The third prototype made its maiden flight in early 1948, but the pace of the flight testing was leisurely with only 7 hours and 40 minutes completed by 30 November, over half of which were connected with air show performances. Testing concluded in March 1949 when the officer in charge concluded that there was no further purpose to the tests. While the Firecrest was faster than the Firebrand, and gave its pilot a much better view from the cockpit, it was otherwise disappointing, with test pilot and naval aviator Captain Eric Brown claiming that the Firecrest was even less manoeuvrable than the sluggish Firebrand, while the powered ailerons gave lumpy controls, leading to instability in turbulent air.