Rather surprised you didn't mention the Swordfish's "secret feature" when it came to launching her torpedoes. Dr Alexander Clarke covered this at some length on his channel. The British rigged up a tension wire system, that attached to the nose of the torpedo, that helped to keep it level when dropped, until it hit the water. The British managed to keep this secret for quite some time. Dr Clarke even pointed out in period photographs, showing a Swordfish dropping a torpedo, how the photograph had been "edited" to hide the tension wire. It wasn't just wooden fins attached to the rear of the torpedo, but the tension wire as well, that enabled the successful attack on Taranto.

@britishamerican4321

2 жыл бұрын

Very interesting, thanks.

@stewartfordyce

2 жыл бұрын

Is that the first example of 'fly by wire'? 🙄

@Farweasel

2 жыл бұрын

@@stewartfordyce No. That incident happened when the Pilot took a final 'Lucky Leak' on the wheel prior to take off to minimise discomfort later but inadvertently and unnoticed caught the wire whilst rebuttoning up.

@stewartfordyce

2 жыл бұрын

@@Farweasel LOL

@brucebartup6161

2 жыл бұрын

My best undesrtanding was that the wire ensured that the torpedo would enter the water slightly 'nose up'. Thus reeducing the speed of weapon closer to it's nominal 40kn at the instant of full immersion while also giving the weapon a shallow track.

10:41 the frontal gun is what is called an "emotional support weapon". When you fly a cumbersome, slow bomber towards vessels bristeling with AAA, it subjectively feels better if you can shoot a little, too and it might even take a tiny chunk of folks focus and concentration on killing you, by inducing thoughprocesses on their own well beeing.

@mbryson2899

2 жыл бұрын

If you have tracers it can help with rocketing and sometimes glide bombing.

@Ensign_Nemo

2 жыл бұрын

Fighter aircraft during WWII would sometimes attack their targets head-on rather than from the tail of the targeted aircraft. The frontal gun did at least allow the Swordfish to shoot back, and hopefully keep the attacker a bit further away than he would be otherwise. If there was no frontal gun, then any fighter pilot who wanted to kill a Swordfish could simply keep flying attacks from the front, with no way for the Swordfish to shoot back until after the fighter aircraft had finished shooting at the Swordfish and was then able to maneuver to evade the rear gun's bullets. If a fighter can fly absolutely straight at a defenseless target then the accuracy of its gunfire is improved considerably - it's a 'turkey shoot'. Sometimes an air defense platform is more effective at forcing an enemy to keep its distance than it is at actually killing the attacking aircraft. The US Army put M2 .50 caliber machine guns on top of M4 Sherman tanks for the same reason as the frontal gun on a Swordfish - it forces the enemy's aircraft to have a bit more respect for a target that can actually shoot back, even though both targets were far less maneuverable than a fighter aircraft, and few kills were scored by any of those guns on fighter aircraft.

@tomgoff7887

2 жыл бұрын

In the 1930s, they may have considered it provided a useful degree of flexibility by enabling the aircraft to also carry out anti-piracy and imperial policing operations.

@tomgoff7887

2 жыл бұрын

@Alfred Wedmore Black, brown, white and yellow. Unfortunately, they never got around to shooting politically correct dimwits though.

@mbak7801

2 жыл бұрын

Actually the Swordfish had the advantage in being very slow. The Kriegsmarine anti aircraft systems I believe had an automatic system to track fast moving attackers. It meant they spent a lot of ammunition missing the Swordfish which resulted in lower casualties than there could have been.

Well done chaps, been looking forward to this one 👍

There is a story, possibly apocryphal, of an American Navy officer in WWII on exchange seeing a Swordfish for the first time. He said, "Where did you get THAT?!" To which was said, "Fairey's." "Figures," he said.

@moinmoin8311

2 жыл бұрын

thank you for an interesting share!

