The Airplane Everyone Hated But It Ended Up Saving the War

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According to an interview with RAF pilot Bud Abbott, it was: (QUOTE) “A flying abortion.”

The Fairy Barracuda was freakishly constructed with high wings, a T-tail, and L-shaped landing gear. It was underpowered and impossible to see out of. Yet here it was, about to take on the mightiest ship that still remained of the German Navy.

Deep in the protective embrace of the Norwegian fjords, towering cliffs, and thick pine forests hid the German Battleship Tirpitz, now deemed the "Lonely Queen of the North" by some and the “Iron Whore” by others.
As the Allies closed in on victory in the spring of 1944, Tirpitz was still one of the biggest threats in the German Navy. Although she was stuck sulking in the Arctic, her mere presence continued to prove a distraction for Allied shipping - to the point that the British decided they had finally had enough.
On the morning of April 3, 1944, the stillness of Tirpitz's hiding place in the fjord was interrupted by the shattering roar of approaching engines. Before the ship could fully deploy the smoke screen generators, forty Fairey Barracudas appeared— their Rolls-Royce Merlin engines dragging them through the air.

The Barracudas carried a potentially devastating mix of 1,600- and 500-pound bombs. Fully loaded, they were fat, heavy, and slow - barely able to take off from their carriers. Now they were being asked to waddle in and finish the job that proper and more illustrious bombers such as the Halifax and Lancaster had failed to do before...

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[brianmoore]

The story of an absolute dog pressed into service and made to do some level of work by the bravery and valor of the men who flew them. A flying pig and every pilot who went aloft in one proved his bravery just by taking off.

[elliottdilling]

Mighty big stretch with that whole saved the war thing....

[spudpud-T]

Our minister Rev. Kirby from Helensville, NZ flew Barracudas in WW2. He drove on the road like a crazy man. Perhaps it takes a little crazy to fly these planes.

[stringpicker]

A great deal of overstatement. No bombs penetrated the deck armour. The main damage was from the shock of two near misses damaging the hull and turbines. The bravery of the flyers is not in question, but the impact on the war was actually limited and by no means any kind of saving. The Germans were very short of heavy fuels and their surface navy was already in tatters.

[Surfzap]

I apologize for being petty, but I’m still waiting for the part where this woefully under powered machine save the war.

[Twirlyhead]

In defence of Fairey the Firefly and Gannet were pretty good and I've always liked their Christmas tree lights, cakes and washing up liquid.

[taylorjerden]

Love the videos, hate the titles, . Too click baity, less informative. Start with the plane make and model, then the click bait.

[Dave-dm]

The carrier landing crash @ 16:35 is a Mosquito. Eric Winkle Brown proved it was technically possible to loaded a DH98 on a carrier but almost nobody else was capable. In fact his CO had expected to never see him again when he first went to try the feat.

[lawerancedodd]

I had never heard of this aircraft. Thank you

[oldschoolartist]

There was already an airplane that fit all the Barracuda's requirements. It was the Grumman Avenger.

[longrider]

That dam single speed turbo charger was the bane of so many aircraft that could have been great.

[markteaney]

If i am not mistaken this is the only plane of WWII we don't have a working model due to all of them being scrapped after the war. There is an ongoing group that is actually looking for crashed planes and planes buried by the RAF to rebuild a working model.

[kevin-parratt-artist]

The roll of this aircraft in the demise of the Tirpitz is misrepresented in this video.

[steveclarke]

"Terrorised the the truth is German Kreigsmarine barely had any fuel, which is one reason why Scharnhorst sailed with an inadequate escort in 1943. Yes it was a major distraction to the war effort with Winston Churchill, who demand that the RN and RAF sink "The Beast", as hell called her- which between Operation Source in 1943, the operations covered here and the final Coup-de-Gras of 617 and 9 squadron in 1944

[donb]

In an episode of Expedition Unknown, they found one that had crashed in the hills above the Norwegian fjord the Tirpitz was sunk inside.

[jamesleonard]

Gregs planes, trains and automobiles is a far superior channel to learn about important war winning aircraft.

[randallisaeff]

When the narrator mentioned Fairey Youngman flaps, I grabbed my violin and shouted, “TAKE MY FLAPS — PLEASE!”

[owencarlstrand]

As far as I remember it was 617 squadron which finally sank the Tirpitz using Tallboy bombs. Admittedly the smokescreen generators had not been recharged since earlier raids.

[edwinwhitaker]

I learned from another video about this aircraft that leaks of the hydraulic fluid in the cockpit would cause the pilot to become unconscious. This was due to ether in the hydraulic fluid.