Fairey Albacore
The Fairey Albacore was a British single-engine biplane torpedo bomber designed and produced by Fairey Aviation for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm during the Second World War. It was designed to replace the Fairey Swordfish, improving on it with an enclosed, heated cabin, a more powerful Bristol Taurus engine and hydraulically actuated flaps, and it served widely in the Mediterranean, at Cape Matapan, over Malta and North Africa, and against the Tirpitz. Fairey built 800 Albacores between 1939 and 1943, but the type was withdrawn from frontline service in 1944, a year before the Swordfish it was meant to succeed, and only one composite example survives, at the Fleet Air Arm Museum.
Why It Mattered
The Albacore was the Fleet Air Arm's intended successor to the Fairey Swordfish, designed to replace the older biplane as the Royal Navy's torpedo-spotter-reconnaissance aircraft. At its height, fifteen first-line Fleet Air Arm squadrons flew the Albacore, and the type was much used in the Mediterranean. Yet the replacement never displaced the original: the Albacore served alongside the Swordfish and was withdrawn from frontline service in 1944, one year before the Swordfish it had been built to succeed. Crews knew the aircraft by the nickname "Applecore".
Design Notes
Fairey designed the Albacore to Air Ministry Specification S.41/36 as a three-seat aircraft for spotting and reconnaissance as well as level, dive and torpedo bombing. Where the Swordfish had open cockpits, the Albacore gave its three crew a comfortable enclosed and heated cabin. A single Bristol Taurus radial drove a constant-speed propeller: the 1,065 hp Taurus II in the early aircraft, and the more powerful 1,130 hp Taurus XII in production machines. Its large flaps were hydraulically actuated and could also act as air brakes in a dive, and its equal-span wings folded for stowage aboard carriers. Its main armament was a single 1,670 lb torpedo or up to 2,000 lb of bombs, with one or two Vickers K machine guns in the rear cockpit for defence. Fairey built all 800 Albacores, including the two prototypes, at its Hayes factory, and production ran from 1939 to 1943.
Operational History
The Albacore entered service with No. 826 Squadron in March 1940, flying its first operations from shore bases against harbours and shipping in the English Channel. Carrier operations began in November 1940, when HMS Formidable's 826 and 829 Squadrons first took the type to sea. At the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941, Albacore torpedo attacks inflicted severe damage on the Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto. Albacores took a prominent part in the ill-fated raid on Kirkenes and Petsamo in July 1941, and in March 1942 twelve aircraft from HMS Victorious attacked the Tirpitz near Narvik, but the attack failed for the loss of two aircraft. From Malta, No. 828 Squadron operated Albacores against Italian shipping through the siege of the island, while in North Africa the type dropped flares to mark targets for RAF night bombers at El Alamein. Albacores also supported the landings at Sicily and Salerno in 1943. During 1943 the newer Fairey Barracuda replaced the Albacore in Fleet Air Arm service, and the final FAA Albacore squadron was disbanded late that year. The Royal Canadian Air Force took over Albacores and flew them during the Normandy invasion, in a similar anti-shipping role until July 1944.
Afterlife
The Albacore was withdrawn from frontline service in 1944, one year before the Swordfish it had been designed to replace. For the Royal Canadian Air Force, which flew the type until July 1944, the Albacore was the last biplane it used in combat. In early 1945, No. 119 Squadron RAF disposed of its Albacores in favour of radar-equipped Swordfish Mk IIIs, so the intended replacement ended its service by yielding to the aircraft it was built to supersede. Only one Albacore is known to survive, a composite built from parts of N4389 and N4172 recovered from crash sites, on display at the Fleet Air Arm Museum.