Why not admire? Yes, at one time the plane received from the pilots a not very flattering nickname "stringbag", that is, "string bag" if translated within the meaning. Younger generations may not know what it is, Google will help.
In general, the Suordfish is a remarkable and delightful car in every respect.
The biplane, low-speed, with a fixed landing gear, outdated already at the time of its release in the series, it not only fought the entire war, remaining essentially the only deck torpedo bomber in Great Britain, but it also outlived the one who was supposed to replace it!
It is worth saying a few words about Albacore.
The Fairey Albacore is also a biplane, but it was developed in 1940 to replace the Suardfish. It seems like - this is because he received from the sarcastic British an even more derogatory nickname "Stub". Play on words, Albacore and Applecore.
Albacore - kind of like a tuna, but "Stub" fought in parallel with "Sword-fish", but the British preferred the good old Evil, that is, "Swordfish". "Albacore" turned out to be even more depressing thing, but where else?
In general, the whole war was knocked on the bottom of Britain's torpedo aircraft, but there was no sense in it. "Barracuda" appeared already when everything became clear what happened to the Germans and what happened to the Japanese.
But this creation of the "Fairy" company, abandoned by the fate and inertia of the lords of the British Admiralty from the beginning of the 30s, went through the whole war.
Now think about it: on account of this volatile archaism and absurdity, there are more destroyed enemy ships than any other type of Allied aircraft.
This is a fact that can be interpreted in any way. But it takes place, this fact. "Sword-fishes" have gnawed as many ships and vessels as no other aircraft dreamed of. A crazy paradox that suggests that the British pilots were still very tough guys.
Let's go through history, it's time.
In general, the concept of such a biplane-multipurpose attack aircraft hovered in the design minds in many countries. The pinnacle of development, it seems to me, was our I-153 "Chaika", but in most countries everything stopped at the level of a wooden-percale aircraft with a fixed landing gear.
Actually, the same was also the "Suordfish". Nevertheless, in the technical task of this kerosene gas, intended for the needs of the fleet, there was the ability to carry a torpedo or the equivalent in bombs. And yes, the ability to take off and land on the deck of an aircraft carrier is a matter of course.
April 1934. The Fairy firm built an airplane according to the design of Marcel Lobber (emigrant from Belgium), which met all the requirements. For 1934, even his speed was quite good, almost 270 km / h.
Plus the plane turned out to be very stable, obedient in control and with very good maneuverability. He calmly took off and landed on the deck of the aircraft carrier "Koreyjes" allocated for testing and calmly passed the second stage of tests as a seaplane, for which the landing gear was replaced with floats.
The plane was tested with weapons just as calmly and unhurriedly. Speed, however, quite naturally dropped, but the British did not stop. It didn’t stop it so much that in 1936, just two years later, "Suordfish" was put into service and went into mass production.
In general, at the time of its adoption, "Suordfish" was already a complete anachronism. A wooden biplane covered with percale with a fixed landing gear and an open cockpit - well, not very far "Sword-fish" has left the airplanes of the 20s. That is why I got not the most pleasant nickname.
But before the start of World War II, the British naval aviation did not have anything better at its disposal, and the Albacore turned out to be no better than the Suordfish.
So Suordfish replaced the already sad predecessor from Fairy, Seal, and Albacor did not replace Suardfish and was quietly withdrawn from production during the war.
"Fur Seal", predecessor of "Swordfish"
In general, the beginning of the war was met by the British naval aviation with 692 Swordfish both on the decks of their aircraft carriers (Arc Royal, Koreyges, Eagle, Glories and Furies) and at coastal airfields.
The war has begun …
The first torpedo attack in the outbreak of the war was carried out … that's right, the crew of "Suordfish" from the aircraft carrier "Furies". It happened on April 5, 1940, during the battle of ships in the Bay of Trondheim.
One of the torpedoes hit a German destroyer, but did not explode. And so the attack could become the first effective one. But even without torpedo bombers, the British did quite well, the Germans at Narvik received the full program.
On April 13, 1940, the Swordfish from the battleship Worspeight bombed and sank the German submarine U-64, which became the first submarine to be killed by aviation. Accordingly, "Suordfish" became the first aircraft to drown a submarine with bombs.
