Fairey Barracuda: The troubled torpedo bomber
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- Опубликовано: 22 дек 2022
- Few aircraft draw as much derision as the Fairey Barracuda. It was built to be "all things to all people" - a torpedo bomber that was also a competent dive bomber and reconnaissance platform.
But its development was troubled from the start.
It was originally intended to be the recipient of a new generation of Rolls Royce engines specifically built for Fleet Air Arm needs - the four-cylinder-bank "Exe" (Boreas). But this was cancelled as part of the war emergency program to focus efforts on fewer projects.
It was then supposed to get the Rolls Royce Griffon engine - the successor to the Merlin. But the Royal Air Force over-ruled the Royal Navy in the priority lists.
So the Barracuda was left desperately underpowered.
And that was before fatal problems began to emerge with its structural rivets and main spar joints ...
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Upon seeing a Barracuda and USN liaison on a RN carrier commented " It's an amazing flying machine but it will never replace the airplane".
When a Barracuda from HMS Illustrious flew its captain over to meet the captain of USS Saratoga during Operation Diplomat in the Indian Ocean, one US leftenant was heard the say ... 'Jesus, the Limeys'll be building airplanes next!'
@@ArmouredCarriers the correct word actually is - aeroplane.
@@randlerobbertson8792 Ha! To a USN lieutenant, pronounced "lew-ten-ant" it was "airplane"! (Or "aircraft")
@@randlerobbertson8792
You know, I'm starting to question the FAA's decision to name all their strike aircraft after creatures that spend their entire lives underwater...
No wonder Brits worked so hard to figure out how to fly and land Corsairs on carriers. Their procurement options were, “A. it wasn’t a bad aircraft, but it’s wings had the habit of dropping off, and b. It’s top speed is 90 miles an hour……” The US Navy’s approach was, “Hmmmm. We don’t need to land the Corsair on a deck because we have Hellcats which our pilots like better.”
What an amazing group of men in the Royal Navy during this time. Hats off to a remarkable group.
If you had a naval fighter craft that could fly at 400MPG, you'd try everything you could think of to make it a "workable carrier escort/interceptor.) I recall a description of the Barracuda, "it was armed with a torpedo," which made me wonder what the pilot was supposed to do if he got face to face with a Bf 109 or a Kriegsmarine float plane.
@@Otokichi786 My father a Barracuda pilot, had a friendly encounter with a Spitfire that tried to bounced him. He took flap and turned the Barracuda inside the Spitfire which was not able to bring the aircraft into his gun sites. The Spitfire pilot tried and tried but eventually gave up. It would have been the same for any BF109 etc. Big, not fast, but manoeuvrable enough to frustrate any attacker that couldn't manage a surprise attack.
British tanks were worse then the planes. Way behind until very late in the war.
Brave men. It's nice to actually hear the voices of these men. Unfortunately, many of them are no longer with us today.
My Father was one of those who actually enjoyed flying the Barracuda. He also flew the Seafire and Seafury
Did he fly a Barracuda after he had flown the Seafire and Sea Fury ?
Flying a Barracuda must be like flying a Seafire with a dead Seafury on its back.
@@simoncullum5019 I know that he loved the Sea Fury but Hated the Seafire. The Seafire undercarriage was a hopeless thing on board a ship. Too narrow and not robust enough for heavy seas
My Father as well enjoyed piloting the Barracuda.
I used to know an RAF fitter who was at Boscomb Down when Barracudas were having flight trials, he told me that one went into a dive, the engine carried on down when the plane pulled out of the dive.
Sounds quite believable!
Peter Brazier....What a funny mental picture that makes...!!
Thank you for uploading this video. It is almost impossible to imagine the courage of the aircrew, who flew an aircraft they knew was hopeless for the job they had to do. It seems that more of them were killed by the plane itself, than in actual combat.
"Weighs six tons, got no front guns, fuck all to rely on. What will we do with the Barracuda II. Old iron, old iron" A ditty I remember reading in a collection of WW II poems/dittys.
