Comments by "" (@walterkronkitesleftshoe6684) on "Military History Visualized"
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The Fairey Swordfish were designed & built in Britain from 1935 onwards, originally for the Greek navy, But when trialled prior to delivery they were seen to be so capable that the Royal Navy bought them instead.
They were biplanes for a very good reason. At the time they were designed existing aircraft engines were of relatively low power (especially for the British fleet air arm which was ALWAYS low down on the engine & aircraft "priority list") so to enable a carrier aircraft to carry aloft heavy loads needed a large wing area. Their biplane wing area was SO great that they could take off fully loaded WITHOUT the use of a carrier's catapult. This meant that in the stormy North Atlantic where the Royal Navy mainly intended to operate them, instead of being forced to take off at the carrier's bows (where the catapults are) and which is the part of a ship that rises and falls by the greatest amount in heavy seas, the Swordfish could take of from the middle of the carrier's decks close to the bridge where the pitching and rolling was the least.
It was for this reason in May 1941 that they were able to take off from HMS Ark Royal to attack Bismarck when the Ark Royal was struggling through an Atlantic gale in MOUNTAINOUS seas, with her bows rising and falling by nearly 60ft !!! Try to imagine how terrifying it must have been for the brave young crews flying them in those conditions. Those weather conditions would have prevented all other allied carrier aircraft of the era from flying and instead seen them safely lashed down inside the hangar deck.
They were also incredibly adaptable and throughout WW2 they were modifed to carry, bombs, depth charges, torpedoes, extra fuel tanks and even eight anti ship rockets as well as the world's very first naval airborne radars (that's the reason why they were nicknamed "stringbags" it was said they could carry ANYTHING). They are widely regarded to have ended the war as the aircraft with the GREATEST amount of enemy shipping tonnage sunk, and were HUGELY loved by their crews.
They WERE to have been replaced mid war by a succesor, the Fairey Albacore, but the "stringbags" were so ubiquitous that they outlasted the Albacore in service.
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The Fairey Swordfish were designed & built in Britain from 1935 onwards, originally for the Greek navy, But when trialled prior to delivery they were seen to be so capable that the Royal Navy bought them instead.
They were biplanes for a very good reason. At the time they were designed existing aircraft engines were of relatively low power (especially for the British fleet air arm which was ALWAYS low down on the engine & aircraft "priority list") so to enable a carrier aircraft to carry aloft heavy loads needed a large wing area. Their biplane wing area was SO great that they could take off fully loaded WITHOUT the use of a carrier's catapult. This meant that in the stormy North Atlantic where the Royal Navy mainly intended to operate them, instead of being forced to take off at the carrier's bows (where the catapults are) and which is the part of a ship that rises and falls by the greatest amount in heavy seas, the Swordfish could take of from the middle of the carrier's decks close to the bridge where the pitching and rolling was the least.
It was for this reason in May 1941 that they were able to take off from HMS Ark Royal to attack Bismarck when the Ark Royal was struggling through an Atlantic gale in MOUNTAINOUS seas, with her bows rising and falling by nearly 60ft !!! Try to imagine how terrifying it must have been for the brave young crews flying them in those conditions. Those weather conditions would have prevented all other allied carrier aircraft of the era from flying and instead seen them safely lashed down inside the hangar deck.
They were also incredibly adaptable and throughout WW2 they were modifed to carry, bombs, depth charges, torpedoes, extra fuel tanks and even eight anti ship rockets as well as the world's very first naval airborne radars (that's the reason why they were nicknamed "stringbags" it was said they could carry ANYTHING). They are widely regarded to have ended the war as the aircraft with the GREATEST amount of enemy shipping tonnage sunk, and were HUGELY loved by their crews.
They WERE to have been replaced mid war by a succesor, the Fairey Albacore, but the "stringbags" were so ubiquitous that they outlasted the Albacore in service.
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