Air groups from British aircraft carriers also worked on land and worked quite well. The finale, however, was literally tarnished when the "sweet couple" of the Kriegsmarine, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau drowned the aircraft carrier Glories with escort destroyers, at the same time sending two Swordfish divisions to the bottom.
The Swordfish also had a lot of work in the Mediterranean. Reconnaissance, attacks by Italian and German convoys in Africa - this was the responsibility of a special land-based division redeployed from France and the air group of aircraft carriers "Eagle" and "Arc Royal".
It is the Igla crews who hold the record of all times and peoples: the sinking of four ships by three torpedoes.
On August 22, 1940, in the harbor of Sidi Barani (Egypt), a flight of three aircraft commanded by Captain Patch discovered a huge congestion of ships. The British did not even have to aim, it was enough just to throw torpedoes at the ships, which were very tight.
Three torpedoes blew up two submarines and a transport loaded, as it turned out, with ammunition. The explosion on board smashed to smithereens not only the ship itself, but also the destroyer moored to it, the crew of which was just taking on board this ammunition. In reality, three torpedoes - four ships.
But the finest hour of the Suordfish was undoubtedly in Taranto. In general, Taranto is an underestimated episode in history. Appreciated, perhaps, only the Japanese, who literally a year later arranged about the same to the Americans in Pearl Harbor.
Air reconnaissance showed that the main forces of the Italian fleet are actually located in the inner harbor of Taranto: 5 battleships, 5 heavy cruisers and 4 destroyers.
British engineers modernized the torpedoes so that they, having plunged 10, 5 meters, could slip under the network barriers that the Italians so hoped for.
At 22 hours 25 minutes on November 11, two divisions of 12 aircraft each took off from the deck of the aircraft carrier "Illastries". Each pilot knew his target in advance.
First, two "Suordfish" suspended SABs (lighting bombs) over the water area of the port. Then two more planes installed additional lighting, dropping incendiary bombs on the oil storage.
And when the fire in the warehouses with fuels and lubricants broke out in full, torpedo bombers went into action. Three battleships, two cruisers and two destroyers received torpedoes in their sides. The battleships Conte di Cavour and Littorio landed on the ground. In general, the shallow harbor of Tarento greatly helped the Italians, since it was seriously impossible to drown in it. But the victims got off not with a slight fright, but with months of repairs at the docks.
Italy lost its advantage in large warships in the Mediterranean and from that point on, used its battleships and cruisers very carefully.
And all this at the cost of two planes …
Well, in 1941, "Suordfish" continued his career in the same spirit.
Of course, participation in the sinking of the Bismarck became the high point of the Suordfish's combat work.
The fact that without the reckless crews of the planes from the "Arc Royal" the whole idea would have gone foam on the water, I hope, is not worth explaining. Everyone knows everything for a long time and every minute.
On May 26, 1941, in completely stormy weather, 15 Arc Royal torpedo bombers flew off at their own risk and … found the Bismarck! Two torpedoes found their target. Well, in general, what is a torpedo weighing 700 kg "Bismarck"? Grain to the elephant. The first one, which hit exactly the middle, was probably not noticed by anyone except the emergency party.
And here is the second one, which jammed the steering wheels …
Everything else, torpedoes from British destroyers, which deprived the Bismarck of its course, shells from the Rodney, and so on - everything was secondary.
The first nail in the lid of the Bismarck's coffin was precisely the torpedo from the Swordfish, and there is nothing more to add.
However, in the same 1941 the star of "Suordfish" began to roll. Both the Germans and Italians realized that this anachronism is a very dangerous thing if you put it in the hands of an experienced pilot. And in Britain there were enough of them.
By the way, there is an interesting version of why the British had such modest losses in Taranto. It's all about speed. It is said that the Italian air defense gunners could not take a normal lead, because the Swordfish were dragging along at a speed of less than 200 km / h. And the Italian gunners, having incorrectly determined the speed, could not calculate the real lead.
But over time, not air defense crews, but the crews of the Messerschmitts and Makki Saetta began to work against the Suordfish. And on this, in fact, the career of "Swordfish" as a torpedo bomber ended.
No, the torpedoes did not go to the warehouses, they just began to use our slow-moving ship then and there, where it was possible either to reliably cover from the Messerschmitts, or to exclude the very appearance of enemy fighters.