"If it looks right, it flies right." The Barracuda looks almost French.
Belgian may be more accurate in view of the designer, Marcel Lobelle
Well thats not optimal.
G'day,
Ah, well, y'know how it is...
The Fairey Fox was a World Leader, a Private Venture SO good the Air Ministry were Forced..., to order them - but they retaliated by only ordering ONE Squadron of Foxes....; Belgium bought more Foxes than Britain did...
As pennance, Fairey watched Hawker and Westland and Bristol and Gloster get all the Contracts, until they toed the line and stuck to Specifications, and got Contracts to build shitpotsful of Battles, with a Crew of 3, 500 pounds of Bombs and a motor out of a Mk-1 Spitfire ; so it was useless. A Battle with a Hook was a Fulmar, and leaving the Bomb-Aimer behind made it a "Fighter" (?), equally useless.
The Swordfish was sufficiently eccentric as to be surprisingly functional and effective ; but the Albacore was bloody insane, and the Buccaneer was a Monoplane version of the Albacore - but still with a Battle's ancient Merlin.
Finally they put a Griffon in the Fulmar, called in a Firefly..., and that was almost "useful" by the end of the War of Two - and after that Piston Hairygoplanes were going out of Fashion, for declaring "Waaauughhh(!)..." while sitting within, and pursueing the King's Enemies therefrom...
Such is life,
Have a good one...
Stay safe.
;-p
Ciao !
Not always true. The Whitely looked awkward, but for a pre-war bomber its statistics were quite good, including a 7,000 lb bombload.
😂 lmao.
The way he so matter of factly says 'The wings kept dropping off, which wasn't the best of things ' :)
I'm very grateful for this being posted, my dad flew in these and never said much about it. Brave men.
So nice to hear the voices of the men who flew them
ALWAYS great to hear from the men that were there.
Great to hear the pilot/crew voices
My dad trained to fly Catalinas in Oban, Scotland,. Nearby there was a torpedo range where Barracudas and other bombers would practice their business. He said of all the aircrew he'd met, the torpedo bomber crews had it the worst. Typically, he said, he'd be walking down from the hotel where he was billeted to the dock to catch the boat to his Catalina when he'd hear a crash, and the sirens would go off and the flags would go up, and he knew another torpedo bomber had "pranged".
you've made another gem
with the voices of the men
who flew them. kudos!
The 'Big Barra' was beset with problems - it was originally designed around the weight and thrust specifications for the Rolls Royce 24cylinder Exe engine, but when development was halted on that, the Mk.1 ended up with the Merlin 30. Not only was this significantly less powerful, it was lighter and produced less torque through a smaller propellor disc.
So not only was their less power to get out of trouble, the airframe was unbalanced and shook itself to pieces. The wing spars failures and tail unit failures were linked to stress fractures caused by this imbalance as the twist to counteract the Exe's greater torque shimmied in the Merlin's slipstream.
Another problem was as stated the change from stable biplanes to a high wing monoplane, it took instructors by surprise. The Swordfish and Albacore were so stable, if one got into trouble the smart thing was to release the stick and let the aircraft right itself. Try that in an unbalanced, high wing, high tail Barra and it flipped upside down.
A design flaw was the priority on a good view for the observer, which dictated the high wing. The observer did indeed get a superb view from a pair of bay windows amidships, but the cost was high - the Fairey-Youngman flaps were now well above most of the slipstream and thrust of the propellor, which gave them a significant increase in lift. At higher speeds if the pilot retracted the flaps in anything other than straight and level, the sudden loss of trim would push it over into an uncontrolled departure.
Remembering the anecdote of the chap who passed out behind the controls of one because due to some flaw his cockpit was on the receiving end of a fine mist of hydraulic fluid. Came to to find himself in a spin hurtling towards the ground and recovered, though as can be imagined the experience was yet another blow to the pilot’s gradually-eroding endurance.
