World War II Database

1.  Alan Chanter says:
6 Apr 2014 04:40:44 AM

In March 1942, Fleet Air Arm Albacore Squadrons Nos 828 and 830 amalgamated for operation purposes to form Naval Air Squadron Malta. By mid-1943 the two squadrons had sunk thirty enemy ships and damaged a further fifty.

2.  Alan Chanter says:
8 Apr 2014 02:18:37 AM

The first deployment of Albacores to sea occurred on 26 November 1940 (not 1941 as stated) when No.s 826 and 829 Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm embarked on the carrier, HMS Formidable, for convoy escort duties to Cape Town.

3.  C. Peter Chen says:
8 Apr 2014 06:40:51 AM

Thanks Alan, I have corrected the date.

4.  Alan Chanter says:
12 Nov 2017 10:12:52 AM

While the Albacore was designed primarily as a three-seat torpedo bomber, it was found to be equally effective as a Dive Bomber. For example in the Western Desert operations of 1942, Albacores from Nos, 821 and 826 squadrons performed with great effect in this role, making 471 sorties between June and November. One historian recording that the bombing accuracy of these Navy pilots in Dive bombing was proverbial.

5. Jon Clarke says:
16 Oct 2020 05:11:15 PM

The Albacore's contemporaries were the Swordfish, the Nakajima B5N,and Douglas Devastator. It had a more powerful engine and carried a heavier payload than any of these, was more flexible, being designed to act as a dive as well as torpedo bomber, operationally faster than the Swordfish and Devastator, and had almost from the start it carried radar, giving it all weather, day or night capability.

6. Wirral Nomad says:
1 Feb 2025 07:14:40 PM

Out of curiosity, has anyone by chance happen to see any plans for the monoplane variant at all? I have wondered for quite some time now just what it would have looked like and and have wondered if there are any pictures of an Albacore in monoplane form even of only in plan form?

It would be really interesting to see exactly what it would have looked like, especially in comparison to my own pictures of a monoplane variant of the Albacore that I edited in Windows Paint, using common sense to come up with a probable design, if not then a definite design form and I would be interested in knowing just how close my vision of such a plane comes to the initial monoplane designs, and I do intend to build such a model from two model kits of the Albacore and Fulmar just as soon as I can get my hands on one of each.

Considering the circumstances of the times and the need to save materials and funds then Fairey would have probably reused as many parts from other planes so as not to waste time making new jigs which would use up extra materials and funds when jigs already exist for other planes in production.

Looking at the other Fairey aircraft of the time I could only see the Fulmar as using wings that were suitable for use on the Albacore being a low wing design and so I replaced the biplane wings with the single wing of the Fulmar along with the undercarriage of the Fulmar and it looks very much like a Mitsubishi A6M Zero but the engine looks tiny in comparison so I made a duplicate with a larger power plant which would have required a larger propeller and so bigger undercarriage and arrestor hook.

I then went and edited again for a third variant which was a single seat model with a tear drop canopy, I think on paper albeit digitally speaking the imagination can look upon the monoplane designs quite favourably and although it would have possibly have been much better than the biplane imho, it probably would still have been a poor performer.

I said the comparison was with the Zero, I meant the Nakajima B-5 Kate but with the bubble canopy as a single seater it looks more like a Zero although possibly larger and heavier and so wouldn't perform like a Zero, but compared to the Kate the Albacore without the engine upgrade had more power than the Kate with an equivalent wingspan to the Fulmar which would give the Albacore monoplane a power advantage of 130+ hp over the Kate, with a larger more powerful engine then that power advantage would greatly increase, and if you remove the weight of the torpedo from the equation then we are looking at an even greater increase in power.

I don't know how else to post my picture online so could someone please advise me on how to share my picture for other interested parties to view without posting links which are not allowed?