WOW474 Fairey Swordfish – Sink The Bismarck!

£847.00

Out of stock

Category: mothballed

Description

The Swordfish was a three seater aircraft utilised for a variety of roles by the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Nicknamed the ‘Stringbag’ the Swordfish was hopelessly outdated by the time WW2 started in 1939. However the aircraft enjoyed some notable successes against the Italian fleet at Taranto and the German Battleship Bismarck, in May 1941 after being spotted by the Royal Navy. Several sorties were made against the Bismarck by Swordfish aircraft. The Bismarck was unable to depress its guns low enough to hit the incoming Naval
aircraft.

At the same time it is also reported the Swordfish were flying too slow for the Bismarck’s fire control predictors to accurately predict the range of the incoming torpedo bombers!

The aircraft we are releasing is the Swordfish flown from HMS Ark Royal by pilot Sub-Lt. J. W. “Jock” Moffat of the Fleet Air Arm. Who is widely credited as being one of the Swordfish Pilots whose torpedo attack crippled the German battleship, the Bismarck. Swordfish from the Ark Royal attacked the Bismarck on May 26th 1941, taking off at 1910 hours, flying against driving rain, low clouds and a Force 9 gale, with failing light, they struck, at times flying in at 20 feet and just 90mph, the British torpedo bombers split their attack between Bismarck’s starboard and port beams. The Ark Royal’s strike managed another three hits, one on the stern which caused such damage to the rudder assembly that the Bismarck was essentially unable to maneuver, and could be caught by the chasing RN Capital ships and Cruisers.
The Bismarck was sunk on May 27th 1941 by the Royal Navy.

Not a single Swordfish was shot down in the attack against the Bismarck. The operation could have also been a disaster for the Ark Royal squadron, as prior to attacking the Bismarck, earlier in the day the squadron mistakenly attacked HMS Sheffield, only for many of the torpedoes to prove defective.Sadly for the Allies these exploits were not to be repeated when the RN attempted to intercept the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau during the Channel Dash. Lacking in Allied air cover, the six Swordfish sent to attack the German Capital ships, were all shot out of the sky by the Luftwaffe providing air cover for the operation. Nevertheless the Swordfish soldiered on in operational service until VE day, providing invaluable service in the anti submarine and various other roles.

The K&C figures and TG display mat and accessories are not included and are for display purposes only.

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