@roybennett9284

2 жыл бұрын

Poor old fleet air Arm had a strange collection of planes which in context of this story , well yes the yanks could laugh their planes were fast modern, sleek band new.. which I'm sure the British flyers found far better for their health

@michaelamos4651

Жыл бұрын

Great story. Thanks 👍

@jongulliver984

Жыл бұрын

Roy this was all down to the RAF who weren’t interested in the Fleet Air Arm which they had control over until 1938. The FAA entered the war with the rubbish the crabs left them with.

Thanks for this! Just 2 months ago I mentioned the Swordfish in my mum's eulogy - because she swapped seats in one in mid air! During WW2 she was a technician in Malvern working on Radar. One dqy she was flying in a swordfish with a scientist who got excited when the set starting working well. So he told her to swap seats so she could see it. So they did. The funny thing about this story is that I only found out a few years ago. When I asked her why she never told me she said "I didn't think it was very interesting"!!!

@yereverluvinuncleber

2 жыл бұрын

Your Mum was a gem and I imagine, a real character. My regards to you for your loss.

Didn't know you had Drachinifel as part of your own personal ground crew. You lucky man

@Paludion

2 жыл бұрын

I knew that bearded person was familiar !

@papadopp3870

2 жыл бұрын

Cool. I hadn’t seen him, but if I had drawn sketch of how I pictured him from voice and style, it would’ve looked like that man🙂. Although, in mind’s eye, he’d have on a tweed jacket with elbow patches & he would be using a pipe as a pointer. I am grateful for Drachinifel’s channel and, of course the amazing Bismarck!

My grandad was an airframe rigger in the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm. Before they sent him overseas to work on Corsairs and Wildcats he had to complete his trade training at Garston near Liverpool. Part of the course was for the trainee riggers and fitters to strip a war weary Swordfish down to component parts then reassemble it rigged for flight. He had a soft spot for them despite loving the Corsair and so do I. Thanks.

A must read; "TO WAR IN A STRINGBAG" by Commander C.B. Lamb. He flew Swordfishes throughout the war including the raid on Taranto. An interesting note, he notes that the plane was called a String Bag, not because of all the exposed wires and things, but because it carried everything from bicycles to torpedoes to mines, rather like the string bags that little old ladies carried when they went to the shops.

This was fascinating. One of my neighbours is the son of Lieutenant Commander Stewart-Moore, a Swordfish pilot and commanding officer of 820 Squadron. "The Commander" as he was simply known was a legendary figure in these parts parts and highly respected. During the attack on the Bismark the Swordfish had to fly through a storm of anti-aircraft fire, with typical British understatement The Commander said " the run-in was alarming". Good to see the aircraft he flew.

@MilitaryAviationHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Wow, small world!

@canthi109

2 жыл бұрын

When the ´´Terror of 7 seas can shoot down some *biplane boi* ´´

One cool thing about the wing support wires is that they are solid with a knife edge profile for 'aerodynamics'. 😁 I love that. The Swordfish is an absolute legend for us Brits, it personifies the, admittedly clichéd, wartime spirit. It also embarrassed it's replacements the Albacore and Barracuda. Good old girl.

@RMJTOOLS

2 жыл бұрын

And notice the stick attached to those support wires. They are to prevent buzzing.

The Swordfish was well suited to operate from the small escort carriers, and being well out in the Atlantic, well away from any modern land based fighters. This is also why the Wildcat was still used on the escort carriers right to the end of the war. The Hellcat was just too large and fast to safely fly off the small escort carriers.

In 1964 I was chatting with my boss and he revealed that, as a Swordfish navigator on a training flight, he had lost one year's seniority when he dropped his Very pistol through one of the removeable apertures in the cockpit bottom. I think he said there was a removeable bombsight. The pistol went through a Welsh farmer's roof, he complained to the Navy and my boss was traced through the serial number of the pistol. Lots of hazards in the "Stringbag"!!

18:24 Isn't it Drach's clone loading a torpedo there?

@feedingravens

2 жыл бұрын

Lol

@Drachinifel

2 жыл бұрын

I admit nothing :D

@feedingravens

2 жыл бұрын

@@Drachinifel Come on, I like planes (and model airplanes), ships, esp. wooden ships, and in principle everything that moves - so why shouldn't you? And that is a carrier-based plane, a plane on board a plane that has a boat on board, how can it get better? Hmmm - there were huge lifeboats carried by bombers like the Avro Lancaster, maybe something worth covering?

