There may be hope for me yet:
“(Captain ‘Alfie’) Sutton , who has died aged 96, was the last survivor of the 42 young naval airmen whose attack in 1940 on the Italian fleet at Taranto, southern Italy, altered the balance of power in the Mediterranean and changed the nature of naval warfare…”
Admiral “ABC” Cunningham was accused of parsimony in his praise for Taranto, but he described Sutton’s efforts in Greece and Crete – where he had lived for several weeks on a diet of gin and bully beef, developing the early symptoms of scurvy – as “an example of grand personal courage under the worst possible conditions which stands out brightly in the gloom”.
Not to compare, but I myself have survived for a time on bourbon, beef jerky and mild milk duds.
I don’t know that they make them like that anymore.
RTWT.
Stout hearts indeed.
Oh, and this attack on a port against battleships with torpedo’s was the beginning template another navy used for their attack the next year in early Dec.
HERO WHO CRIPPLED THE BISMARCK DIES AGED 93
Gunner Les Sayer: Courage
Saturday November 15,2008 By John Ingham
A HEROIC Second World War airman who took part in the raids to sink the German warship Bismarck has died aged 93.
Les Sayer flew in a 120mph part-fabric Swordfish biplane which crucially damaged the 50,000-ton vessel, the most feared in the world with eight 15-inch guns.
Mr Sayer was a telegraphist air gunner on the plane flown by Lieutenant Percy Gick when they found the warship in the North Atlantic in May 1941 after Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill had ordered: “Sink the Bismarck”. In a night attack, Gick and Gunner Sayer were the only Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm crew to score a torpedo hit.
Forty-eight hours later another Swordfish jammed Bismarck’s rudder and it was finished off by the Royal Navy.
Last night, Mr Sayer’s widow Valerie, of Wakes Colne, Essex, paid tribute to the former Barnardo’s boy, who died on November 1.
It was not something he would boast about Mr Sayer’s widow Valerie Mrs Sayer said: “It was not something he would boast about. He remembered dropping the torpedo and hitting the Bismarck, causing an oil leak. “But as they pulled away the Bismarck couldn’t hit them with her guns because they were so low, so they were putting shells into the water. One splash caused the fabric to split. So Les sat looking down at water.
Mr Sayer won the Distinguished Service Medal for the mission. After the war he spent more than 30 years in civil aviation and was awarded an MBE.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1085727/Hero-airman-helped-sink-Bismarck-warship-dies-aged-93.html
Personally, I prefer aggressive duds to mild duds. Worn a few in my time.
Highly recommend this book re the Swordfish:
http://www.amazon.com/War-Stringbag-Charles-Lamb/dp/0553136542
“Stringbag” indeed.
b2
Milk Duds, maybe?
RIP Captain Sutton.
…after a diet of beef jerky and bourbon, sometimes wearing a pair of comfortable jeans and a pair of loafers will keep you mellow enough to stroll down to the store and buy some yummy chocolate.
I could be very wrong but I think I read somewhere that toward the end of the war
they even managed to shoe-horn in a radar for the damn thing–anybody know
if this is true?
Virgil,
I think the author covers that in the book linked above: “To War in a Stringbag”. The radar was used for ASW as I remember!
This aircraft was the “Swiss Army Knife” of British Naval Aviation during WWII. We used to have one but we don’t now.
b2
The “Swiss Army Knife” equivalent of ours
to which you refer must be the old Douglass Skyraider series, n’cest pas?
Another Navy bird the AF appropriated
like my F-4. Lots of memories working
with AF Spads, Sandys and Hobos over Laos. Except for the guys who flew ‘em, half the young guys my age at the time didn’t even know they were originally a Navy bird!
Amazing tale about the Stringbag RADAR: http://www.uboat.net/allies/aircraft/swordfish.htm
http://www.uboat.net/allies/aircraft/photos/swordfish.jpg
“A Fairey Swordfish Mk.III with ASV Mk.XI radar between its wheel legs, dipole arrays on its wings struts, and rocket launching rails under the wings.”
&
“The Swordfish was extremely easy to fly and easy to land on a carrier deck, a quality that would become very important for night operations on the small decks of escort carriers. Although the Swordfish was stable around all axes, it could make remarkably short turns. It could also be dived vertically to very close to the sea surface, and then make an abrupt pull-out. Very little speed built up in the dive. Therefore the Swordfish was not necessarily an easy prey for a fighter, but it was during the long, slow and straight run that was required to launch a torpedo.”
&
“The Swordfish was now equipped with ASV radar and rocket projectiles for anti-submarine operations. The Swordfish Mk.II had wings with metal-skinned undersides and launching rails for eight 60lb rockets. The provision for a float undercarriage was deleted, and the more powerful Pegasus 30 engine installed. The Mk.III had ASV Mk.XI radar in a big radome between the landing gear legs. This radar had a range of about 40km against ships, and in good conditions also against U-boats; but it would detect a Schnorkel only in very calm seas and at distances below 8km. Some Mk.IIs and many Mk.IIIs became Mk.IVs when a cockpit canopy was installed.”
____________________________
http://www.vectorsite.net/avsword.html
“The Swordfish had been equipped with ASV radar as early as October 1940, to help it hunt down German U-boats cruising on the surface. Two months later, on 21 December 1941, a Swordfish operating from Gibraltar was the first aircraft to sink a submarine at night. A year and a half later, on 23 May 1943, a Swordfish was the first aircraft to prove the effectiveness of rockets in antisubmarine warfare when one Stringbag sunk the U-752 off the coast of Ireland, even though the U-boat put up a strong defense with its quadruple 20 millimeter flak guns.”
Re: Stringbags:
There is a wonderful piece of history in a book named “Red Duster, White Ensign”, 1959/60 by a Ian Cameron. It’s about three naval Sea Gladiators that defended Malta against the Italian airforce at the beginning of the war. The pilots named their planes, “Faith”, “Hope”, and “Charity”. (There were only 3, the 4th being held in reserve for parts). By some miracle they lasted a long time in this uneven fight. It’s the chapter titled “Malta”. I recomend it highly.
Woot! Swordfish! Slower than Devastators, and more deadly!
(to be fair, the Nips were tougher opponents than anybody from Yurrop)