Fairey Marine Motor Cruisers.
The Huntress claim to fame were in the James Bond movie ‘From Russia with Love’. This involved James Bond’s boat which was a Huntress fitted with a V8 Interceptor petrol engine along with “extra fuel” carried in the oil drums mounted in the cockpit. This oil drum arrangement had been made at the Hamble factory and was tested in Southampton Water to ensure the drums would roll off the transom without a hitch.
The ‘chief baddies’ boat was driven by former world airspeed record holder Peter Twiss ( 1,132 mph in 1956 in a Fairey Delta 2 aircraft). Also driving one of the boats was former Fairey Marine sales director Charles Currey. Apparently they had a wonderful time on location in Scotland and were well looked after by the film company.
The Fairey Huntress model competed in and won awards in various Cowes – Torquay powerboat races over the years often winning the ‘production boat’, the ‘lowest powered finisher’ and the ‘fuel economy’ awards.