@jeffreytam7684

2 жыл бұрын

I was positive it was Drach in the thumbnail, but I guess not!

Woah a Stringbag in flying condition. Very cool video Biz! Thanks!

The swordfish is like your oldest friend. You wonder why you still keep him around, but then he comes in clutch at all the right moments

Even the low, slow, Stringbags apparently needed some additional help at Taranto to stop their torpedoes from striking the harbour's bottom and destroying themselves after release. The torps were fitted with custom designed wooden "Sabots" to provide additional lift immediately after entering the water. So, really a "triplane" weapons system ?

@davecoz4227

2 жыл бұрын

A modification the Japanese took note of.

Biz goes to see a Swordfish. Atlantic moment.

This aircraft participated in the raid on Taranto which senior Japanese officials took inspiration for the torpedo depth since Pearl Harbor was very shallow in depth this was for the upcoming attack on the Pearl Harbor United States naval base in 1941. The Swordfish did had an influence Icon A5 a modern seaplane specially with the wings fold back with main difference being that wings on swordfish fold horizontally and parasol wings of the A5 fold vertically to save space on a specially designed trailer or a garage.

You are great. When you and Drach work together it’s the best Anglo-German double-act since Albert and Victoria! 👍👍👍👍👍

It is a very interesting aircraft, I've read through some stories of them at RAF Bircham Newton In coastal command use, The Fleet Air Arm loaned some squadrons to Bircham Newton, for the active use in mine-laying operations of the coast of Denmark, Around Heligoland, in the Wadden sea area, Later around the Frisian islands, a lot of these took place during the fighting in Norway In 1940. according to reports and diary's that I've read in the museum, The minelaying operations were abysmal, I'm not sure what sort but it was a Magnetic mine they attached to the aircraft in the reports but all I know it was large and very un-aerodynamic, decreasing the aircrafts speed and stability, where the Navigator was suppose to sit they placed a Large Petrol tank which stuck up between the pilot and the aft cockpit The Navigator had to sit with his legs Underneath the massive petrol tank basically pinning him in, so if the plane was attacked and it was hit, he would be drowned in petrol and if it caught fire immediately cooked. A quote from a pilot who flew on such a mine laying mission said the aircraft was "Outrageously overloaded" and that "Carrying a mine which would leave nothing to pick up if it exploded and carrying a truck load of fuel to give it the thousand-mile range, it’s speed such that the worst anti-aircraft gunner or search light operator could hardly miss it. Its only protection against fighters was, the fact that it was too slow for them to stay with it and shoot at it" I think there's a dairy entry somewhere in the museum stating that one aircraft was so dangerously overloaded they had to remove all defensive weaponry and all ammunition from the aircraft to fit the mine and carry the extra fuel. Also being in an open cockpit cramped and extremely noisy they would hardly be able to communicate with each other for 10 hour stretches at a time, very long, very cold, very dangerous mine-laying operations those guys who went on them, Maximum respect it certainly took a lot of courage, and the swordfish carried them through it all!

@TheDkeeler

2 жыл бұрын

Sounds so miserable and dangerous. Hope they had some success.

@timwalker5843

2 жыл бұрын

I remember a story that the fuel tank would spray fuel through the breather tube at the top of the tank during take off. The RAF grounded the aircraft until they could work out a fix - the navy solution was to insert a cork into the end of the breather tube which had a string attached so that the navigator could pull it out when the aircraft had leveled out.

@Kilo12117

2 жыл бұрын

@@timwalker5843 I've never heard that one but that is mad haha

Check out Navy Wings here: bit.ly/NWBrand_Join For the morse code, click 'read more' Morse code was *supposed* to be: '4 A' - the id of the plane. Sadly I messed up the letter, making a '_.' out of '._' so now it's '4 N' Yaaaay.....

