why was the fairey swordfish so successful

Its obsolescence might have confined it to the historical scrap-heap were it not for the chance encounter one Swordfish had with the German battleship Bismarck as it tried to evade detection and make for a German-controlled port on the French coast. Craigs models propelled me into a lifelong love of aeroplanes and this helped push me towards military history. Not for nothing did so many British industries collapse in the 1960s and 1970s, including Faireys own creation, which ceased existence in 1960, four years after its founders death. On the night of November 11, 1940, against this seemingly impregnable fortress, Illustrious launched 20 Swordfish, armed either with torpedoes (modified for shallow water), bombs or flares to illuminate the targets. In 1918 Britain launched Argus, the first aircraft carrier with a full-length flight deck, allowing planes to both take off and land. Sign up to receive information regarding NS events, subscription offers & product updates. The Swordfish entered service when monoplane carrier aircraft were already appearing, and although performance exceeded expectations, it was not spectacular. Fairey Swordfish. Fairey Swordfish - Wikipedia. The Shark II at a minimum seems to have had a performance and payload edge over the Swordfish, as well as being metal-clad instead of fabric. The original was known as the TSR1 (Torpedo Spotter Reconnaissance), but was not too successful and was significantly re-designed as the TSR2 and re-engined with the Bristol Pegasus before being regarded as satisfactory. For additional reading, he suggests: Bring Back My Stringbag: A Swordfish Pilot at War 19401945, by Lord Kilbracken; and To War in a Stringbag, by Charles Lamb. But it worked very well. Adrian Smith, in the first full biography of Fairey, seeks to challenge that neglect. I have managed to buy a vacuform Swordfish from Combat Models thanks to a response from my earlier post. At night their ASV radar detected surfaced U-boats shadowing a convoy or recharging their batteries. Swordfish 25" wing span, Laser cut kit. If Barnett is to be proved wrong andthe defenders of British enterprise proved right, a more solid economic history is needed. You cant knock that. + means that the Swordfish shared the credit for the sinking. But the opportunity to develop advanced carrier-borne fighters and bombers had been irretrievably lost. 1943Apr U-203 +, May U-89 +, U-752, Sep U-617 +. She could carry a 1,610-pound torpedo or anti-ship mines, bombs, flares, or depth charges. More unusually, according to Smith, he also had a solid technical education and a great fount of engineering curiosity that made him a creative aviation industrialist in his own right. It had a three-man crew: pilot, observer, and TAG the telegraphist/air gunner. The British were the first to begin construction of a purpose-designed carrier, Hermes, commissioned in 1924. First on the instructions was to build the frame work for the fuselage. Initially, Swordfishes operated from the large fleet carriers. . . Faireys, he argues, was a typical entrepreneurial success story in an industry whose history is now overshadowed by its sudden collapse in the 1960s. It could handle all weathers. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. With darkness falling, another flight of 15 Swordfish managed to take off from the wildly pitching deck of the carrier Ark Royal into 70 mph winds. Max. For the months to come, Swordfishes in the Atlantic region conducted mine-laying operations. Briefly, Swordfishes operated in France, covering the retreat of the British Expeditionary Force. Later Swordfishes operated from escort carriers, and were very effective against U-boats. I have been talking to the guy's at YT INTERNATIONAL. British cryptographers, having just broken the Italian naval code, alerted Cunningham. If Fairey made the Swordfish, his firm also made the disastrous Battle, a light bomber entirely unsuited to anything the Army needed when war broke out in 1939. 18T E 449871 N 5034039. U-64 sank in half a minute, the first sub to be destroyed by an unaided aircraft. By getting rid of the traditional tail and bringing in a swept-wing design, the aircraft had its fair share of problems since the . All rights reserved. No planes were shot down, but only one torpedo scored a hit, amidships on the main armor belt, with negligible effect. The element of surprise was lost when one plane arrived early, alerting gun and searchlight crews. By 1942, U-boats were sinking half a million tons a month, rising to 700,000 tons in November. A Fairey Swordfish floatplane being hoisted aboard the battleship HMS Malaya in October 1941. It could also be dived vertically to very close to the sea surface, and then make an abrupt pull-out. Attempting to slow and follow these aerobatics would cause a stall. Support 100 years of independent journalism. After the Swordfish torpedoed the outer vessels, the depot ships munitions exploded, sinking all three