- Yes
- No
Fairey Albacore TB.Mk I
Design and service history:
The origins of the often belittled Albacore can be traced to Air Ministry specification S.41/36, from early 1937, which requested a three-seat TSR (torpedo/spotter/reconnaissance) to replace the Fairey Swordfish with the Fleet Air Arm. The specification required that the aircraft should be capable of speeds between 58 and 183 knots while also carrying a single 18-inch Mark XIIA torpedo. Additional requirements included dual flight controls, a powered rear turret, incorporated soundproofing and heating, along with comprehensive facilities for observation and navigation.
To this end Fairy produced multiple designs, featuring both biplane and monowing designs, but the officials were fast to dismiss the monoplane designs, leaving Fairy to focus on the biplane configuration. The end result was a single bay, all-metal biplane, with a semi-monocoque design fuselage with split undercarriage. The airframe was fitted with a more powerful engine than the existing Swordfish, as it was powered by the Bristol Taurus II radial, capable of an output of 1,065 hp. This engine would go on to be further supplemented in the actual production aircraft by the even more powerful Taurus XII, capable of 1130 hp instead.
Not all improvements for the Albacore were hard statistics though, and as previously mentioned, she had quite a few at the time luxury crew amenities. The first was the aforementioned heated cockpit, which was fully enclosed to protect from the elements. The front windscreen possessed a window wiper for the pilot, along with a lavatory for those in flight bathroom emergencies. The Albacore also possessed an automatic liferaft deployment system. In terms of armament, the Albacore possessed a single fixed forward-firing M1919 Browning machine gun in the upper starboard wing, supplemented by a single or twin Vickers K machine gun mounted at the rear of the cockpit. The bomb load was also massively improved from the Swordfish, allowing the Albacore to carry up to 4 x 500lb bombs.
The wings of the Albacore, like alot of FAA aircraft, could be folded for more compact stowage. An interesting quirk though, is that these fabric covered wings possessed abnormally large flaps, which were hydraulically actuated. This allowed them to be used as air brakes during dive bombing missions, as they could remain extended into dives up to 215 knots (400 km/h) IAS irrespective of the positioning of the flaps. This allowed the aircraft to be both steady in a dive, and also easily recover.
With this design finalised, the first two prototypes would be flown on the 12th of December in 1938 and April 1939 respectively. These prototypes were not individual contracts and served as the first two aircraft of the first production batch of 100. Full production began, and the FAA was fast to give the aircraft a crash course, finding it capable of achieving the performance set out in the specification that led to its inception. There were a few complaints including that came were that the front of the cockpit suffered excessive heat in the summer months, along with the rear having cold and persistent drafts. The stall characteristics were also described as uncomfortable, along with the fact that the crew boarding procedure was a bit hazardous. The only major change asked was the upgrade of the Taurus II to the more powerful Taurus XII engine. I have seen people refer to this change from the first 100 production aircraft with the Taurus II to the remaining 700 with the Taurus XII as the Mk.I and Mk.II Albacore, but as you will see affixed for the front page of the pilots’ notes, there is only an Albacore I with no additional variants, as in service they were classified as the same aircraft, due to the small numbers of Taurus II-equipped aircraft.
With the improved engine, an additional 700 A total of 800 Albacores were build, all manufactured at Fairey’s Hayes factory, with production coming to an end in 1943 to make way for the Barracuda. At its height, the Albacore equipped 15 first-line FAA squadrons, with the type seeing action in the Battle of Cape Matapan, the Second Battle of El Alamein, and the landings at Sicily and Salerno. At this point people tend to mention how the Albacore was outlasted by the Swordfish in service, which is an often parroted claim, that is simply not true, and is much more complex then initially laid out. Firstly to set the actual dates of retirement, the Swordfish was officially retired on the 21st of May 1945, when 836 Naval Air Squadron was disbanded. The last unit to operate the Albacore was the Aden Communication Flight, which was using 17 aircraft until they were used from mid-1944 to when they were replaced in August of 1946.
