Saturday 16 November 2019

Fairey Barracuda, part one

The Fairey Barracuda was a British carrier-borne torpedo and dive bomber that was designed by Fairey Aviation. It was the first aircraft of this type operated by the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) that was entirely made out of metal.
Operated mainly by the Royal Navy's FAA, it was exported to some countries and saw some service abroad.

  • Canada: The 825 Naval Air Squadron (NAS) was reformed in July 1945 as a Canadian-manned squadron. It was intended to be equipped with 12 Barracuda Mk.II and be part of the 19th Carrier Air Group aboard a Colossus-class aircraft carrier, to take part in Operation Downfall (the Allied Invasion of Japan that never took place). However, that didn't happen immediately and it wasn't until 1946 when the HMCS Warrior (R31) was leased to the Royal Canadian Navy that Barracudas served aboard a Canadian Aircraft Carrier. They served until May 1951 when the squadron changed its denomination and was re-equipped with Fairey Gannets.
  • France: A single Barracuda Mk.III was leased after the War to France and served with ELA I./56 at Persan-Beaumont, close to Paris. It was evaluated against the Grumman Avenger, for a modern carrier-based torpedo-bomber. The AĆ©ronavale (French Navy's Naval Air Arm) decided to go for the Avenger and the Barracuda was kept until the very late 1940s. 
  • Holland: The Dutch-manned 860 Naval Air Squadron was re-equipped with Fairey Barracudas in June 1945 and in August was designated to the escort-carrier HMS Nairana (D05) and the Barracudas weren't kept for a very long time because in May 1946 they were replaced by the Fairey Firefly.









Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairey_Barracuda
2. https://web.ipmsusa3.org/content/fairey-barracuda
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/825_Naval_Air_Squadron
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/860_Naval_Air_Squadron

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