vessels. When British naval intelligence determined that a large number of Italian warships lay at anchor in Taranto harbour in November 1940, an attack was organized, to be carried out by 21 single-engine carrier-based biplanes. I was looking at a stripped down F-15 this week and although it is impressive in every sense it does nothing for me compared to a P-40 or Sea Fury.It might be an age thing. The Swordfish remained in first line-service through the entire war in Europe. An 18-inch torpedo (731kg), a 681kg mine, bombs, or four depth charges could be carried. It doesnt make any sense when compared with the best of its peers built in the USA and Japan. As the ships passed the Straits of Dover, in an act of desperation Lt. Cmdr. For operations from small flight decks with heavy loads, rocket-assisted take-offs were necessary. ISBN: 978 0 85733 362 9. Swordfish would fly 4,177 patrols, sink 10 U-boats and share in the destruction of five more. Vast sums were spent on new battleships, but only a trifle for a few hybrid carriers based on the hulls of merchant ships or of battleships whose construction had been halted by the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty. There is never anything flimsy about these books and this volume pulls out all the stops. Stringbags would go on to sink 15 more, and share in another nine. One submarine underway was quickly sunk. Although several launched their torpedoes, all were shot down before coming close enough to achieve a hit. A weekly round-up of some of the best articles featured in the most recent issue of the New Statesman, sent each Saturday. A newsletter showcasing the finest writing from the ideas section and the NS archive, covering political ideas, philosophy, criticism and intellectual history - sent every Wednesday. 22 U-boats lost to Swordfish aircraft. That they could still conduct patrols against U-boats under such conditions, constantly aware that ditching likely meant death, was remarkable. The Swordfish was now equipped with ASV radar and rocket projectiles for anti-submarine operations. It actually continued in service long after its successor, the Fairey Albacore, had ceased production. The technical element allows us to see its construction and here we realise how sturdy andpractical it was as a platform for launching torpedoes despite all the obvious disadvantages in the face of modern anti-aircraft weaponry and much quicker defensive aircraft. A handful of carrier aircraft had reversed the naval balance in the Mediterranean, literally overnight. Britains most crucial conflict, however, was in the Atlantic. Fairey Swordfish Seaplane Fairey Swordfish I of 820 Squadron over HMS Ark Royal, 1939. / 94 cm ) AeroModeller. The Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber was the glorious 'Stringbag' of the Royal Naval Air Service. The Swordfish was a slow-moving anachronism in WW2, but the Italian Navy was even slower while anchored in the port of Taranto and the Swordfish became famous for launching a devastating night attack there that sent the Regia Marine slinking away to quieter waters. A flying anachronism when it entered service, the Fairey Swordfish nevertheless helped save Britain during the darkest days of World War II. Their defence of Malta against overwhelming odds was truly remarkable. You can catch them in the classic Sink the Bismarckperennially on a TV channel somewhere as I write or you might see one in a museum in Somerset, Texas or Nova Scotia. Faith,Hope & Charity were Gladiators,not Swordfish. The Fairey Swordfish was a torpedo bomber built by the Fairey Aviation Company and used by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy during World War II. One test pilot, losing control of the prototype, bailed out, only to be blown back into the rear cockpit, from which he finally exited, becoming the only man in history to have bailed out of the same aircraft twice. One of their torpedoes again fruitlessly hit the armor belt, but, as Bismarck turned hard to port, a second struck its vulnerable stern. . Slow and almost defenceless, it was a successful torpedo bomber against light opposition. This or a sudden climbessentially standing the plane on its tailpresented the attacking fighter pilot with an apparently stationary target disappearing behind him at 300 mph. This is not a kit for a beginner. I am not sure 1/6 scale will fit in the front cockpit . The TSR.II flew on 17 April 1934. Fairey Swordfish: 276 x 460: Fairey Swordfish: 694 x 258: Fairey Swordfish: vector: Fairey Swordfish (1934) 655 x 579: Fairey Swordfish Mk. Now I have to figure out the colors I need for the top wing. The latter were converted merchant ships with a short flight deck but no hangar, the aircraft remaining lashed to the deck in all weathers. 'Bring Back My Stringbag'. ESM Fairey Swordfish. Not for nothing did so many British industries collapse in the 1960s and 1970s, including Fairey's own creation, which ceased existence in 1960, four years after its founder's death. But it was reliable, which was especially important for the lonely night patrols over the arctic seas that were to be the task of the Swordfish. 