O
O.C.
Guest
It only seems logical now to follow the article up about the Spitfire by one about the Fleet Air Arm which I wrote about briefly in the Channel Dash
In Nelson's day the frigates were called the " eyes of the fleet." On them the admiral and his main force of great battleships of the line depended for news of the enemy, and a fleet without frigates was like a man wandering in the dark. Later, when the wooden walls gave place to armour-plate, cruisers took the place of frigates and served as the admiral's eyes, but during World War Two cruisers were used less and less for purposes of reconnaissance. That duty, to a great extent, had fallen to the Fleet Air Arm, were the pilots and aeroplanes of that fine force were the "eyes of the navy," and fulfilled the task undertaken by the frigates of Nelson's time.
WW2 battleships and cruisers always carried one or more machines of the Fleet Air Arm as part of their normal equipment. These machines were invariably seaplanes, for deck restriction on cruisers and battleships permitted no space for a running take-off, and they were either launched by being lowered on to the water by a crane, or they were shot into the air by a catapult like an arrow is shot from a bow. By this latter method the seaplane is given a preliminary flying speed of seventy miles an hour within the space of a few yards, and soars straight up into the air without touching the water. It is impossible for a seaplane to return direct to the catapult. So a machine, returning to the parent ship, must land on the water, from which it is lifted by crane to its position on board.
The main home of the Fleet Air Arm, however, is the great aircraft carriers. These huge, floating aerodromes, with their flying-decks stretching uninterruptedly from stem to stern, carried fifty or more machines, and in this case they are landplanes fitted with undercarriages, so that they can take off and return direct to the parent ship. Usually an aircraft carrier is provided with two different types of machine. First there are the Fleet Fighters whose duty it is to beat off bombers and other hostile aircraft which may attempt to attack the battle fleet. These fighters played a very important part in modern naval warfare as showed with the tragic loss of two great battleships, Prince of Wales and Repulse, off Malaya. These two ships were attacked by wave after wave of Japanese torpedo-carrying aircraft, and being without fighter protection, they had to depend entirely upon their antiaircraft guns to repel their assailants. Those unfortunately proved insufficient against the swarms of the enemy, and the two fine ships went down, whereas had there been a squadron or two of Fleet Fighters to attack the Japanese planes, and break up their formation, the Prince of Wales and the Repulse might still be floating proudly upon the surface of the sea.
The other type of aeroplane carried by an aircraft carrier is the Torpedo-Spotter-Reconnaissance machine. As the fighters are the defenders of the fleet, these torpedo-carrying planes are one of the weapons of attack, and because they were also used for reconnaissance they were, in actual truth, the " eyes of the navy."
A fleet at sea was usually preceded by some of these reconnaissance aircraft. The crew normally consists of three men, the pilot, a gunner who is also a wireless operator, and a navigator-observer, and as they fly ahead of the fleet, it was their duty to look out for enemy ships, and to report by wireless immediately they sighted any hostile craft. Then, when the engagement begins, they have to direct the gunfire of the battleships which may well be below the horizon when viewed from the surface, and so are unable to see the targets at which they are aiming. So it falls to the airmen in the spotter aircraft to watch the fall of the great naval shells, then reporting by wireless those which go over the target and those which fall short, and as these reports come in, the gunners on the distant battleships adjust the ranges of their guns, until at last a salvo makes a direct hit on an enemy ship, reducing it perhaps in one brief moment to smoking, blackened ruin.
But it is as bombers and torpedo carrying planes that the striking force of the Fleet Air Arm makes itself most dreaded by the enemy. Again and again in WW2 the men who manned those craft covered themselves with glory. At Taranto they crippled an Italian fleet. They left their mark on the mighty German battleship Bismarck before she sank battered by the British fleet from sea and air, and in the Battle of the Straits of Dover, when the Gneisenau and the Scharnhorst were escaping from Brest, they roared out across the sea to deliver their " tin fish," as the torpedoes are nicknamed. Alas, that so few of them returned! (Which I covered in The Channel Dash)
An attack upon a hostile ship by a flight of torpedo-carrying planes is an exciting and thrilling task, and one calling for magnificent courage and nerve. High up in the sky the pilots sight their quarry on the sea below, and make ready for the attack. Each aeroplane bears a single deadly missile, an 18-inch torpedo carrying a great charge of high explosive in its nose, and weighing the best part of a ton. This is slung between the wheels of the undercarriage, and at the crucial moment, the pilots thrust forward their sticks, the noses of the aeroplanes go down, and the next instant they are diving towards the target at a speed of two hundred miles an hour.