I remember this story, the aviator had hundreds of deck operations on Swordfish on the arctic convoys, after his first flight in a barracuda he decided enough was enough. I believe it was some type of coolant that is also used as an anaesthetic.
@@alanpearson7554
Although ‘hydraulic system’ is technically correct, the ether was used as a transmitting medium between the transducer on the engine and the gauge itself (it was a sealed system), rather than plumb say, engine oil all the way from the engine to the cockpit gauge. Also used on contemporary engine temperature gauges where the expansion of the fluid with temperature increase was used to drive the indicator.
Think it was Lord Kilbracken (John Godley DSC.,)authour of Bring back my Stringbag.
Superb, I love the old interviews. I love these guys humour and understatement. Very surprised to hear the compliments...!
Bit of a revelation that. The test pilot who flew it once was dismissive but, tellingly, the guys who flew it operationally not so much.
@@jonathanmoeg1202 I’d have thought that a test pilot would have a much, much better idea of how good or bad it was compared to other aircraft. That being said, either could be biased by experience with other types. A test pilot who also flies high performance fighter aircraft might be biased towards thinking the Barracuda is underpowered, but equally a RN pilot with no fighter experience transitioning from the previous (biplane) generation of bombers might not have the overview to truly understand how bad it is.
Plus there’s potentially a sort of survivor bias, I could imagine that someone who had nursed their machine back on many occasions and had never been failed by it personally might have a certain fondness for it. The ones who ended up in the drink would probably be a bit more negative, but they aren’t available for comment……
@@ollimoore Interesting and thoughtful comment, cheers.
“They couldn’t find anything wrong with it” Sounds like what software developers tell users after the release of a bad product”that’s not a bug, it’s a feature” I love the matter of fact tone of the Brit pilots “it wasn’t such a bad plane… there was a problem with the wings staying on”
That reminds me of a joke about a prototype airplane that keeps shedding its wings. After witnessing several crashes, a concerned citizen pays a visit to the factory and tells the designers to perforate the wings at the spot where they keep breaking off. Out of sheer desperation, the designers give it a try -- and the wings stay on. When asked how this can possibly work, the guy explains that he's in charge of perforating toilet paper at the local paper mill, and toilet paper never breaks off where it's supposed to.
I love hearing the voices of these brave men. Sadly most of these fine gentlemen are gone now.
My father (an RAF LAC) saw a wooden model in a shop window made by someone who had seen one flying when it was still on a secret list. There was quite a kerfuffle later on when it had to be hidden. A visiting American saw these kites on one of our carriers and asked "You Limeys build aircraft?" (one appreciates his tone of disbelief on seeing a Barracuda).
The book Barracuda Pilot by Dunstan Hadley is essential reading for anyone with an interest in this aeroplane. Although maligned by many, the book shows the Barracuda in an honest and at times humourous light. It was an aeroplane designed to be too many things at once and subsequently had unique looks and flying characteristics. But; a now sadly deceased ex FAA Barracuda TAG family friend said of them (as the book regularly implies) that once a pilot properly knew the aircraft, it was capable of performing well.
Incidentally the footage between 0:43 and 0:48 isn't a Barracuda. It's an Amercian Douglas Dauntless under FAA evaluation with twin American 0.30" Brownings.
Yoikes, didn't notice that. I should have. It didn't have that crazy upward folding canopy ...
And it did manage to drop a couple of AP bombs on Tirpitz.
@@ivorbiggun710 From what I've read, it was a slightly more than fifty percent hit rate against 'Tirpitz'? That's on a par with the Skua's performance against Konigsberg (which was smaller and had a slightly lower direct hit rate in that raid) as a dive-bomber. Both planes maligned and both could dive-bomb well.
Excellent selection of genuine reminiscences, much more authentic than a lot of RUclips channels. I found this especially interesting having had a late uncle who was an FAA pilot flying Albacores (in the western desert and during the invasion of Sicily) and then Barracudas (the Merlin engined ones during Operation Tungsten and Griffon engined Mk5s for a while post war.
What an incredible generation.
