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Good points. The Albacore was the best biplane maritime strike aircraft of WW2, which by its later entry, makes sense. Others like the Fieseler Fi 167, Yokosuka B4Y, Fairey Swordfish, Vickers Vilderbeest, Levasseur PL.107, and Douglas XT3D were uncompetitive vs. the Albacore, some so bad as not getting past prototypes.The Albacore lifted more off a naval carrier deck, further and faster. Did excellent dive bombing in the Western Desert and the Channel ports. Cruised faster than a Swordfish flat out. Twice the bomb load of a Fairey Battle or Bristol Blenheim and four times that of a Skua. It's operational cruising speed was similar to the Japanese Nakajima B5N. Technically it remained in service (in Aden in 1946) beyond the service of the Swordfish.
Well I get the following:-
Arizona 7/12/41 Pearl Harbour. 4x800kg AP hits and 3 near misses.
Roma 9/43 hit by 2x Fritz X 3,500lb AP guided bombs while at sea.
Tirpitz 12/11/44 hit by 2x12,000lb Tallboy plus a near miss (plus the earlier Tallboy hit that wrecked her bow)
Ise 28/7/45 Finally sank after 2 days of air attacks that resulted in 16 bomb hits and numerous near misses.
Hyuga 24-26/7/45 slowly settled to the bottom and abandoned after receiving 10 bomb hits and at least 30 near misses on the 24th.
Haruna 28/7/45. Finally sank after 2 days of air attacks that only succeeded in hitting her 13 times and near missing her 10 times.
Note only one of those sinkings occurred while the ship was sailing in open water, and just how much difficulty the USN had in sinking those 3 in Japanese harbours.
Akin to the role played by the escort carriers Battler, Begum and Shah from Oct 1943 and through 1944.Unless you are really lucky such a small air component is just going to provide target practice service to the Japanese without them having to pay for it themselves.
The Hermes can provide scout/recon service in the Indian Ocean (or South Atlantic) looking for commerce raiders or blockade runners (surface or submarine) but trying to take part in a carrier action will probably mean it can show how to die bravely.
A little cherry picking here? I will do a little cherry picking of my own.The Albacore lifted more off a naval carrier deck, further and faster. Did excellent dive bombing in the Western Desert and the Channel ports. Cruised faster than a Swordfish flat out. Twice the bomb load of a Fairey Battle or Bristol Blenheim and four times that of a Skua. It's operational cruising speed was similar to the Japanese Nakajima B5N
Agreed, but as much as I'd like to pack on an all-fighter group of eighteen Martlets to give Hermes her best odds, I don't think a larger air component is feasible given size and limited consumables. Hermes will be doomed no matter her CAG if she's caught by any IJN carrier group... which if she can last until summer 1942 is increasingly unlikely.Unless you are really lucky such a small air component is just going to provide target practice service to the Japanese without them having to pay for it themselves.
AFAIK, the Albacore never participated in an attack on Scharnhorst. Top speed was about 145- 150 knots but they could dive nearly vertically at over 200 knots. The only time they suffered crippling losses was at Kirkenes and Petsamo (Aug 1941) when they had to fly through hills and a fjord lined with flak and then were caught un-escorted by a force of Me-110s, 109s and JU87s, and it's likely that any contemporary torpedo bomber would have suffered similar losses. 11 of the 20 Albacores that attacked Kirkenes were shot down, but probably about 3 were lost due to flak, while 1 of 9 that attacked Petsamo was shot down, probably by a 109.
It wouldn't call it a dud, but I would suggest the Albacore was unnecessary. Just put a more powerful engine and closed hood on the Swordfish, like this RFAC Stringbag below, and keep the production running while Fairey sorts out the Barracuda.Albacore was a dud.
That might take a while!It wouldn't call it a dud, but I would suggest the Albacore was unnecessary. Just put a more powerful engine and closed hood on the Swordfish, like this RFAC Stringbag below, and keep the production running while Fairey sorts out the Barracuda.
Cool photo
Fairey's carrier bombers should have gone: Seal, Swordfish, Barracuda, Gannet. Skip the Albacore and Spearfish.
Don't remember about Vindicator in FAA service. I don't ser any SN or squadron Codes. It was used operationally or just for trials and evaluation?
Man that flight deck looks so dangerous with all those spinning props...Start at 6:16 and watch first the Seafire land and fold, and then the Tarpon (Avenger). It's impressive to watch the latter land, fold its own wings and roll forward. Meanwhile the Seafire needs a half dozen men to get put away.
I'd guess that the Swordfish killed more submarines than any other aircraft. With the ability to operate in all weathers, to fly slowly to observe targets, and with a good bomb load it's ideal for the job.
Nearly half of all U-Boat losses are attributed to aircraft, U-boat Losses by cause - Fates - German U-boats of WWII - Kriegsmarine - uboat.net
Swordfish continued in service on CVEs until VE day. TBFs could only operate from CVEs that had a catapult, whereas the Swordfish could typically TO unassisted, even from a CVE and could operate in weather that would often ground the TBF.
Except for anti-ship torpedo missions, so was the depth charge-armed Swordfish and Albacore. We coldwar aviation fans remember the Gannet as a ASW and AEW bird, but it was a multirole bomber by design. Given the lack of anti-surface ship targets and the improved AA postwar, it makes sense for the Gannet to focus on ASW, but for non-ASW the Gannet could carry 16x RP-3 rockets (under the wings) and 4x MC Mk.18 - Mk.21 500lb bombs internally.Skip the Barracuda! and the Gannet ... is basically just an ASW plane right?
So far at least 6 aircraft killed more U-boats than the Swordfish.
Perhaps the Swordfish does better on kills per 100 planes deployed of kills per 1000 missions?
However some of the high scoring aircraft used weapons unavailable to the Swordfish, like homing torpedoes.
Dive bombers are gonna have a hard time sinking battleships.
Indeed. The Barracuda crippled Tirpitz for two months in 1944.But they have a very well established record of crippling them