ABSTRACT
The Royal Navy’s primary carrier planes in 1939 were the Swordfish torpedo bomber/spotting aircraft and the dual-purpose Roc and Skua fighter/dive bombers. Although sturdy and reli able, none of these aircraft were a match for the modern land-based aircraft of the day. The Sword fish, a biplane, was too slow for modern aerial operations, but it could stay in the air despite ab sorbing horrendous punishment. It was also the most stable torpedo plane used by any of the war’s antagonists. It achieved some successes, particu larly in the Mediterranean, where it was feared intensely by Italian ship commanders. The same could not be said for the RN’s other aircraft, the Roc and Skua fighter/dive bombers. They were too slow and unwieldy to be effective fighters and lacked the range and bombload to be efficient dive
bombers. Still, the Skuas at least achieved distinc tion as the first carrier-launched aircraft to sink a warship in World War II, the German light cruiser Konigsbergy in Bergen harbor during the Norway campaign (q.v.). These fighters’ shortcomings were nonetheless apparent and the RN desperately sought a replacement. Interestingly, the Rocs never served in an active carrier air wing.