In this sort of attack the greater the number of planes engaged, within reason, the safer it is, for it causes the enemy to divide his fire, instead of enabling him to concentrate his whole battery of anti-aircraft guns upon one or two solitary planes. Safety and success, indeed, lies in numbers, and the difficulties of the enemy are increased still further if, as is usual, the attacking planes launch their assault from different angles, so that the bewildered foe finds himself being attacked from all sides. Still he does his best, filling the air with " flak," while the pilots in the attacking craft twist and turn their diving machines left right up down so as to present as difficult a target as possible to the gunners below. Thus the men of the Fleet Air Arm dive to the assault until they are perilously near the water. And now comes the trickiest part of the whole deadly affair. Released at too great a height the torpedo may burst open on contact with the water and some thousands of pounds of precious machinery would be wasted, held too long and the pilot and his plane may plunge into the ocean. Actually the correct height at which the torpedo should be released is about 25 feet above the water, and at the critical moment the pilot pulls back his stick and flattens out, and as his machine sinks towards the sea he sights on the target, and releases his " tin fish." Down it goes, and if all is well the torpedo will enter the water nose first at a slight angle, and thereafter, controlled by its rudders and driven forward by its diminutive engine, it will continue its journey alone towards the doomed ship.
Meanwhile the attackers have not been having matters all their own way. The fire of the enemy has been hot and often unpleasantly close, and as soon as the torpedoes have been released, the pilots pull back their sticks and opening out the throttles of their engines, they go zooming up into the air again pursued by more enemy " flak." If their aim has been good, however, their troubles would soon be over, for as they roar upwards out of range, they will suddenly see huge spouts of water shoot up against the side of the enemy, and with one or more great holes in the hull of their ship.
Sometimes the attack is made with bombs instead of torpedoes. Special aircraft, such as the Skua dive-bomber, were used for these assaults, and diving upon the enemy at speeds which reduce the chance of being hit to a minimum, the airmen released their bombs within a hundred feet or less of the target, and then zoomed up into the air again out of range.
One of the most difficult tasks of reconnaissance aircraft is that of shadowing enemy ships, and an epic example of this type of reconnaissance work was the chase of the Bismarck. When shadowing, the chief object of the pilot was to keep a watch upon the enemy, while he is himself unseen. To this end he makes use of every scrap of cover, such as banks of cloud, which will help to keep his presence unknown, for if he is detected the enemy may send up some fighters to drive him off. And to be driven off is the last thing the shadower desires, nor is he expected to engage in spectacular combats. His business is to shadow the enemy, and by means of his wireless to call up the ships of his own navy, until the hostile craft below can be brought to battle.
A difficult task and a monotonous one, that of the shadower, but how satisfied the airmen must feel when at last their ships appear upon the horizon, and they know that their patient work has resulted in bringing yet another enemy to a day of reckoning
First photo is the fast and formidable Blackburn "Skua" dive bomber
Second photo is the torpedo carrying Fairley Swordfish
In Nelson's day the frigates were called the " eyes of the fleet." On them the admiral and his main force of great battleships of the line depended for news of the enemy, and a fleet without frigates was like a man wandering in the dark. Later, when the wooden walls gave place to armour-plate, cruisers took the place of frigates and served as the admiral's eyes, but during World War Two cruisers were used less and less for purposes of reconnaissance. That duty, to a great extent, had fallen to the Fleet Air Arm, were the pilots and aeroplanes of that fine force were the "eyes of the navy," and fulfilled the task undertaken by the frigates of Nelson's time.
WW2 battleships and cruisers always carried one or more machines of the Fleet Air Arm as part of their normal equipment. These machines were invariably seaplanes, for deck restriction on cruisers and battleships permitted no space for a running take-off, and they were either launched by being lowered on to the water by a crane, or they were shot into the air by a catapult like an arrow is shot from a bow. By this latter method the seaplane is given a preliminary flying speed of seventy miles an hour within the space of a few yards, and soars straight up into the air without touching the water. It is impossible for a seaplane to return direct to the catapult. So a machine, returning to the parent ship, must land on the water, from which it is lifted by crane to its position on board.
The main home of the Fleet Air Arm, however, is the great aircraft carriers. These huge, floating aerodromes, with their flying-decks stretching uninterruptedly from stem to stern, carried fifty or more machines, and in this case they are landplanes fitted with undercarriages, so that they can take off and return direct to the parent ship. Usually an aircraft carrier is provided with two different types of machine. First there are the Fleet Fighters whose duty it is to beat off bombers and other hostile aircraft which may attempt to attack the battle fleet. These fighters played a very important part in modern naval warfare as showed with the tragic loss of two great battleships, Prince of Wales and Repulse, off Malaya. These two ships were attacked by wave after wave of Japanese torpedo-carrying aircraft, and being without fighter protection, they had to depend entirely upon their antiaircraft guns to repel their assailants. Those unfortunately proved insufficient against the swarms of the enemy, and the two fine ships went down, whereas had there been a squadron or two of Fleet Fighters to attack the Japanese planes, and break up their formation, the Prince of Wales and the Repulse might still be floating proudly upon the surface of the sea.
The other type of aeroplane carried by an aircraft carrier is the Torpedo-Spotter-Reconnaissance machine. As the fighters are the defenders of the fleet, these torpedo-carrying planes are one of the weapons of attack, and because they were also used for reconnaissance they were, in actual truth, the " eyes of the navy."
