Posted on 02/16/2021 6:03:34 AM PST by Onthebrink
Eh. For its time, the Swordfish was about the best they could do. It is amazing that they were still using it at the start of the war.
Hey, the Fairey Swordfish took out the steering gear of the German Battleship Bismark, allowing the British to sink her. Not too shabby for a fixed-gear biplane.
Hey, the Fairey Swordfish took out the steering gear of the German Battleship Bismark, allowing the British to sink her. Not too shabby for a fixed-gear biplane.
Hey, the Stringbag was an awesome plane. The Bismark’s gunners had problems shooting at it because it was too slow...
battle of midway.
initial marine fighters to engage the japanese bombing attacks on the atoll were flying buffalos, I believe.
https://warbirdforum.com/midway.htm
...and it did some damage to bismarck, too.
damaged the rudder with a well-placed torpedo, IIRC
True. I carelessly missed which comment you were referring to, and thought you meant the P-75. Sorry about that.
Oh, I’m not saying the Fairey Swordfish was a bad plane, just the name is worse than Buffalo, imho.
The 21 Fairy Swordfish torpedo bombers took out the Italian battleship fleet in the first aircraft carrier only attack in Nov. 1940 at Taranto. The entire battle ship and cruiser fleet was harbored together, much like the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor a year later. Italian losses included their most modern battleship. The remainder of the Italian fleet was never again a factor in the Med after the Taranto attack.
Those supposedly obsolete biplanes with a top speed of 139 mph achieved this in two sorties, crippling the Italian naval presence in the Med for the duration of the war giving the British critical Med theater superiority. Control which assured Rommel's resupply chain destruction directly contributing to his defeat in North Africa....not bad for a bunch of slow grampa type planes.
eh, my bad for not being more clear.
cheers!
nippon knockoff of the DO-335, I think?
that one you saw is the only one left
they only built two, and one of them crashed after getting nicked in flight by an escorting starfighter.
the valkyrie taught the USAF, and NASA, much about + mach aerodynamics, and a host of other stuff.
cool concept..obsoleted by SA-2 systems by the time it actually flew.
But man...what a boss looking plane!
You might like this link, I stumbled across it this morning:
There are enough knobs, buttons, dials, and levers to keep even the most anal aviation geek occupied!
i am an airplane junkie, too.
the addiction started innocently enough about 50 years ago with ww2 warbirds, progressed to jets over the years...thuds, phantoms, eagles, etc, but I still go back home to the butcher bird from bremen most frequently. :)
I will check out the link. thanks for the share.
Thanks for the link!
Note: the clam shell ejection seat instructions are high on the center console.
Parks group didn’t fly with wingmen... it was an every man for himself fur-ball.
The Finns might disagree with you.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_aces_from_Finland
True for everyone except the Finns and the Dutch East Indies Air Force.
Imagine how much better they would have done with the F4F instead.
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