| huevans011 | 25 Jul 2018 3:01 p.m. PST |
YouTube link Discussion of ship borne AAA and its shortcomings in early WW2. |
| wrgmr1 | 25 Jul 2018 5:19 p.m. PST |
Very interesting video, thanks for posting! |
 Editor in Chief Bill   | 25 Jul 2018 5:45 p.m. PST |
Reminds me of the Death Star…  |
| Winston Smith | 25 Jul 2018 7:18 p.m. PST |
Why aren't all our newest fighter planes made from fabric???? |
| GROSSMAN | 25 Jul 2018 7:56 p.m. PST |
I saw somewhere that they were moving too slow and it messed up the fire control. |
| Grelber | 26 Jul 2018 4:55 a.m. PST |
Well known problem, Winston. Back in the '60s, the San Francisco Chronicle ran an article pointing out that current aircraft would be less effective at defending the country against attack by a giant oriental ape than the cloth covered biplanes of Fay Wray's day. The video does make some interesting points. It looks like the British and Americans had been able to do more research in the interwar period Grelber |
| coopman | 26 Jul 2018 9:14 a.m. PST |
The gunners were not used to shooting at nearly stationary targets and it threw off their aim. |
| altfritz | 26 Jul 2018 2:54 p.m. PST |
The Tirpitz (and co.) didn't have any problems… link |
| goragrad | 26 Jul 2018 4:06 p.m. PST |
Was thinking of posting that Altfritz – of course Gneisnau, Scharnhorst, and Prinz Eugen had 6 destroyers, 14 torpedo boats, 32 E-boats, and 250 fighter planes to help them shoot down those 6 Swordfish… The Kriegsmarine also had had 8 months to upgrade their AA capabilities. And by the time 825 Squadron reached the surface ships they had been under air attack for 13 minutes. And they still reached the battleships. The Swordfish was a tough bird. |
| KSmyth | 26 Jul 2018 8:13 p.m. PST |
Don't underestimate the Swordfish. They remained in production until 1944, with nearly 2,400 built. They served a variety of different roles long after its time as a front line torpedo bomber expired. ASW, minelayer, as a float plane or with wheels, the Swordfish still equipped nine front line squadrons at war's end. Not sexy, and quite utilitarian, it was a good and useful plane. |
| ptdockyard | 27 Jul 2018 9:22 a.m. PST |
It would have been interesting to see how it's reputation and production volume would have fared if it's daily regimen included encounters with other carrier borne aircraft and fighters. |
| goragrad | 27 Jul 2018 9:01 p.m. PST |
But the point is, ptdockyard, that for so many of the duties the Stringbag was called on to perform, it was perfectly suited. Long range, very forgiving to fly, and very resistant to damage. Don't need high priced torpedo bombers to fly anti-shipping and long range recon. Considering that the Luftwaffe pilots had to lower their landing gear and slow to stall speeds to get enough time to make an effective firing pass during the Dash, a newer, faster plane would probably have been shot down even quicker. |
| Blutarski | 29 Jul 2018 3:50 p.m. PST |
Several unique conditions were in effect: 1 – the attack was flown into a heavy 45deg quartering gale force wind, which (a) dramatically slowed the actual speed of the a/c over the ground; (b) caused them to fly "crab fashion" such that their true path over the ground was at an angle to the nominal heading of the a/c itself. 2 – The heavy seas put a good deal of motion on the ship and the non-stabilized AA mounts were fired under local control. 3 – Bismarck's 37mm medium AA mounts were actually semi-automatic weapons (!!!) of pre-war design with a very low rate of fire. 4 – The British pilots were quite skillful and were able to mislead the German gunners by effecting "flat turns" without use of ailerons to bank the a/c. FWIW. B |
| Lion in the Stars | 29 Jul 2018 4:37 p.m. PST |
1 – the attack was flown into a heavy 45deg quartering gale force wind, which (a) dramatically slowed the actual speed of the a/c over the ground; (b) caused them to fly "crab fashion" such that their true path over the ground was at an angle to the nominal heading of the a/c itself. That alone would be enough to screw up the AA gunners. Why aren't all our newest fighter planes made from fabric???? They are. Fiberglass and carbon fiber are fabrics packed with epoxy!  |