@toveychurchill6468

2 жыл бұрын

As the result of this mistake, your biscuit ration will be misdirected to another aircraft, leaving you with no biscuits on board the swordfish.

@Tuning3434

2 жыл бұрын

@@toveychurchill6468 and obviously, the Irn Bru rations will be distributed over the both Alexander's.

Guys flying these must be crazy brave. As somebody whose granddad was Polish paratrooper during WWII, and knew couple guys from that service and era, they were crazy brave, and they were "only" jumping from the airplane on a ground. These pilots flew in every possible weather, over freezing-cold sea, in slow, almost unarmed and unarmoured airplane, to deliver torpedo nice and low when every weapon is shooting at them. As my granddad said "We just never thought about that. We went over because it was necessary. Somebody must to do that". I have no doubt some of them were afraid but they went despite of that. I have nothing but respect for these guys.

My grandfather was a CPO on the Ark Royal in WW2 and I remember him talking about how he got to fly a couple of times in a swordfish as an observer. He said they were a brilliant aircraft, slow and robust which made them a good torpedo plane.

Great video as always. The adaptability of this aircraft has always fascinated me. Outlasting its replacement and being one of only a handful of aircraft flying in frontline service from the first day of the war in Europe to the last. In early 1945, no fewer than nine squadrons operated Swordfish in frontline ASW service.

I think we've all been waiting for this episode.

The most underrated aircraft in WW2. Thanks for doing this. Impressed this is still a flyer

@mpetersen6

2 жыл бұрын

Actually I think I'd pick the Beaufighter. During the Channel Dash the Swordfish really showed its age and vulnerability. The Swordfish did perform extremely valuable service in the Convoy Escort role flying off of the small carriers. Plus the two brilliant moments being the attack on the Italian Anchorage at Taranto. And crippling Bismarcks steering gear.

@fulcrum2951

2 жыл бұрын

I dont think its underrated since many knows about it

@johnburns4017

2 жыл бұрын

@@mpetersen6 The Swordfish was the wrong plane to attack the German ships in the Channel Dash.

@DarrylAdams

2 жыл бұрын

@@johnburns4017 the Swordfish had one thing I love, it was so slow German AA could not track it properly...

@hernerweisenberg7052

2 жыл бұрын

@@DarrylAdams Thats due to untrained guncrews, not the planes speed. During Operation Cerberus for example, the more experienced AA gunners of Scharnhorst and Gneisenau had no problems shooting down allied aircraft, including Swordfishs.

I've been waiting for this one, yesss.

Currently reading John Moffat's book, so came to view this, thank you for the great insight into this historic machine. Subscribed.

I had the Airfix model of this when I was a kid. Then, to my great delight, I later I saw the real thing. Quite a day to remember. During the Battle of Narvik, which included HMS Warspite, a Swordfish was used as a dive bomber.

@gwtpictgwtpict4214

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, Warspites spotter aircraft, sank U-64.

@RMJTOOLS

2 жыл бұрын

I have that kit in my stash. Also picked up the later model on floats. Really need to break them out and do a build.

@bigblue6917

2 жыл бұрын

@@RMJTOOLS An aircraft that definatelly has its place in history

Thank you!! This is the first time I have seen one of these up close and personal. They look so fragile in the old films going up against a carrier.

Superb video! Thanks for the detail shots as that will always come in handy during a model build.

Nice. Been looking forward to this one. Thanks Chris!

Thank you, Chris - another excellent video that gives a true flavour of what the crews (air & ground) went through.

Glad to see this aircraft show-cased. Great presentation. Thank you!

An excellent and very informative video. Lovely to see RNAS Yeovilton again. An iconic aircraft that was an anachronism even before it went into service. Loved by its crews, a steady, reliable workhorse. Known as the 'string bag' not because of all the wires holding it together, but after the popular shopping bag made like a net, which could adapt itself to carry just about anything. There are a lot of myths about this aircraft, some of them true. But it served well in most theatres of the war and outlived its successor. Thank you for doing this video, I have been waiting for it and it did not disappoint.

