Britain's 'Cutting-Edge' Bomber Got Annihilated By Germany: Fairey Battle

In this video, we take a look at the Fairey Battle, a British-designed light bomber from early World War II that was meant to modernize British aerial forces. We first talk about the lack of Britain's military spending in the interwar period, in part because of people like Winston Churchill, and how that led to their military equipment being horribly outdated. We then talk about the rush to modernize their military, and how this led to solid aircraft like the Hawker Hurricane and Supermarine Spitfire... and also the Fairey Battle.

We then talk about what Britain had for light bomber aircraft in the Hawker Hart, and how the a plane like the Battle was to be a significant upgrade over it. We talk about the early performance of the Battle and how, while it was well above the required specifications and, in some sense, cutting-edge, it was outdated before it even flew. We talk about the push to produce the Battle regardless and how it performed terribly in combat against Germany. We end by talking about the Battle's short military career and how it did serve a purpose, although not the purpose that was originally envisioned.

[alanpennie]

Outfitted as a bomber The Hurricane had a similar bomb load while being much more likely to survive attack by enemy fighters.

[neiloflongbeck]

Named after the town of Battle, which is closer to the site of the Battle of Hastings than Hastings.

[jsalbano]

it did OK in east africa. I believe it is unfairly maligned. Like the stuka, it suffered heavily when air superiority was not achieved. Unlike the stuka, it never operated in a major theater where that was the case. Performance wise, it flies faster than the stuka, with similar defensive armament, neither had enough to save them if fighters came calling.

[MikeBracewell]

You don't pronounce Blenheim Blen - Heim, it's Blen-im.

[neiloflongbeck]

The much maligned Chamberlain did a lot to prepare for WW2, including research into radar.

[lesliereissner]

An interesting video and timely for me as two weeks ago I was in the reserve hangar of the National Air and Space Museum in Ottawa and was very surprised to see what appeared to be a Fairey Battle. It was painted in the yellow used for the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (CATP) training aircraft and sported a great big turret. Apparently over 700 Battles were sent to Canada starting in August 1939 and this example had the rear cockpit removed and replaced with a Bristol turret for turret-gunnery training. Four Battles still exist, with other examples in the UK, Belgium and Australia.

[paulforder]

The Fairey Battle, after its withdrawal from combat, also served as a glider tug. 🛩️🇬🇧

[CZtuner]

The Battle had a crew of 3 (pilot, bombardier / navigator & gunner), but only carried two parachutes. In the event of needing to bail out, the bombardier / navigator was supposed to be attached to the gunner (who had a special harness & larger than normal parachute), before jumping from the plane. This was the first instance of tandem parachute jumps being attempted. Of course, if the gunner is killed or incapacitated, the bombardier is kind of

[yes_head]

Comparisons can be made to the Douglas TBD Devastator -- a plane that was also considered modern for about two years. Unfortunately those years were the wrong side of the start of WWII. It's also interesting to compare the Battle to the Il-2, two planes that were actually very similar in many respects.

[daveanderson]

The problem was that at the time aviation technology moved on so quickly, that a plane could be perfectly adequate today, and be a flying coffin 18 months or 2 years down the line. Plus, in the thirties there were different theories regarding air tactics and strategies. Although, the light bomber concept was probably flawed from the outset. Fine for a policing role in the colonies, which was something the Hawker Hart did do, not so great when fighting an peer opponent.

[ravenouself]

A reminder that the Tsar Bomba was used at a 50% yield which is the 50-58 megatons that was actually tested, due to concerns regarding the fallout it would cause, it's actual 100% yield was 100-116 Megatons.

[samuelruetz]

I remember playing some turn based strategy Battle of Britain game as a kid in the 90s and being absolutely baffled as to how anyone thought deploying this thing in 1940 against BF-109s and 110s was going to end at all well.

[holgernarrog]

From my view it would make sense to compare the Fairey Battle with the German Stuka. It was the same time, single engine, similar vulnerable to fighters...

The benefit of the Stuka was its diving capability which provided a bombing accuracy the battle did not have.

[aussie]

I always liked the Battle. A P.O.S. in combat but a really nice looking aircraft.

[wat]

The picture of "Castle Bravo" is in fact "Ivy Mike" the first thermonuclear test

[mathewkelly]

One of those aircraft that looked fantastic in 36-37 but was woefully inadequate 3 to 4 years later

[NS-hslt]

I really wish you would throw in the month and year more. For example when design parameters were submitted or when a prototype flew. At least the year.

[ashcarrier]

When I first read of the Fairey Battle, I recall it was billed as a sort of "heavy fighter", rather than as a bomber.

[CaptainSeato]

The light bomber concept never made sense for me, even in the era it was introduced; it would only be safe operating closer to friendlies, but would not be particularly effective at bombing compared to bigger bombers. The light defensive armament of the light bomber would be useless when operating in enemy airspace, when the OpFor could bring more fighters to bear against them, quickly.

[heinwein]

Like so many weapons from different countries, it depends on how you utilize it. Even outclassed planes or tanks can be of use in specialized role. The best examples are the Gloster "Gladiator" MK I, Junkers 87/"Stuka" or the Henschel HS 123
Tactically good deployment always leads to success and in vice versa defeat or at least to unnecessary