Price: £100.00

Fairy Swordfish

Despite the fact that the Fairy Swordfish was completely obsolete by the outbreak of the second world war the venerable "Stringbag" served with distinction throughout WW2 and destroyed more Axis shipping than any other allied aircraft, including many impressive feats of arms. This was due to the fact that for a long time it was the only allied, carrier based torpedo bomber available in any numbers and the sheer heroism of the Royal Navy crews who were prepared to fight and die in an open cockpit biplane over the mid atlantic in atrocious weather conditions.

Initially known as the T(orpedo)S(trike)R(econaisance) II, the Swordfish was first flown by Chris Staniland on 17th April 1934 and at the end of the year Fairy's were awarded a contract for 86 production examples. By the start of WW2 the Swordfish was operating with twelve operational squadrons. The Swordfish first saw action during the battle of Narvik when the cruiser HMS Warspite launched it's Swordfish seaplane to spot for its main armament. during the engagement Warspite sank six German destroyers while the Swordfish itself dropped bombs on a seventh. After which the Swordfish dive bombed a German U-Boat, (U-64) and sank it.

During December 1940 Four Swordfish squadrons were responsible for the destruction of the Italian fleet at the harbour of Taranto, which changed the balance of power in the mediterranean at that time. In May 1941 in appalling weather, Swordfish from HMS Ark Royal precipitated the downfall of the German battleship Bismark by jamming it's rudder during a diving attack through cloud, scoring at least two torpedo hits. May 1942 saw the Swordfish's most gallant and heroic action, when the German battle cruisers Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen broke out of Brest Harbour under an umbrella of over a hundred German fighters. The British were caught flat footed and one of the few organised responses was an attack by six 825 squadron Swordfish manned by volunteer crews. Having lost their fighter escort Lt Cdr Eugene Esmonde led his crews in under a 700 ft cloudbase and less than a mile visibility. All six aircraft were lost to the flack and Focke Wulfs with only five crew members subsequently being rescued from the sea.

The Swordfish was progressively replaced by more modern types as a torpedo bomber, but the addition of rocket projectile's, depth charges and air to surface radar gave the type a new lease of life and the swordfish continued to give valuable service throughout the remainder of WW2.

Performance

A top speed of 139mph at 4,500 ft.
Weight: 7,580 lbs all up weight.
Powerplant: One 690 HP Bristol Pegasus 9 cylinder air cooled radial engine
Armament: Two 0.303" machine guns, one 1,619lb torpedo or one 1,500lb sea mine, 1,500 lb of bombs and depth charges, eight 60 lb rocket projectiles.