From: "patterson,george r" <patter@dasher.cc.bellcore.com>
Subject: Re: Worst Allied WW2 Fighters
Organization: Bellcore, Livingston, NJ
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 17:31:22 GMT


From "patterson,george r" <patter@dasher.cc.bellcore.com>

In article <BzM9tw.M9q@law7.DaytonOH.NCR.COM> ntaib@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Iskandar Taib) writes:

>The Gladiator did sterling service in the defence of Malta. Three
>Gladiators held off the Italian and German airforces until the RAF
>managed to relieve them with Spitfires. Does anyone know if they 
>were finally shot down? 

Yes, they were shot down (or up). They started the fight in June, 1940
with four. Early on, they set one aside as a source of parts. That left
three, who became known as "Faith", "Hope", and "Charity". They actually
didn't shoot down a lot of aircraft (though they are known to have nailed
at least 8 before losing one of their own), but their attacks on the bombers
prevented the bombers from doing much damage. On 16 July, Peter Keeble was
shot down and killed in one.

When the original engines on the remaining two wore out shortly thereafter,
Mercury engines intended as spares for Blenheim bombers were adapted to fit
(*not* a trivial task). Additional guns were also mounted on the top wing
of one of the planes.

In late August, the first flight of twelve modern fighters got there
(Hurricanes, not Spits). By October, only four Hurries and one Gladiator
were still flying. In November, another ferry attempt was made, but only
four of the twelve Hurricanes sent this time made it (along with their
Blackburn Skua guide plane). By February 28, the last one had been
destroyed on the ground, and every other aircraft on Malta was
unserviceable.

Reference - "Red Duster, White Ensign", by Ian Cameron.

>
>Remember that other great Biplane of the second world war: the Fairey
>Swordfish. Slow, but did it fare any better than the US Avengers early
>in the war? 

Early in the war it did quite well. The pilots joked that the flak couldn't
hit them 'cause the range finders on the 88s didn't have a speed setting
low enough. This may actually have been true.

It was a Swordfish that put a torpedo into Bismark's rudders and made it
possible for the fleet to catch her. The raid on the Italian fleet in
Taranto harbor on 11 November, 1940 was highly successfull and generally
regarded as the inspiration for the Pearl Harbor attack. Attempts to do
similar raids in daylight didn't fair so well, however. The defense method
used if attacked by fighters was to slow the aircraft down to a near stall
(the attacking fighter *would* stall).

The Swordfish was the only British aircraft which was in service when the
war started and still in service when it ended. In all honesty, this was
primarily due to the fact that they could never get the engines on the
Fairey Albacore (which was to replace the Swordfish) to run properly.

Reference - "To War in a Stringbag", Charles Lamb

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                    | The Swordfish relies on her "Peggy".
George Patterson -  | The modified Taurus ain't sound.
                    | So the Swordfish flies off on her missions,
                    | And the Albacore stays on the ground.
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