Brilliant video. Love the Swordfish. Great looking plane with a great history behind it. I remember seeing my first one fly over head back in the late 1960's/70's when Goodwood airfield used to have a yearly air show. I was so taken by the sight of this vintage aeroplane with it's torpedo under it's belly. Absolutely Awesome!

I remembered my older built one of these as a kitset when I was a lot younger and it got me hooked on building Ww2 and military aircraft ❤

So nice to see a thoroughly researched dive into the peculiarities of this aircraft. Your efforts to be accurate and clear are much appreciated!

This is what I love about this channel, it's not only the "hot-rod" fighters that get attention, but everything cool, interesting and facinating with wings! :D

In the early 1970s I lived at Witham Friary, east of Yeovilton. This kite often flew over the village. A great favourite.

Superb video. My great uncle flew one of these. It was fascinating to take a look at his "office" and learn more about the aircraft.

"By gut feeling you launch a fish and hopefully scoring a hit on a rudder or something else." Well said Christoph ;-)!

If you read "to war in a stringbag" you will see that mining enemy channels at night was the role they performed extraordinarily well.

Thanks for this, this is one of my favorite aircraft of the war, and I'm astonished at how versatile the Swordfish was-- I have read many comments about how obsolete the platform was going in to WW2.. yet it seems like the designers were very creative and put some thought into every configuration the Swordfish could fly with.

What a beautiful airframe, thank you for sharing.

"The gun was the only heated thing in this plane, so it wouldn't freeze on those long arctic convoys" Man, I'm not sure there's any amount of coercion short of shooting me that would get me to stand in the back of an open cockpit biplane flying in the arctic circle

Excellent video . My father flew as a TAG in WW2 . He never really said much about it and to be honest I never really asked , but he was obviously very fond of the 'Stringbag' . He always said he flew backwards into war

I was looking forward to this video as well. Thank you.

This makes History 'come alive'. Have you ever thought about approaching model kit makers to sponsor you. Can you imagine somebody building a kit of this, then having you giving a 'walk around' followed by a short piece about some of it's more significant actions?

What can you say. Just outstanding ! I didn't know about Navy Wings either, so that was a great intro as well

Greetings from Brazil! I’m a fan of your show. Congratulations for the high quality video and info.

Finally someone having fun with decent banking angles! (measured 45 degrees)

You da best ever Chris!!! The greatest historian of airplanes in the history of the earth!!!! The 🐐!!!!

Its such a paradox, the Fairy Swordfish. Its old, yet has some ingenuity its slow, but very deadly it's light, but carries a healthy mass Great video, thanks a lot!

Not just looking at one, but a flying one ... amazing. Thank you for bringing this look at this renowned aircraft. Edited edit: guess it was a previously hidden video, which explains why it showed up just now.

@maciek_k.cichon

2 жыл бұрын

On the Navy Wings yt channel there's a documentary about the restoration of that bird

@Farweasel

2 жыл бұрын

Shuttleworth Collection (Old Warden Airfield, Shuttleworth near Bedford, Bedfordshire) have a flying 'String Bag' (I thank my late Dad (exRAF) for knowing that moniker) too. In September it was getting some very thorough maintainence, but It should be back when the displays kick off in Spring '22. A few years back, my wife was chatting to one of its fitters (he was married to her mate, another Nurse who worked with her). She was intrigued and pestering him all about it (she's flown Gliders a few times & has better than half a clue). It kind of killed the conversation when finally she asked 'You're so lucky. Do you get to fly in it too checking things are OK etc'.. 'They don't have enough staff to get me strapped into that old thing if its going to leave the ground', was the somewhat laconic reply. A pause followed by, 'I'm lighter than you 'though. Could you...'. 'NO'.

What a great video! Thank you MAH!

Loving the amount of detail and quality information you pack into these videos, mate. Please keep it up!

Gorgeous plane. I love this old tech, I almost feel like I could make this at home!

chris,s head is so full of information..well done mate loved this one and the sea fury was great to.keep up the good work...

Wooooo - this is very cool! Thanks so much Chris :)

How much I love that plane!

This plane was the first model aeroplane that I really liked building and enjoyed looking at during my contemplative leisure time.

