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During the early years of World War II, fighter biplanes were used mainly on the periphery, but one combat biplane took part in some of the most important naval combat operations in the entire war and remained in active service until the war was over. It was the Royal Navy’s Fairly “Swordfish” torpedo bomber, universally known by the affectionate sobriquet of “Stringbag” because of its large number of bracing wires and for its resemblance to a British housewife’s utility “string bag” for carrying a variety of items.
***image1***The Swordfish was the direct result of the decision in 1918 to form an independent Royal Air Force and to fold in virtually all of the Royal Navy Air Service into the new RAF. The Royal Navy would be responsible for aircraft carriers, but the RAF would be responsible for buying the Navy’s aircraft and most of the crew training. The Royal Navy feared that buying modern naval aircraft would get short shrift as the RAF focused on land-based aircraft, especially strategic bombers, and that was exactly what happened.
The prototype Swordfish was completed in 1934 – at the end of the biplane era – but testing proceeded slowly and it did not enter service until late 1936. Manned by a crew of three – pilot, gunner/radio operator and observer – the Swordfish had a top speed of a little over 100 miles per hour and was obsolete by the time it was in full service. Its monoplane contemporaries were far superior – the much maligned American Douglas Devastator had a top speed of about 200 miles per hour and the Japanese Nakajima BSN 2 “Kate” had a top speed of over 235 miles per hour, and both had much greater range.
But when World War II began, the “Stringbag” was what the Royal Navy had and the old biplane quickly proved its mettle. Swordfish began attacks on Italian ships in the Mediterranean. Then, on the night of Nov. 11, 1940, 20 carrier-based Swordfish attacked the Italian battle fleet in Taranto harbor. Fighting their way through heavy antiaircraft fire, the Stringbags sank three battleships for the loss of two aircraft and scored a stunning, war-changing victory. The attack gave the British command of the Mediterranean for the rest of the war and gave the Japanese a model for their later attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Swordfish continued to be successful, aided by the fact that the Germans and Italians had no aircraft carriers, so the Swordfish generally operated without enemy fighter opposition. Another advantage, ironically, was its slow speed, which made it very easy to land and take off of carriers.
These advantages were evident in the Swordfish’s final victory, the attack on the legendary German battleship Bismarck in May 1941. Though the Royal Navy had trapped the Bismarck in the Atlantic, a series of mistakes had allowed the battleship to slip away and race for France and the safety of German air power. At dusk on May 26, in atrocious weather conditions, the Swordfish launched for a last desperate attack on the battleship and this final attack scored a torpedo hit that jammed the Bismarck’s rudder and left her circling helplessly, just out of range of German airpower, where she was sunk by British warships.
Unfortunately, this did not end Swordfish attacks on German capital ships. In 1942, six Swordfish were sent to England for night torpedo attacks, but a month later when a force of large German warships made a daylight dash from a French port through the English Channel, the Swordfish were thrown into the battle. Set upon by modern German fighters, all six were quickly shot down and 13 of the 18 crew members killed.
The Swordfish continued to be used for the rest of the war in an antisubmarine role flying off small escort carriers and participated in every major European landing operation, including D-Day. The Swordfish also had an impact on the American Army Air Force’s attempt to become a separate service after World War II. The U.S. Navy, seeing the Swordfish and afraid it would lose control of its air arm like the Royal Navy, opposed making the Air Force an independent service, leading to much acrimony before the Air Force became a separate service.