In terms of performance, the Albacore was superior to the Swordfish in regards to STOL, ceiling, speed, range, ordnance loads and contrary to some reports, it was fitted with an ASV II radar. The reasons for its apparent shorter service life, was due to the capability of the Swordfish to be launched and land off the smaller escort carriers, as well as being able to cruise around a limited location for up to 5 hours, where it performed a role today done by ASW helicopters. This was combined with the fact that the Swordfish was mostly subcontracted out to Blackburn, whereas the Albacore was only manufactured by Fairey, meaning that when production shifted to the Barracuda, spare part production ceased. This meant that spare parts were available for the Swordfish, allowing it to be used in second line anti midget submarine operations into mid-1945.
Other people cite the performance of the Albacore was lacking as the reason the Swordfish outlived it, but again this is simply untrue based on contemporary reports. Its service in North Africa alone should disprove this, as they were dive bombing targets from 3000 feet at night illuminated only by parachute flare at 200 knots without nose planting into the desert. There are also reports that during landings, Pilots would try to beat each other by landing and stopping as close as possible to a cross on the runway. My only answer to this belief is the fact the Albacore was fitted with controls made artificially heavy so that pilots wouldn’t overstress the airframe, something that had caused the in-flight failure/scrapping of several Swordfish early in that plane’s career.
Some people sight losses as evidence of this, but if you look at the break down the only time the Albacore suffered what i would consider crippling losses was at Kirkenes and Petsamo in August of 1941, when they had to fly through a fjord and hilly terrain lined with Flakk, whilst also unescorted, so were being harried by the normal suspects at the time the bf-109 and the Me-110, you know the sort of situation that any of its peers would also have suffered similar losses. The Kirkness mission suffered 11 of the 20 planes lost, whilst only one of the 9 that attacked Petsamo was lost.
From this its not hard to conclude that the Albacore was a capable aircraft, regardless of initial production issues with the Taurus powerplant, that once rectified, created a respectable, if soon outdated aircraft, unlike its successor the justifiably ridiculed Barracuda. I hope this suggestion has cleared up many of the misconceptions regarding the Albacore that are floating around on the internet, as unfortunately, it has become a bit of a brushed aside footnote to big up a misconception regarding the service life of the Swordfish for meme potential, to what otherwise is a respectable early war carrier strike aircraft.
Aircraft Specification:
General characteristics
Crew: 2 (torpedo bomber) or 3 (reconnaissance mission)
Length: 40 ft 1+1⁄8 in (12.221 m) in tail-up rigging position
Wingspan: 50 ft 0 in (15.24 m)
Width: 17 ft 9 in (5.41 m) wings folded
Height: 12 ft 10+1⁄2 in (3.924 m) tail down, propeller tip down
Wing area: 623 sq ft (57.9 m2)
Empty weight: 7,250 lb (3,289 kg) torpedo bomber[b]
Gross weight: 10,460 lb (4,745 kg) torpedo bomber
Max takeoff weight: 12,830 lb (5,820 kg)
Powerplant: 1 × Bristol Taurus XII 14-cylinder sleeve-valve radial piston engine, 1,130 hp (840 kW) for take-off
Propellers: 3-bladed constant-speed propeller
Performance
Maximum speed: 172 mph (149 kn; 277 km/h) torpedo bomber at 4,500 ft (1,400 m)
Cruise speed: 142 mph (230 km/h, 120 kn) maximum
Stall speed: 54 mph (87 km/h, 47 kn) flaps down
Range: 710 mi (1,140 km, 620 nmi) with torpedo
Ferry range: 930 mi (1,500 km, 810 nmi)
Service ceiling: 18,800 ft (5,700 m)
Time to altitude: eight minutes to 6,000 ft (1,800 m)
Armament
Guns:
1 × fixed, forward-firing 0.303 in (7.7 mm) M1919 Browning machine gun in starboard wing
1 or 2 × 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers K machine guns in rear cockpit.
Bombs: 1 × 1,670 lb (760 kg) torpedo or 2,000 lb (910 kg) of bombs, the common bomb payload was 4 x 250lb or 6 × 100 lb.
Historical Photos:
Pilots’ notes page 1, showing the name of the Albacore with both engines as the Mk.I dismiss the false claim that the Taurus XII aircraft were referred to as the Albacore Mk.II:
Sources:
- Fairey Albacore (Source of detailed specification)
- Fairey Albacore - Wikipedia (Wiki for the type)
- Fairey Albacore | Classic Warbirds (additional history)
- Fairey Albacore (1940) (Additional history)