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 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 delivering bombs and torpedoes. The Albacore, popularly known as the "Applecore", was conceived as a replacement for the aging Fairey Swordfish, which had entered service in 1936. However, the Albacore served with the Swordfish and was retired before it, being replaced by the monoplane Fairey Barracuda torpedo bomber.

Contents

Design and development

Operational history

Operators

Specifications (Albacore)

References

External links

Related content

Design and development

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. While the Albacore had a more powerful engine than the Swordfish, and was more aerodynamically refined, being fitted with an enclosed canopy for the three man crew, it was still a biplane, and so offered little performance advantage over the Swordfish, being outperformed by its foreign contemporaries such as the TBD Devastator or the Nakajima B5N. The first of two prototypes flew on December 12 1938 and production of the first batch of 98 aircraft began in 1939. Early Albacores were fitted with the Bristol Taurus II engine and those built later received the more powerful Taurus XII.
A total of 800 Albacores were built .

Operational history

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No. 826 Squadron FAA 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. Carrier-based squadrons began operating the Albacore in 1941. 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 that equipped the Swordfish . It remained less popular than the Swordfish, however, as it was less agile, with the controls being too heavy for a pilot to take effective evasive action after dropping a torpedo .
Eventually there were 15 FAA squadrons equipped with the plane which operated widely in the Mediterranean. Albacores participated in the Battle of Cape Matapan and the fighting at El Alamein as well as supporting the landings at Sicily and Salerno. During the period September 1941 to end of June 1943 No. 828 Squadron FAA, Hal-Far, Malta, operated a squadron of Albacores under some of the most severe blitz conditions imaginable during the siege of Malta, mainly against Italian shipping and shore targets in Sicily.
In 1943 the Albacore was progressively replaced in Fleet Air Arm service by the Barracuda. The last FAA Albacore squadron, No. 841, (which had been used for shore based attacks against shipping in the Channel for the whole of its career with the Albacore) , disbanded in late 1943. The Royal Canadian Air Force took over the Albacores and used them during the Normandy invasion, for a similar role until July 1944.

Operators

;Canada:

★ Royal Canadian Air Force
;:

★ Royal Air Force

★ Fleet Air Arm

Specifications (Albacore)

References

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★ Mason, Francis K. ''The British Bomber Since 1914''. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1994. ISBN 0-85177-861-5.

★ Thetford, Owen. ''British Naval Aircraft Since 1912'' (Fourth Edition). London: Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1994. ISBN 0-85177-861-5.

External links

★ 828 (TSR) Albacore Squadron Fleet Air Arm
One Fairey Albacore claimed to have shot down a Ju 87 in combat at Kirkenes in 1941, although this does not come clear from this article from the Fleet Air Arm Archive. It is said to be the only kill ever achieved by an Albacore. The Ju 87 was one of several returning to base in Kirkenes from a bomb raid at Murmansk and engaged in the combat against the Albacores almost by accident.

★ Fleet Air Arm Archive

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