Swordfish identity sought….

Good post Flood. There’s plenty of evidence that the Navy shot at everything, anyway, on general principles.

Ray Sturtivant advises me:-

“The code is AR8J which makes it 772 Sqn at Ayr.”

He also asks can you read the serial number on the original print please?

Mark

Ah – has he information that 772NAS Swordfish now carried squadron codes?;) Will that be in the next edition?
I opted for Ronaldsway Station Flight because they had the codes and, crucially, it was from the Isle of Man and therefore connected with the Manx Aviation Preservation Society: ok, there is nothing to say that Swordfish flew with the station flight, but why let a good thing die stillborn like that (the flight might have had Swordfish!;)).
Anyway… On 27/5/44 772NAS, whilst at Machrihanish, mounted a dummy attack on the fleet using as many aircraft that they could put up. I would imagine that this would have been in their locality and the Irish Sea area. If there was lots of the navy around then the aircraft would need to fly in the D-Day colour schemes if only to keep the observers up to speed – nothing worse (I’d imagine) than seeing an aircraft that you recognise (even a Swordfish!) and trying to justify not shooting at it just because it wasn’t wearing the appropriate colours of the day.

Flood

Swordfish with white fuselage and D-Day stripes…

Only pics I’ve found at a glance were of 816 Sqn, code letters S and Q, in both ‘The Swordfish Story’ (by one Ray Sturtivant 😀 ) and ‘Fairey Swordfish and Albacore’ WA Harrison, Crowood. The cover pic on Ray’s book is of these a/c. Interestingly they do have the machine gun in the rear position, but also have rocket rails underwing.

It’s actually a v. interesting pic you’ve shown us there!

Cheers

The joys of aviation in the Isle of Man is/was a very rich tapestry of aircraft passing through. If anyone ever fancies popping over……(cheap tax too!) 🙂

Dean

Swordfish with white fuselage and D-Day stripes…

Only pics I’ve found at a glance were of 816 Sqn, code letters S and Q, in both ‘The Swordfish Story’ (by one Ray Sturtivant 😀 ) and ‘Fairey Swordfish and Albacore’ WA Harrison, Crowood. The cover pic on Ray’s book is of these a/c. Interestingly they do have the machine gun in the rear position, but also have rocket rails underwing.

It’s actually a v. interesting pic you’ve shown us there!

Cheers

Ray Sturtivant advises me:-

“The code is AR8J which makes it 772 Sqn at Ayr.”

He also asks can you read the serial number on the original print please?

Mark

Unfortunately herein lies the problem – the original picture is printed on very coarse paper and reading the serial is proving impossible, otherwise we’d be home and dry. The original thought was the bands were ident markings but that would seem not to be the case but it’s proving to be a stubborn beast to identify!

FAA: Font of knowledge.

Ray Sturtivant advises me:-

“The code is AR8J which makes it 772 Sqn at Ayr.”

He also asks can you read the serial number on the original print please?

Mark

The lettering looks more like ARBJ to me. Wouldn’t have a clue what it means though!

JC

As always guys, thanks for taking time to educate the simpleton! It’s the only way I’ll learn.

Hey, don’t be so modest. Good question, reasonable challanges. As I’ve said before, an opinion needs to be validated to be credible. I wacked up the ‘D Day stripes’ answer quickly, because I thought I was going to get beaten to the punch! Perfectly reasonable to challange it.

Cheers!

Hi Skypilot,
I’ll stick with my original statement. 🙂 Sure they might be some other markings, but Swordfish DID have D-Day stripes with these colours, and I’ve not seen other markings like this that weren’t. 99% certain.

As for the rear gun. The Fairey High Speed Mount (to give it it’s correct name!) stowed completely away inside the aft decking. I don’t have a photo to hand, but you wouldn’t see it in that shot unless the TAG was waving the gun about. By 1944 most of the guns had been removed anyways, as it was realised that evasion and hurling abuse were more effective against enemy fighters.

As Flood’s pointed out, the codes are interesting…

HTH,
Cheers!

Thanks James. I didn’t doubt your original answer, honest guv! Just trying to find an explanation that fit. Flood’s answer helps to clarify things too.

As you both say, bit of a mystery with the markings. Would the likely explanation therefore be a spare 705NAS a/c used as a station “hack”?

As always guys, thanks for taking time to educate the simpleton! It’s the only way I’ll learn.

Dean

The Swordfish could have been issued, ready painted, straight from a storage section – the colours are anti-submarine stylie. It would have been around the time that aircraft were being flown off to be scrapped, so why bother to repaint/paint out markings etc?

Flood

Hi Skypilot,
I’ll stick with my original statement. 🙂 Sure they might be some other markings, but Swordfish DID have D-Day stripes with these colours, and I’ve not seen other markings like this that weren’t. 99% certain.

As for the rear gun. The Fairey High Speed Mount (to give it it’s correct name!) stowed completely away inside the aft decking. I don’t have a photo to hand, but you wouldn’t see it in that shot unless the TAG was waving the gun about. By 1944 most of the guns had been removed anyways, as it was realised that evasion and hurling abuse were more effective against enemy fighters.

As Flood’s pointed out, the codes are interesting…

HTH,
Cheers!

I would imagine it is probably from 705NAS which formed with Swordfish III at Ronaldsway on 7/3/45 as a replacement aircrew training unit. But… It used the codes AR1, and disbanded 24/6/45
Or else Ronaldsway Station Flight did use the codes AR8, but Swordfish are not shown as being utilised, just Oxfords and Anson Is.
772NAS also used AR8 codes, but that was out of Ayr using Martinet TT1s and Mosquito BXVI & B25s.
Info from Air Britains The Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm.

Flood

One answer.

They are D-Day Stripes…

That is the obvious answer but I wasn’t entirely certain. Sure, there looks to be stripes on the tops of the wings, and underneath, but it’s an odd paint scheme to turn up in the Isle of Man on an aircraft such as a Swordfish – not impossible, just unusual. I was wondering if perhaps they were some other kind of markings that aren’t necessarily black, dark blue perhaps? As the island is more usually associated with training, I wondered if that had any significance on what the stripes represent? Similarly, if flown near the combat zone, hence invasion stripes, why no rear gun fixtures?

One answer.

They are D-Day Stripes…