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| Click Here For Full Artist Print Indexes | Aviation History Archive |
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| The Aircraft : | |
| Name | Info |
| Swordfish | Torpedo bomber and reconnaissance biplane, crewed by three, with a top speed of 154mph, reduced to 136mph as a float plane. Maximum ceiling 19,000 feet, reduced as a float plane. Armed with a .303 Vickers machine gun fixed forward and one in the rear cockpit. One 1610lb torpedo or up to 1500lb bomb load. At the outbreak of world war two the fleet air arm had 13 operational squadrons. The Fairey Swordfish has earned its place in history for major contributions to naval warfare, during the Norwegian campaign, and especially during the raid on Taranto. In November1940, twenty Swordfish took off from HMS Illustrious to attack the Italian fleet in their Harbour of Taranto. At Least nine torpedoes hit their targets. Seven Italian ships were badly damaged including the battleships, Caio Duillio, Littorio and Conte De Cavour. This was followed in February 1942, by a heroic but suicidal attack on German battlecruisers in the English Channel by six Swordfish of 825 squadron from RAF Manston. All aircraft and crews were lost. This resulted in a Victoria Cross for the leader Lieutenant Commander E Esmonde. The next major event was the torpedo attack on the Bismarck by Swordfish from HMS Ark Royal, which badly damaged the steering gear of the Bismarck which helped in the final destruction of the German battleship by Royal Navy battleships. The Fairey Swordfish was also used in anti-submarine and anti-shipping roles. The Swordfish sunk more enemy ships (by tonnage) than any other aircraft acting in the same role. By the end of the war the Fleet Air Arm still had nine active squadrons, but these were finally disbanded in May 1945. A total of 2399 Swordfish were built. |
| Albacore | The Fairey Albacore built by The Fairey Aviaiton company was a single-engine biplane built with the purpose of becoming a torpedo bomber and flying from aircraft carriers. Used by the Royal Navy's fleet air arm between 1939 and 1943, it had a three-man crew and was designed for spotting and reconnaissance and low level bombing, dive bombing and as a torpedo bomber. The Albacore, popularly known as the Applecore, was conceived as a replacement for the aging Fairey Swordfish. However, the Albacore served with the Swordfish and was retired before it, being replaced by the Fairey Barracuda torpedo bombers. On 9 March 1942, 12 Albacores from the aircraft Carrier HMS Victorious were launched to attack the German battleship Tirpitz which was att sea near Narvik. Based on information from one of six radar equipped aircraft already launched, Albacores from 817 and 832 Squadrons launched torpedoes This courageous attack nearly succeeded but missed the Tirpitz by 30 feet of its bow but ultimately the FAAs only torpedo attack on the Tirpitz at sea failed with the loss of two Albacores and damage to many of the others. No. 826 Naval Air Squadron was specially formed to operate the first Albacores in March 1940, being used for attacks against harbours and shipping in the English Channel, operating from shore bases and for convoy escort for the rest of 1940. HMS Formidable's 826 and 829 Squadrons were the first to operate the Albacore from a carrier, with operations starting in November 1940. Initially, the Albacore suffered from reliability problems with the Taurus engine, although these were later solved, so that the failure rate was no worse than the Pegasus equipped Swordfish. The Albacore remained less popular than the Swordfish, as it was less manoeuvrable, with the controls being too heavy for a pilot to take much evasive action after dropping a torpedo |
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