I think the Barracuda would have been considered state of the art had it come into operational service in '39 to '40 (as it was from a '37 program), but only a prototype flew in '40. Looks like another typical case of the British giving priority to the RAF programs, some of which was justified, but others not so much. So the Barracuda didn't come into service til '43, which is about the time an aircraft, with its specs, really should have been starting to be replaced in the fleet. By then, it was inferior to the already operational Grumman Avenger (except for dive bombing, which the Avenger wasn't really designed for since the US Navy had a dedicated dive bomber) which had come into service in '42 (despite being a later 1940 program).
Great content as always. Love listening to the original interviews.
Unique footage and interviews excellent piece. For every Spitfire and Mosquito there was a Barracuda and a Manchester! Hats off to the crews. I wonder how many men and how much material were lost flying and building this monster
Manchester's were pretty useful considering what was developed out of them
Another great episode, many thanks!
A real world beater?! Respect to the crews.
When were these interviews recorded? I would imagine that most of these aircrew and pilots are now in their very late 90s or early 100s if they are still with us. Keep up the great work.
Over the past 50 or so years. They can be found at the Imperial War Museum.
@@ArmouredCarriers That's great. Thanks for the info.
Excellent stuff. Thank you as always!!
And merry Christmas to you
A really very good video.
Thank you.
My Father, D. L. Hadley (RN Barracuda pilot) would have enjoyed it.
At minute 13:25 the air to ground shot was taken during the Sigli Raid, Northern Sumatra, on 18 September 1944, in which my Father at the age of 23, participated. Smoke following the bomb bursts can be seen over the target area.
A friend Was a TAG on the barracuda and had many story's of their adventures flying from Hatson and the Furious Alan Thompson great Guy RIP
Blinking brilliant.
Every time.
Very interesting to hear the old sweats talking about this intriguing aeroplane. My dad was in the RAF during WW2 first bomber command then coastal command as ground crew working on all sorts of aeroplanes too. He worked on these also but, the worst he ever saw, was the Blackburn Botha - he said was lethal to its own crew in pretty much all regards and also the Saro Lerwick 'an absolute pig of a flying boat' he said.
Outstanding channel! Great concept to have all the thoughtful commentary from Pilot veterans. Cheers from the States. 🇺🇸💛🇬🇧
You really have great content. Do keep it up!
Fantastic film - thank you.
Yes ..... mind boggling phlegmatic stoic courage.
Merry Christmas thanks for another great video
I enjoy hearing the comments of these English Gentlemen of their greatest generation.
Well it wouldn't surprise me if the British Pacific Fleet pilots were thankful that they were flying Avengers instead of Barracudas.
Another excellent video, thank you.
Sadly the RN had to suffer many inadequate aircraft, several of them from Fairey. I wonder if the Barracuda would have been a better success if it had the intended Griffon ?
No wonder the American aircraft were so welcomed...
I suspect not. The Barracuda was an aerodynamicist's nightmare ... and that was before they started adding all the "bits" like radar aerials etc that inevitably made it worse!
The old Profile Books series had a very good volume on the Barracuda.
The Griffon would have helped with the power issue. However looking up the specs on the Merlin 32 that should not have been a bad engine: the fact that the plane was so underpowered suggests weight and aerodynamics played a big part in its performance woes. Though the 32 is a dedicated low-altitude engine, so those stories being overwhelmingly from the Pacific where the heat affects density altitude, effectively making the plane run like it's at higher altitude and lose power suggests it may have been a poor choice.
@@tomhutchins7495 I have to imagine they thought at some point early on "Navy aircraft don't need to operate at high altitude" - and then the Far East, with tropical heat and the mountainous East Indies happened.
Would have been acceptable on the Murmansk runs.
Fantastic video! Interesting to hear all the different opinions, sounds like a perfect storm of steep learning curve, gremlins and a fundamentally flawed engine choice that spoilt an OK plane that was tasked with too many roles
You are what is good about the internet AA.
Kudos and keep 'em coming!
High praise indeed. Thanks.
