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Post by shred on May 14, 2013 2:10:36 GMT -5
These were a bit of an oddity in the age of fast single engined monoplanes which the makers of the Bismark were to find to their cost. The Bismark's AA guns were designed to track sleek fast modern fighters like the Messerschmitt BF109, their traverse was too fast to track the slow Swordfish accurately. 692 Swordfishes were made by Fairey themselves, but some 1699 Swordfishes were built at the bigger Blackburn Factory in Sherburn in Elmet. The airfield now used by Sherburn Aero Club was at that time used as a ferry pool for the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) whose job it was to ferry these planes to Royal Navy air stations and the history of the ATA makes for fascinating reading. The Swordfish earned its reputation both in the Battle of Taranto and with the sinking of the Bismark.
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