A fleet at sea was usually preceded by some of these reconnaissance aircraft. The crew normally consists of three men, the pilot, a gunner who is also a wireless operator, and a navigator-observer, and as they fly ahead of the fleet, it was their duty to look out for enemy ships, and to report by wireless immediately they sighted any hostile craft. Then, when the engagement begins, they have to direct the gunfire of the battleships which may well be below the horizon when viewed from the surface, and so are unable to see the targets at which they are aiming. So it falls to the airmen in the spotter aircraft to watch the fall of the great naval shells, then reporting by wireless those which go over the target and those which fall short, and as these reports come in, the gunners on the distant battleships adjust the ranges of their guns, until at last a salvo makes a direct hit on an enemy ship, reducing it perhaps in one brief moment to smoking, blackened ruin.
But it is as bombers and torpedo carrying planes that the striking force of the Fleet Air Arm makes itself most dreaded by the enemy. Again and again in WW2 the men who manned those craft covered themselves with glory. At Taranto they crippled an Italian fleet. They left their mark on the mighty German battleship Bismarck before she sank battered by the British fleet from sea and air, and in the Battle of the Straits of Dover, when the Gneisenau and the Scharnhorst were escaping from Brest, they roared out across the sea to deliver their " tin fish," as the torpedoes are nicknamed. Alas, that so few of them returned! (Which I covered in The Channel Dash)
An attack upon a hostile ship by a flight of torpedo-carrying planes is an exciting and thrilling task, and one calling for magnificent courage and nerve. High up in the sky the pilots sight their quarry on the sea below, and make ready for the attack. Each aeroplane bears a single deadly missile, an 18-inch torpedo carrying a great charge of high explosive in its nose, and weighing the best part of a ton. This is slung between the wheels of the undercarriage, and at the crucial moment, the pilots thrust forward their sticks, the noses of the aeroplanes go down, and the next instant they are diving towards the target at a speed of two hundred miles an hour.
In this sort of attack the greater the number of planes engaged, within reason, the safer it is, for it causes the enemy to divide his fire, instead of enabling him to concentrate his whole battery of anti-aircraft guns upon one or two solitary planes. Safety and success, indeed, lies in numbers, and the difficulties of the enemy are increased still further if, as is usual, the attacking planes launch their assault from different angles, so that the bewildered foe finds himself being attacked from all sides. Still he does his best, filling the air with " flak," while the pilots in the attacking craft twist and turn their diving machines left right up down so as to present as difficult a target as possible to the gunners below. Thus the men of the Fleet Air Arm dive to the assault until they are perilously near the water. And now comes the trickiest part of the whole deadly affair. Released at too great a height the torpedo may burst open on contact with the water and some thousands of pounds of precious machinery would be wasted, held too long and the pilot and his plane may plunge into the ocean. Actually the correct height at which the torpedo should be released is about 25 feet above the water, and at the critical moment the pilot pulls back his stick and flattens out, and as his machine sinks towards the sea he sights on the target, and releases his " tin fish." Down it goes, and if all is well the torpedo will enter the water nose first at a slight angle, and thereafter, controlled by its rudders and driven forward by its diminutive engine, it will continue its journey alone towards the doomed ship.
Meanwhile the attackers have not been having matters all their own way. The fire of the enemy has been hot and often unpleasantly close, and as soon as the torpedoes have been released, the pilots pull back their sticks and opening out the throttles of their engines, they go zooming up into the air again pursued by more enemy " flak." If their aim has been good, however, their troubles would soon be over, for as they roar upwards out of range, they will suddenly see huge spouts of water shoot up against the side of the enemy, and with one or more great holes in the hull of their ship.
Sometimes the attack is made with bombs instead of torpedoes. Special aircraft, such as the Skua dive-bomber, were used for these assaults, and diving upon the enemy at speeds which reduce the chance of being hit to a minimum, the airmen released their bombs within a hundred feet or less of the target, and then zoomed up into the air again out of range.
One of the most difficult tasks of reconnaissance aircraft is that of shadowing enemy ships, and an epic example of this type of reconnaissance work was the chase of the Bismarck. When shadowing, the chief object of the pilot was to keep a watch upon the enemy, while he is himself unseen. To this end he makes use of every scrap of cover, such as banks of cloud, which will help to keep his presence unknown, for if he is detected the enemy may send up some fighters to drive him off. And to be driven off is the last thing the shadower desires, nor is he expected to engage in spectacular combats. His business is to shadow the enemy, and by means of his wireless to call up the ships of his own navy, until the hostile craft below can be brought to battle.
A difficult task and a monotonous one, that of the shadower, but how satisfied the airmen must feel when at last their ships appear upon the horizon, and they know that their patient work has resulted in bringing yet another enemy to a day of reckoning
First photo is the fast and formidable Blackburn "Skua" dive bomber
Second photo is the torpedo carrying Fairley Swordfish