But the praise should be directed at these men telling their stories, and the skills of those interviewing them.
@@ArmouredCarriers Indeed. Channels like yours are the reason I'm still not sure the internet was a step back for humanity. 😁
Awesome! Great video 👍
Was that Capt. Winkle Brown who gave a favourable account of the Barracuda? I have great faith in Winkle Brown's judgement as he was such anexperienced airman, but I expect he would be prepared to admit that the Barracuda was underpowered, as were many aircraft of those days. I am doubtful that the wings were in the habit of breaking off in flight, as some critics allege. The first Typhoons were liable to break up in the air, but the problem was soon fixed and it became a reliable plane.
No, it was not. It wasn't able to find a useable audio clip from "Winkle" for the Barracuda.
Excellent channel!
The fact that it was largely replaced by the Avenger speaks volumes.
To be fair, the Avenger was an amazing aircraft that would have replaced pretty much any torpedo bomber in every WW2 navy. Maybe not the Firefly.
Firefly wasn't a torpedo bomber, though. And the Corsair would have given it a decent run for its money in the ground attack role. But it was still "useful" enough to stay in service for quite a while after the war.
@@ArmouredCarriers Which one am I thinking of? Fulmar or Barracuda? Christmas drinks eroding my mind. Merry Christmas by the way!
It’s a common myth that the Barracuda was replaced by the Avenger. In Europe, Barrcuda remained embarked on the Fleet carriers in the strike role, alongside Avengers which were embarked on the Escort carriers in the recce/ASW role. It’s true that Somerville, in command of the Eastern Fleet, was critical of the shorter range of the Barracuda and used Avengers for the later “Club Run” attacks but 72 Barracudas were embarked on four Light Fleet Carriers at the end of the war for the British Pacific Fleet for Op Olympic. Barracudas served on as the Mk V post war.
Short range - combined with that gigantic wing volume is quite an achievement
The magazine: Worker And War-Front Magazine, sure did a good job of making the Barracuda look like an incredible plane, and the music was a big part of it.
And calling the plane "the wolf of the sea" was funny. Maybe more like "the goldfish in the pond".
More like a carp in a goldfish pond.
@@MothaLuva .....Good one..!!
Powerplant: 1 × Rolls-Royce Merlin 32 V-12 liquid-cooled piston engine, 1,640 hp (1,220 kW)
My father, a FAA Leading Air Mechanic, said they were a pig to work on as the engine was so high off the deck and the wings were prone to all sorts of trouble.
I think it a fair assessment that the British got frigating unlucky as the Fairey Barracuda needed to enter service in 1942 as planned instead of the 10th of January 1943 9 days after the Grumman Avenger joined the British Royal Navy on New year's day 1943
Top Christmas present. Cheers :)
To the tune of Any old iron. Weighs 6tons no front guns f**k all to rely on. You know what you can do with the Barracuda 2 old iron old iron.
Beat me too it by 3 full days!
Best Navy Aircraft in the World!
Fascinating.
Ed Nash sent me, excellent video.
my dad who was in FAA , (trained to fly corsairs but not required as A bomb dropped ) , was always very scathing about Barracudas and one of his best friends killed on a training flight in one.
It's great choice for them to switch over to the Grumman TBF/M Avenger, Grumman always know how to build carrier based aircraft or naval aircraft.
a wing and a prayer
My father flew there as CO of 822 and later as Wing Leader 21TBR in The British Pacific Fleet,
Yeah I suspect the Fairey Barracuda was not the aircraft the British Royal Navy were planning to have as i suspect the Fairey Spearfish was what the Royal Navy really wanted
Thank u for this gift
Very interesting aircraft of a barracuda I would love to hear more of barracuda action in raid of trpitz and over the Far East.
I intend to do a follow-up to the first Tirpitz video I did a few months back, but this time focusing on the Barracuda's contribution
@@ArmouredCarriers oh ok I heard the FAA museum are attempting to restored a remains of a barracuda. Any plans of the story of grumman Avenger in FAA service.
