FAIREY SWORDFISH MK.I

The Fairey Swordfish is a British single-engine, biplane, on-board torpedo and reconnaissance aircraft with fixed landing gear and mixed design from the Second World War. The flight of the prototype took place on March 31, 1933, and the production was carried out in the years 1936-1944. The first mass-produced version was the Swordfish Mk.I powered by the Bristol Pegasus III M3 engine with 690HP. Interestingly, this version was produced with both the traditional chassis and the hydroplane version. In 1943, a version of the ZOP (Mk. II) was created, with a more powerful engine and equipped with unguided missiles. At the end of the same year, the Mk.III also appeared, with the ASV Mk.X radar, intended for anti-submarine combat. In turn, the smallest version (Mk.IV) was manufactured in Canada and was used to train pilots of the local air force. In total, around 2,400 Swordfish aircraft of all versions were built. During World War II, despite the outdated design, the Fairey Swordfish turned out to be a very successful plane. It was these planes that performed, among others: a raid on the Italian fleet in Taranto in November 1940 and performed well as ZOP planes. Technical data (Mk.I version): length: 10.87 m, wingspan: 13.87 m, height: 3.76 m, maximum speed: 224 km / h, climb speed: 2.5 m / s, practical ceiling: 5850 m, range maximum: 880 km, armament: fixed - 3 machine guns caliber 7.7 mm, underslung torpedo weighing 760 kg.