MID-August, 1939, and the Fleet Air Arm, the flying arm of the Royal Navy, is carrying out manoeuvres in the Cromarty Firth; here, a Fairey Swordfish seaplane is being lowered from HMS Repulse.
This was an early model of the plane that many would come to describe as one of the unsung heroes of the war. The Fairey Swordfish itself had nearly a decade of distinguished naval service. At the outbreak of the Second World War, says the Fleet Air Arm Museum, 13 front-line squadrons were equipped with Swordfish, with another 12 following during the war years.
In its role as a torpedo bomber, it took part in many important events, from decimating the Italian fleet at Taranto in November 1940 and the crippling of the Bismark, the mighty German battleship, in May 1941. It also served on convoy escort and anti-submarine patrols.
The Bismark had sunk the Clydeside-built HMS Hood with the loss of 1,400 lives. Nine Fairey Swordfish torpedo-bombers took off from HMS Victorious and, managing to dodge the fire from Bismark’s anti-aircraft guns, scored a hit with their torpedoes and crippled the ship, which was later sunk.
Scots-born Lt Cdr John ‘Jock’ Moffat, who died in 2016, was the Swordfish pilot who was credited with launching the fateful torpedo. “The great thing about the Swordfish,” he once said, recalling the fire from the Bismark, “was that the bullets just went straight through. After all, it was only made of canvas. It was like David and Goliath.”
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