@@Spitfiresammons Yes. I am gradually assembling material on the Avenger. It will be on the 2023 production line.
@willrose5055 Thanks. I love those Battle Summary documents. Especially their maps. I use them whenever I find one that matches a video.
Absolute dog of a plane,,,, makes me marvel at the bravery of the men that had to prosecute a war in that type of contraption….
Loving the channel! Could I make a request for a video on the Albacore and Skua when poss please? I love the underdogs :)
They are FAA aircraft, so they are on the list.
@@ArmouredCarriers thanks
,
The wings kept dropping off ‘ which wasn’t a good thing 😂
I think the most telling comment is " It was supposed to have the Rolls Royce Griffon engine, but the RAF pinched them all" . Without any power you were stuffed whichever way you look at it.
Wonder if they considered Repowering with a Pratt N Witney double wasp and would its performance have been better
I suspect availability would have been a problem. The US had to build the massive fleet to fly off its many new Essex and Independence carriers. There really wasn't a lot left over for the RN during the war.
@@ArmouredCarriers love your channel !!! thx
Interesting plane
Typical, Geordie humour. Anyway, a lovely Xmas present thanks mate. Great work as always!
Mr. Harrison managed to pull sea duty on the oldest and most decrepid destroyer of the Royal Navy and then had to go back to Barracudas :P
The UK is a country which is never really as rich as it seems especially for those at the bottom of society. It was not described without good reason as the best defended slum in the world. These aircraft were produced in straitened circumstances so the surprise was so many good ones did appear. This sort of stuff just had to do with no real choice. We were still flying biplanes as front line fighters 3 years before the war kicked off so all done in a great rush and hurry with new technology. The biplane Hawker Gauntlet with an open cockpit and fixed wheels was the RAF's fastest fighter in 1937 according to my Illustrated History of the RAF. The US had no war at home and immense resources so in a different world.
Get a new book son. Whilst “why did we only have old stuff in the old days” comments are common on RUclips one of those obsolete biplanes, the Gladiator, had more air to air kills than the typhoon and tempest combined.
Though very different overall construction the height of the main gear reminds me of the strut of the Grumman Avengers arrangement.
I once discovered a downed aircraft site and at a distance I thought the the strut was reminiscent of
an Airacobra nose wheel strut but getting closer I realized it was far too robust to be so.
It was a GM made Avenger which had be pressed into post war retardant drop service.
That main strut was about all I could do to stand vertical for photo. Extremely strong and heavy I noticed a bend from possible crash deflection but no it was made that way and I could identify it by side of installation and brass name plate riveted on it the Crome section gleaming as new.
Flies like …. a fish out of water
The British built some of the most beautiful aircraft in history.
They have absolutely built the fugliest.
good video
0:20: 🛩️ Challenges of a high-wing monoplane aircraft with potential safety issues and technical shortcomings.
4:35: 💣 Challenges of Fairey Barracuda dive bomber with dive breaks and reputation for being dangerous.
8:39: 🛩️ Challenges faced by the Fairey Barracuda torpedo bomber during World War II.
13:24: ✈️ Challenges of operating Fairey Barracuda in hot climates and the switch to American Avengers for better range.
17:34: ✈️ Challenges faced during the development and testing of the Fairey Barracuda torpedo bomber.
21:50: ⚙️ Challenges of operating the Fairey Barracuda torpedo bomber during dives and trim adjustments.
26:10: 💔 Troubles and tragedies of pilots flying the Fairey Barracuda aircraft.
Recapped using Tammy AI
All military planes had issues and challenges and a lot of young pilots died in accidents. This was true in WWI and WWII and through the 1950's. By the 60's as aircraft tech matured with the development of more rugged and reliable planes and with even more extensive training losses became more manageable.
Ironic that the biplane fairey swordfish ended up the allies most successful torpedo bomber of the entire war. Sometimes the adage “if it ain’t broke” is true
Fairey's inability to deliver an improvement on the Swordfish, which was well and truly obsolete by the start of hostilities, is less an endorsement of the Swordfish and more an indictment of the Fairey Aviation Company.