Excellent perspective on the “Stringbag”

I find the Swordfish a very interesting airplane. Although at first glance it appeared an outmoded aircraft it was very cleverly used . Thanks to the command of the Fleet air arm that valued with sense its potential and of course the bravery of the pilots proved to be a very useful plane. In the history of aviation there are some examples that show how a clever view could give an amazing result for an airplane which isn't specially 'advanced technically'

@Gentleman...Driver

2 жыл бұрын

Well, of course it is known from the major successes it had, like the role in sinking the Bismarck. But this plane was often shot down and many crews died over the oceans. To me it was more used from desperation as from anything else. They didnt had other aircraft available for that sort of task, so they used that assett as best as they could. It makes the crews even more respectable, because they knew they were a sitting duck.

Great job! Real Swordfish history long overdue.

I Loved every minute of this. Thank you

Fantastic video and really informative and enjoyable. Thanks!

Your channel is by far my favourite documentary videos of historic and military aircraft from many different countries. You always seem to have a lot of research into your subjects - you don’t appear to have recourse to notes while filming. I have visited the Navy air Arm Museum near Yeovil, there is a lot of very interesting display material, and some rather good active experiences such as the aircraft carrier. You would need a full day to explore the entire museum and yes, it is a working airfield.

Fascinating - I had no idea there were so many features on the old Stringbag!

Brilliant video! Thanks

Brilliant piece of kit the old Stringbag.......love the work.....keep it up chap.

looking forward to the stuka book! great content

Thanks for the video!

Another excellent one. Thanks!

Great presentation - really enjoyed it!

Amazing walk around

Good video. I have been curious about the Swordfish ever since I learned about its role in sinking the Bismark.

Amazing that an aircraft that has always looked to me that it was constructed from spare parts of a variety of others played such an important role. Antiquated in appearance perhaps a leftover from WW1 it went on to cripple the most fearsome of enemy ships. The bravery of those that flew her is beyond praise...

One of my favorite bits of Swordfish trivia is that they spend time and effort to build fully enclosed cockpits for all of the planes to use in adverse conditions, as far as it is known, none of them were ever used ...

@None-zc5vg

2 жыл бұрын

The 'Mark 4' was used for training in Canada and was fitted with glazing for the rear-cockpit.

Dude. You kick ass. Your channel is great. Keep it up!

@MilitaryAviationHistory

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

JUST AMAZING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!from México city I just bought a scale swordfish model kit and this is the third time I watch your incredible video congratulations

Thank you for an excellent presentation.

Excellent stuff bro

Underrated KZreadr.

Great video!

Man, how complicated it is to just start the engine. Thanks for this great video.

I love the Stringbag. Thanks for sharing, appreciate it a LOT! Greets from the Netherlands 🌷, T.

The Swordfish was one of four British aircraft in first line service in 1939 that were still in first-line service at the end of the war. It outlasted its replacement and in many ways outperformed the Avenger, performing its tasks under appalling conditions that no other airplane could have operated in. It fully deserves its status as one of the truly legendary aircraft of the Second World War.

Great walk around !

What a beautiful plane. Can't wait to build my Tamiya kit

Thank you, great presentation.

Fantastic vid, thanks.

keep up the good work much appreciated

Video title is wrong, should be. "Inside the cockpit of the greatest plane ever made Feirey Swordfish."

I am always surprised by how large an aircraft the Swordfish is

@kidmohair8151

2 жыл бұрын

I love them. Thank you for this up close and personal look!

@user-qq2vq4fv8b

Жыл бұрын

Check out the Firefly. It is massive.

i am so excited to see you cover this one too....what a famous airplane

@earlyriser8998

2 жыл бұрын

i was not disappointed well done! thanks Navy Wings

Another great video!

I think this is the first time I've actually seen what a 'catapult spool' looks like and where it is installed.

Great video about a fascinating airplane!

32:35 - Aircraft Spotting and Recognition Demonstration brought to you by MAH 🙂 Enjoyed this. I've always been interested in the Swordfish.