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Subject: Fairey Albacore
Date: 22 Jan 2017 08:13:17 -0800
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairey_Albacore
The Fairey Albacore was a British single-engine carrier-borne biplane torpedo
bomber built by Fairey Aviation between 1939 and 1943 for the Royal Navy Fleet
Air Arm and used during the Second World War. It had a three-man crew and was
designed for spotting and reconnaissance as well as level bombing, dive bombing
and as a torpedo bomber. The Albacore, popularly known as the "Applecore", was
conceived as a replacement for the ageing Fairey Swordfish, which had entered
service in 1936. The Albacore served with the Swordfish and was retired before
it, being replaced by the Fairey Barracuda and Grumman Avenger monoplane torpedo
bombers.
The Albacore prototypes were built to meet Specification S.41/36 for a
three-seat TSR (torpedo/spotter/reconnaissance) for the FAA to replace the
Swordfish. The Albacore was designated TBR (torpedo/bomber/reconnaissance) and
like the Swordfish, was fully capable of dive bombing:
"The Albacore was designed for diving at speeds up to 215 knots (400 km/h) IAS
with flaps either up or down, and it was certainly steady in a dive, recovery
being easy and smooth...
and the maximum under wing bomb load was 4 x 500 lb bombs. The Albacore had a
more powerful engine than the Swordfish and was more aerodynamically refined. It
offered the crew an enclosed and heated cockpit and the Albacore also had an
automatic liferaft ejection system that triggered in the event of the aircraft
ditching.
Role
Torpedo bomber
National origin
United Kingdom
Manufacturer
Fairey Aviation
First flight
12 December 1938
Introduction
1940
Retired
1944
Primary users
Royal Navy
Royal Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
Number built
800
No. 826 Naval Air Squadron was specially formed to operate the first Albacores
in March 1940, being used for attacks against harbours and shipping in the
English Channel, operating from shore bases and for convoy escort for the rest
of 1940. HMS Formidable's 826 and 829 Squadrons were the first to operate the
Albacore from a carrier, with operations starting in November 1940. Initially,
the Albacore suffered from reliability problems with the Taurus engine, although
these were later solved, so that the failure rate was no worse than the Pegasus
equipped Swordfish. The Albacore remained less popular than the Swordfish, as it
was less manoeuvrable, with the controls being too heavy for a pilot to take
much evasive action after dropping a torpedo.
The Royal Canadian Air Force took over the Albacores and used them during the
Normandy invasion, for a similar role until July 1944. The Albacore was the last
biplane to be used in combat by the RCAF.
Specifications (Albacore)
General characteristics
Crew: Three
Length: 39 ft 10 in (12.14 m)
Wingspan: 50 ft 0 in (15.24 m)
Height: 14 ft 2 in (4.62 m)
Empty weight: 7,250 lb (3,295 kg)
Loaded weight: 10,460 lb (4,755 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 12,600 lb (5,727 kg)
hp (1,130 hp) (794 kW (840 kw))
Performance
Maximum speed: 140 kn (161 mph, 259 km/h)
Cruise speed: 122 kn (140 mph, 225 km/h) (maximum cruise)
Stall speed: 47 kn (54 mph, 87 km/h) (flaps down)
Range: 817 nmi (930 mi, 1,497 km) (with torpedo)
Service ceiling: 20,700 ft (6,310 m)
Climb to 6000 ft 8 min
Armament
Guns:
*
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