WOW404 Fairey Swordfish Taranto Version

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 Nicknamed the ‘Stringbag’ the Swordfish was hopelessly outdated by the time WW2 started in 1939.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!

Sadly 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.

Our latest 1/32 scale Swordfish measures approximately 43cm in width by 33cm in length is from 815 Naval Squadron and was flown by Commander K Williamson and LT N Scarlet, they were part of the carrier group based on HMS Illustrious in November 1940. This was the first Swordfish lost from the first attack wave at Taranto, shot down by AA fire from the battleship Conte Di Cavour, which had just been torpedoed.  The crew were rescued by Italian workers from the Italian Navy Arsenal and taken prisoner.

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