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Inside the Biplane That Stopped Europe’s Most Powerful Battleship

16K views · 4 Nov 2026

Comments · 27

  • @guythornton174 · 1 day ago

    My dad was a swordfish pilot...<br>Thornton, Charles Clifford &nbsp;08.02.1941 pilot, 830 Squadron [HMS St Angelo (RN base, Malta)]<br>[failed to return after a bombing trip to Tripoli Harbour; crashed near Garzi; captured]<br>08.11.1942 - 1943 POW in French captivity ,Laghouat, Algeria.

    3

  • @avnrulz · 6 hours ago

    <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScvQXe9R1i0&amp;t=1376">22:56</a> Try not to show Hawker Hurricanes when talk I ng about Spitfires.

    1

  • @cutedgehouse · 2 days ago

    My Dad, &nbsp;Joseph Barber flew in Swordfish from the carrier Illustrious.

    3

  • @MrMoggyman · 1 day ago

    My uncle Oliver was one of the observers. Flying from wooden deck carriers, whenever he was asked about his action in WW2 he would reply to us young lads, &apos;Balso wood and bits of string! Stringbags!! Bloody cold. &apos; Having ditched three times, and being unable to swim, he claimed to be an expert on dingy inflation. Later he flew in Fairy Albacores and later still Fireflies, and reported that these were enclosed with a heater....his comment, &quot;Bloody luxury.&apos; After the war he flew in Skua&apos;s before leaving the Fleet Air Arm service.<br><br>And the worst thing about the Swordfish besides the extreme cold? Night bombing of coastal shipping. You dive from about 1500 feet. The observer was responsible for pulling the toggles that released the bombs from the wing racks. That was the easy part. The recovery after the attack was the interesting part. The Swordfish has a very shallow rate of ascent. Having a radial engine it had an exhaust collector ring, and at night that flamed a bright blue colour. Now, if you had hit the ship well, then no problem. BUT if you had only mauled it, then as you pulled away in a shallow rate of ascent with a bright blue burning flame from the engine exhaust collector ring you were a sitting duck in the sky for any gunner on the ship. Invariably there would be a stream of tracer bullets that would come towards the aircraft, some pinging through the wing fabric. It was only when you realised that between each tracer bullet there were six more bullets, you got to wondering if one of them had your name on it.

  • @daviddennis5789 · 2 days ago (edited)

    This video tells a very good story about the Swordfish. &nbsp;I liked that you gave the names of pilots and crew involved. &nbsp;Animation was okay to use, but I did not like the use of a overlay skull to indicate a deceased crewmember, it seemed disrespectful. &nbsp;I would have preferred a simple fade-out of the animated character. &nbsp;I learned a lot watching this video. &nbsp;Thanks.

    1

  • @keithmcwilliams7424 · 4 days ago

    Amazing plane!😊

    2

  • @mikeevans3465 · 1 day ago

    My father was a fitter airframes on 836 NAS, during the war, I have built many models of the string bag, the graphics typical ai slop

  • @jamesfalconer74 · 1 day ago

    and if those poor people that went and died for it ,,if they saw uk today would they still go fight ??..

    1

  • @grumpyoldsodinacellar3518 · 3 days ago

    The Swordfish was my dad&apos;s aeroplane.

  • @TeNBeeS7 · 4 days ago

    🏆cool narration on this older topic :person-turqouise-waving:. I remember many stories as a kid-(1970-1980&apos;s).. omo theese insidents my dad being <br>mp Sgt Lefty us airforce knew alot of service men:face-red-heart-shape: Big love from Denmark😍

    1

  • @Retrobiker-z4o · 21 hours ago

    I lived near Manston airport &nbsp;my grandad told me it was bombed to heck during the war🤔

  • @RustyH43 · 2 days ago

    American voice along with AI crap and wrong photos, in what is essentially a British story &quot;sad&quot; no like or subscribe for this one!

    1

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