1945? It flew in this form in July 1933, but was lost in September. Its fabric-covered metal construction was sturdy and reliable, but lacked refinement. The HISTORY of The FAIREY SWORDFISH . History, development, service, specifications, pictures and 3D model. One of the most unusual combat aircraft of World War II was the Fairey Swordfish. Hardly faster than the old WW I SPADs and Nieuports, it was already obsolete by the time it entered service in 1936 . By Jim Humberstone There are many more examples. Views: 72. Already obsolescent when the first one landed on an aircraft carrier, this ugly duckling, outliving several designs meant to replace it, was the only naval aircraft in frontline service from the first day of the European war to the last. Originating in the 1930s, the Swordfish, nicknamed "Stringbag", was an outdated design by the start of the war in 1939, but remained in front-line service until VE Day . Although Taranto was arguably its finest hour, Swordfish scored many other notable successes, notably damaging the German battleship Bismarck in May 1941, helping sink 23 U-boats in the North Atlantic (including the first ever sunk by an aircraft at night), and stalking Axis merchant shipping off Norway and in the Mediterranean. Much more could have been made of the relationship with the Air Ministry, the Admiralty, and the Ministry of Aircraft Production to give a sense of how the firm reacted to the demands of the government users in a virtual monopsony. Despite its outdated appearance, it was a reasonably modern aircraft in 1939, having only entered service in 1936. It set the pattern for future aircraft carriers: a flush flight deck with command superstructure island to starboard. Vittorio Veneto, hit in the stern and with one propeller smashed, almost suffered Bismarcks fate, but limped back to its harbor, leaving orders for the cruisers Zara and Fiume and two destroyers to stand by the stricken Pola. The only warships that could pose a threat were hundreds of miles away. The Fairey Swordfish was a torpedo bomber biplane designed by the Fairey Aviation Company and used by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy during the Second World War. For the take-off, the ailerons could be drooped 8 degrees to increase lift. The result is a biography that has more trees than wood. On 23 May, a Swordfish flying from the escort carrier HMS Archer sank the U-752 with rockets, the first operational use of this new weapon. The aircraft were shot to pieces in minutes by the Luftwaffe, but 2,200 were produced to fill Faireys coffers because the Air Ministry failed to cut it off when it should have done. Despite 14,000 anti-aircraft shells being fired, only two planes were lost, with one crew surviving. As a result of continual RAF bombing at the French port of Brest, Adolf Hitler ordered the battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen to safer berths in Wilhelmshaven on the North Sea. To be a good torpedo bomber, you have to be able to fly low and slow, or the torpedo wil. It was designed to fulfil two of the three main Fleet Air Arm requirements for aircraft, acting as both a torpedo bomber and spotter . HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. In the April 1940 Battle of Narvik, off Norway, a Swordfish catapulted from the battleship Warspite, piloted by Petty Officer Frederick Rice, spotted 10 destroyers supporting the invading German armys landing. The notion that flimsy flying machines could sink great warships was considered absurd. I: 656 x 470: Fairey Swordfish Mk. Bismarck put up a brave fight, but eventually joined Hood on the ocean floor. They sank an average of 50,000 tons per month. One of the most unusual combat aircraft of World War II was the Fairey Swordfish. Man ita awful small.. I'll have the get iut back out . One of his targets is the historian Correlli Barnett, who some years ago made the case that compared with the German and American aircraft industry and aviation technology, the British always lagged behind in technical progress and productive efficiency. Powered by a Bristol Pegasus IIIM3 engine, the aircraft had a top speed of 246km/h, a range of 1,700km, and a service ceiling of 5,900m. In addition, when operating from these small ships with heavy loads, the Swordfish often had to be kicked into the air using a brutal method known as rocket-assisted take-off. In World War II this biplane has been one of the most legendary torpedo bombers and became famous for crippling the Bismark in May 1941, being one of the most fearsome battleships in the German Navy . John Godley wrote: Its hard to understand how such a decision was ever made. Fairey was a conventional boss of his age paternalistic, authoritarian, hostile to organised labour, attracted to the glamorous lifestyle of the British well-to-do.

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