Comments by "David Elliott" (@davidelliott5843) on "The Battle of Taranto: When Biplanes Crippled a Fleet" video.

  1. The Swordfish was built to take off and land in North Atlantic weather with the ship pitching and rolling. At the time, a metal frame biplane was probably the only aircraft that could do that. The pilot who hit the Bismarck rudder said it was his experience at Taranto that saved him. He dropped the fish but stayed low. Those who climbed away got shot down. Stott 1971 said, "By the end of the war, the Swordfish held the distinction of having caused the destruction of a greater tonnage of Axis shipping than any other Allied aircraft." (Wikipedia)
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  2. The Corsair was one heck of a plane but that rear set cockpit and low wing made carrier operations “challenging”. The USN refused to take them until RN Fleet Air Arm pilots showed how it’s done with a curved approach. There’s a video on You Tube of a late model Spitfire, Mustang and Corsair flying low over a canal with rows of trees either side. The Corsair pilot is considerably higher. Good sense I suspect but probably the only option with its poor frontal view.
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  3. Swordfish was an early STOL aircraft It wasn’t fast of course but had good lifting ability and could fly from a heaving carrier deck in the Atlantic swells. It was used throughout WW2 so was not obsolete by any means. The engine was powerful and the structural frame was steel with fabric covering. AA shells went straight through including tracers and explosive shells. The slow speed allowed torpedoes to be dropped very low and accurately.
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  4. It’s not really fair to call the Swordfish “obsolete”. They were built to operate from carrier decks heaving in Atlantic swells. It was in use for the entire WW2.
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