On the other side of the pond, the TBD Devastator (and to a lesser extent the TBF Avenger) were badly let down by the USN's dreadful early-war Mk 13 aerial torpedo. Once the armament was sorted out the Avengers were very effective indeed.
A Swordfish was once outpaced by a destroyer, because of headwind. Let that sink in and tell me it wasn’t broke 😂. That said one of my favorite aircraft of all time is the PBY Catalina which was both obsolete and incredibly effective at the same time.
@@CorePathway The Swordfish could easily land on and take off from small aircraft
Losing a pilot and friend do to the enemy is hard. Losing one to a bad design . . . unimaginable.
One landed on a USN Aircraft carrier for some reason and the Americans were at a loss for words as to its strange appearance.
USS Saratoga when she was in the Indian Ocean for Operation Diplomat with HMS Illustrious. "Gee, the Limey's will be building aeroplanes next" was one quip overheard when the RN admiral I think it was flew over in a Barracuda.
Was intended to have Vulture engine if I remember right but that was ditch as too unreliable (as used in Avro Manchester) and griffin/merlin fitted (can't remember which off hand) in its place but not enough power plus many other issues. Built a model of it when I was young, which was a long time ago.
Before the war, Fairey designed and successfully tested an aircraft piston-engine that had two cylinder- banks that could be run separately, powering two contra-props (as on the later "Gannet" carrier-aircraft). Despite the viability of the engine, it wasn't produced because priority was given to other engine-types made by Rolls-Royce and Bristol.
I have a very simple rule to determine whether or not an aircraft is good. Does it look good, then it usually is good. Does it look fugly like hell, avoid it like the plague. Superficial though it may be, it does work. This aircraft looks fugly as hell.
bombed the tirpitz heavily multiple times
Hello, ArmouredCarrier, can you give us an episode on the Albacore? I am reading Charles Lamb's "War in a String Bag", which makes me wonder about Fairey's successor to the Swordfish.
I shall. It is on the list. And that list is shrinking…
2:45 lol lol did you hear that !!!
I guess the tbm avengers were a godsend
Like to hear stories from Spitfires over Arakan.
Someone in the Fleet Air Arm must of been taking bungs, they procured so many lemons.
Thinking about there being no stop on the machine gun, that high tail plane not only was susceptible to being shot by its own gunner, it obstructed the gunner's view and hindered the ability to return fire.
“Shon I’m Shorry. They got ush.”
I don’t know what was worse, the enemy they were fighting or the airplane’s design
I can’t help wondering what a difference it might have made had these been fitted with a more powerful engine. I’m sure that many of the problems and deficiencies would have persisted but some may have been eliminated. The Manchester also suffered from being under powered but we know what a difference being fitted with proper power plants made to it.
I am looking for information relating to & regarding the connection & history of Fairey Barracuda and the Isle of Man. Thank you .
Not only is it ugly, it appears to be designed to cause drag
I worked for fairey winches in the 70s. They were part of the same company. Who made the Barracuda.
One thing a product of the Bethpage Iron Works will not do is shed parts. How many Barracudas vs Avengers ended up in the fleet?
Some beautiful examples of British understatement in the video. Made me laugh several times
Fairey ,,,, well that says it all .
Fairey did design a couple of decent aeroplanes, but that was only by accident.
Maybe the need for those deep 'dive-bomber' flaps didn't help to produce a suitable configuration ( because of the high wing and the relocated (high-) tail surfaces). The lack of power also didn't help, of course.
Before the war, Fairey had designed and tested their own, powerful engine that had the unique facility for one cylinder-bank to be uncoupled in flight to give [I believe] the aircraft better range at lower cruising speeds (something as was later available from the 'Mamba' turboprop in the "Gannet").
The Air Ministry stopped developing the engine to restrict the number of aero-engines in production. A pity, as it might have been a substitute for the "Vulture" in the "Barracuda".