NAVY NEWS, NOVEMBER 2010
1. Rudder 2. Tail navigation light 3. Elevator control horn 4. Starboard elevator 5. Tailplane rib structure 6. Tailplane bracing wires 7. Lower bracing strut 8. Castoring tailwheel 9. Fin rib structure
insideTHE F
10. Starboard tailplane, fabric-covered tail surfaces 11. Aerial cable 12. Fuselage upper decking, fabric covered with wooden support structure. 13. Primary fuselage structure (steel tubing) 14. Arrester hook 15. Arrester-hook stowage 16. Tailplane control-cable fairleads 17. Gun stowage 18. .303in Lewis Gun 19. Gun elevating and swivelling mounting 20. Telegraphist Air Gunner 21. Compass mounting points 22. Radio installation 23. Adjustable ballast weights 24. Upper folding wing panel rib structure 25. Aileron hinge control linkage 26. Fixed aileron tab, ground adjustable 27. Starboard upper aileron 28. Starboard navigation light 29. Aileron interconnection 30. Starboard lower aileron 31. Starboard lower folding wing panel 32. Rolled steel wing spars 33. Wing-panel internal wire bracing 34. Light alloy rib structure 35. Diagonal bracing wires 36. Interplane struts 37. Smoke float 38. Anti-shipping flare 39. Depth charge 40. 60lb rocket 41. Rocket-launch rails 42. Lower wing skin panelling (fabric on Mk I, light alloy on Mk II) 43. Lifting and flying wire bracing 44. Rear spar wing-fold hinge joint 45. Lower stub wing 46. Inverted V-strut stub wing bracing 47. Cockpit decking 48. Wing leading-edge riblets 49. Centre cockpit for navigator/bomb aimer (not occupied for torpedo missions) 50. Upper wing panel rear spar hinge joint 51. Fixed Vickers 0.303in machine-gun 52. Headrest 53. Pilot’s cockpit and windscreen 54. Lifting cable 55. Trim-control handwheel 56. Fixed upper wing panel centre section (light alloy structure and skinning) 57. Port wing fold-spar hinge joint 58. Fixed trailing-edge ribs 59. Port upper aileron 60. Port navigation light 61. Port leading edge slat 62. Pitot head 63. Port folding lower wing panel 64. Landing light 65. Port wing rocket installation 66. Diagonal bracing wires 67. Centre-section interplane struts 68. Torpedo sighting bars 69. Machine-gun barrel 70. Main fuel tank 71. Ventral bomb-aiming hatch 72. Wing-fold mechanism, front spar latch 73. Main undercarriage shock-absorber strut 74. Starboard mainwheel 75. 250lb high-explosive bomb 76. 18in, 1,610lb torpedo 77. Boarding step 78. Main undercarriage hinged V-strut legs 79. Forward fuselage, light-alloy detachable skin panels 80. Oil radiator 81. Oil tank 82. Generator cooling air ducts 83. Firewall 84. Engine accessory equipment 85. Engine bearer struts 86. Three-segment engine cowlings 87. Exhaust stub 88. Port mainwheel 89. Bristol Pegasus IIIM, nine-cylinder, 690hp radial engine in Swordfish Mk I (750hp Pegasus XXX in Mark II) 90. Cowling Townend ring exhaust collector 91. Propeller reduction gear case 92. Fairey-Reed fixed-pitch metal propeller 93. Propeller spinner
THERE are two things which surprise
you about a Fairey Swordfi sh. One is its size. It is a big beast. It is taller,
longer, wider and heavier than a Spitfire... and, to be honest, it possesses none of the fabled fighter’s sleek, graceful lines.
The other is the noise. If you’re expecting a
purr, or even a pleasant drone, akin to a Merlin, forget it. The sound of a Bristol Pegasus at full throttle is more of a roar.
Noise and power do not necessarily equate to speed. The Swordfish lumbers into the air,
seemingly so slowly that you could all but grab it with both hands and pull it back to earth. And yet each minute it lurches through the Somerset skies, it is a spellbinding sight. Between 1935 and 1943, the factories of first the Fairey Aviation Company, then, under licence, the Blackburn Aircraft Company, delivered more than 2,400 Swordfishes. Today there are fewer than ten left in the world and only one in Britain is airworthy: LS326, part of the Royal Navy Historic Flight.
LS326 is one of the later Swordfish, serving
on North Atlantic convoy duties before reverting to a training role. She sank the Bismarck (in the namesake film, admittedly) and has been part of the Fleet Air Arm’s historic display wing (since 1972, the RNHF) since 1960 when it was donated to the Navy by the Westland Aviation Company.
It is the longest-serving member of the collection and, as 2010 draws to a close, the only one of three Swordfish cared for by the Yeovilton-based flight fit to fly.
Indeed the skies of Britain have been devoid of the Navy’s trademark wartime torpedo-
bomber for seven years, when W5856 last flew; corrosion in steel spars on her wings forced her to remain on the ground. It was the same flaw which forced LS326 to bow out of the skies back in 1999. BAE Systems stepped in to replace the
aircraft’s wings; there are no spare part shops or Swordfish stores to fall back upon, so a replacement set of wings was hand-crafted over eight years.
Swordfish spent another two years on the ground as replacement parts were manufactured and the engine rebuilt (twice) before in mid-September 2010, ground runs proved successful.
on re
n ilt
By the summer of 2008, LS326 was ready to take to the skies again. And she did. Briefly. Engine problems curtailed flights and the
They were followed by five hours of ‘proving flights’ around Yeovilton before LS326 could be declared fit to appear at air shows; having overcome that hurdle, pilot – and RNHF Commanding Officer – Lt Cdr Mike Abbey and chief
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