And at the same time "Suordfish" began to master related professions.
In general, it turned out to be a very good PLO aircraft (see the beginning). In the midst of the "Battle of the Atlantic", which I would call "Battle for food for Britain", when Doenitz's guys tore up convoys going from the USA and Canada to the UK, the British found out that as a submarine hunter, Swardfish did not have unmatched.
The quiet course just turned out to be very useful when looking for an enemy submarine. Throwing dive bombs at such a small target as a submarine was also not difficult. Yes, and strong defensive weapons (which the "Suordfish" did not shine with) is also not particularly needed.
So the so-called "escort aircraft carriers" began to appear in the British convoys - small aircraft carriers, as a rule, converted from transport ships or tankers, with several anti-submarine aircraft on the deck.
The first anti-submarine "Suordfish" were armed with high-explosive and depth charges on underwing suspensions. Later, in the summer of 1942, they began to mount launchers for rocket projectiles of 127 mm caliber, 4-5 pieces under each console. In this case, part of the linen skin on the lower wing was replaced with metal panels. This innovation was raised to the rank of modification and named Mk. II.
But in 1943, a really serious modification appeared, the Mk. III. The plane was equipped with universal assemblies for mounting missiles and bombs and equipped with an onboard radar. These aircraft were used mainly to search for and destroy submarines that float to the surface at night to recharge batteries.
A plastic radio-transparent radar for the radar antenna was located on the Mk. III between the main landing gear, and the radar itself was in the cockpit, instead of the third crew member.
Most of the escort aircraft carriers escorting Anglo-American convoys, including those that went with cargoes of military aid to the Soviet Union, were equipped with Suordfish Mk. II and Mk. III.
Thus, the PQ-18 convoy included the Avenger aircraft carrier with 12 Sea Hurricanes and 3 Suardfish on board. One of the "Suordfish" on August 14, 1942 discovered and seriously damaged by bombs the German submarine U-589. Unable to finish off the submarine, the aircraft crew brought the destroyer Onslow onto the submarine, the crew of which completed the destruction.
The Suordfish from the ships of the RA-57 convoy heading to Murmansk were surely the cause of the deaths of submarines U-366, U-973 and U-472.
The last Suordfish was built on August 18, 1944.
The total production was 2392 vehicles. Of these, 992 are Mk. I, 1080 - Mk. II and 320 - Mk. III. In 1943, 110 Mk. II aircraft, commissioned by the Canadian Air Force leadership, were equipped with a closed, heated cockpit for operation in polar winter conditions. This modification received the unofficial name "Mk. IV".
I would literally like to say a few more words about the armament of the Swordfish.
The aircraft could carry a combat load with a total weight of up to 730 kg on the hardpoints. On the main ventral unit, a 457-mm air torpedo or a naval mine weighing 680 kg, or an additional outboard gas tank with a capacity of 318 liters, was attached.
The underwing assemblies (4 or 5 under the lower consoles) allowed the use of various types of weapons: high-explosive bombs of 250 and 500 pounds, depth, lighting and incendiary bombs, and on the Mk. II and Mk. III modifications - rockets.
Small arms consisted of a course synchronous machine gun "Vickers K" with belt feed, mounted on the starboard side of the fuselage, and the same machine gun, but with a disk magazine, on the gunner's turret.
LTH: Swordfish Mk. II
Wingspan, m: 13, 87
Length, m: 10, 87
Height, m: 3, 76
Wing area, m2: 5639
Weight, kg
- empty aircraft: 2 132
- normal takeoff: 3 406
Engine: 1 x Bristol Pegasus XXX x 750 HP
Maximum speed, km / h: 222
Cruising speed, km / h: 193
Practical range, km: 1,700
Practical ceiling, m: 3260
Crew, people: 3
Armament:
- one synchronous 7, 7-mm machine gun in the fuselage and one 7, 7-mm machine gun in the rear cockpit;
- torpedo weighing 730 kg or depth charges, mines, or bombs weighing up to 680 kg, or up to eight NURS.
What can you say by looking at the flight characteristics and weapons? Only that so much luck doesn’t happen. The plane was absolutely not a fighter, so all the victories won by the Suardfish can be safely attributed to the highest training of British naval pilots, as well as their fighting spirit.
