The Most Hated WW2 Aircraft

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On May 10, 1940, the Germans launched a relentless assault. Just two days later, a desperate gambit unfolded in the skies over Maastricht. No.12 Squadron dispatched six Fairey Battle aircraft, woefully ill-equipped for the ferocious dance of daylight warfare. They were sent to shatter the German advance towards Brussels by bombing bridges over the Albert Canal.

Lacking speed and defensive might, these airborne heroes etched their legacy with daring assaults on the bridges of Maastricht and Sedan.

Divided into two desperate trios, the Battles descended upon their targets, confronting a maelstrom of anti-aircraft fury. Amidst the thunderous cacophony, their metal wings clashed against an unseen foe.

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The Battle was a fairly advanced design when it first appeared, the problem was that in the mid to late thirties advancements in aircraft design were happening so fast that many aircraft that were, like the Battle, advanced designs when ordered into production found themselves verging on obsolescence when they entered service.

mrjockt
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There is a Fairey Battle on display at the Military Museum in Brussels, pieced together from the remains of six aircraft all shot down over Belgium in 1940. It was the highlight of my visit there.

Ralphieboy
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My dad had his air gunnery training on the Battle. He became a Gunnery/wireless instructor and WAG 415 Squadron Royal Canadian Air Force OTU. He first flew into combat in Hampden Torpedo Bomber, finished second tour on Wellington MK XIII

charleseldridge
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And now the kicker. The Battle design was changed, shortened, and became the Fairey Fulmar. At 15 mph max faster than the Battle, it became a carrier based fighter. In its role, the Fulmar destroyed 140 aircraft. While it didn't fare well against the Zero and Oscar, it did manage to shoot down Japanese aircraft. And it was liked by its crews. That said, it was a British carrier based fighter, mainly serving in the Atlantic theater, coping with slower German marine aircraft, not 109s, 110s, and 190s. And it lead to the highly capable Fairey Firefly.

Mannock
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I left school in 1980 and looklng for an engineering apprenticeship, like most of my contempories at that time, I applied for one at Fairey's at thier Crossley Road factory, Heaton Chapel, Stockport. The plane building had ended by then, at that time they built Bailey Bridges. The factory is still there and after many buy outs, the latest itteration of Fairy is still tading as WFEL (formerly Williams Fairey Engineering Limited) part of the KNDS group, building tactical military bridges.

There was never any runway at the Stockport factory. Parts would be transported to, and then assembled, at Ringway Airport (now Manchester International Airport).

This was not unusal in Manchester. A.V.Roe had a factory in Chadderton, but assembeled their planes at Woodford(not far from where I lived and where my brother did his apprenticeship), just outside Stockport. I believe that street lamps in the area were on hinges so they could allow the passage of wide loads.

Stockport was a massive centre of engineering in the 80's, as well as Fairey's, there was Mirrless Blackstone, Ferranti Engineering, Simon Carves, Henry Simon and Simon Build (all part of the same group and on the same road, Bird Hall Lane), British Aerospace (now BAE) at Woodford, Reynold Chains, British Rail. All long gone and the sites redeveloped into housing estates or trading estates. Though the British Rail site is now leased by Alstom to maintain trains for CrossCountry, Northern Trains and Avanti West Coast.

I didn't get an Apprenticeship at Fairy's, I eventually took up an apprenticeship as a Draughtsman/Technician Engineer with Broadhurst and Goodwin (Structural Engineers) in Manchester.

glyn
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My Dad trained in the Battle but ended up as Observer/Bomb Aimer on Blenheims during the Fall of France. Sorties went out, few if any returned. His turn came round, they went out, came back on foot just ahead of the German advance, got out via Cherbourg.

bingbong
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In Belgium it was nicknamed " the flying coffin". There is one on display at the Air Museum in Brussels.

fmax
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Regarding the bombardments on the German invasion some details have to be corrected.
There was no bombing on bridges over the river Meuse in Maastricht itself in 1940, this would only happen in 1944 by the USAF.
The bombings from 10 to 12 of May 1940 were on bridges over the Albert canal just across the border in Belgium, the bridges were at Vroenhoven, Veldwezelt and Briegden.
The first bombardment on the 10th of May was executed by a group of 9 Battles from the 5th group of the Belgian air force, 6 were lost and 3 damaged. 6 Gloster Gladiators escorted the Battles, of these 4 were lost when they encountered ME-109s.
On the 11th the French air force tried again, also with no result, and then on the 12th it were RAF Battles which tried to bomb the bridges, also they failed and had losses.
There is a monument at the bridge in Vroenhoven for all the men who lost their lives at these raids in an effort to slow down the German invasion.

Tom-Lahaye
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As some others have pointed out, the problem with the Battle had nothing to do with being 'obsolete'. Most other european air forces, including the Luftwaffe, had light bomber/attack aircraft with similar if not worse performance, protection and durability. The Luftwaffe operated the much more vulnerable HS 123 until at least mid 1943.
The problem was that through the 1st half of 1940 the RAF still hadn't got a handle on how to plan and execute tactical strike missions, what kind of threat environment planes like the Battle could be sent into, and what level of fighter protection would be needed against an adversary like the Luftwaffe. From what I can tell there was no in-depth mission planning, minimal preliminary reconnaissance, no flak suppression and typically insufficient fighter support. Too often, too few aircraft were committed in an uncoordinated manner against alert and well prepared anti-aircraft defenses.
No 1940 bomber was going to succeed when used in this way.

barkingmonkee
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An LAC Battle air gunner during the Battle of France shot down 2 Me 109s and damaged another before being shot down, he survived and was awarded the DFM. He came from Redcar in Yorkshire.

anthonyeaton
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Thanks for this video...well done! The Fairey aircraft company produced a series of fatal flops, including the Fairey Fulmar a naval fighter, which flew from Brit carriers, its replacement the Fairey Firefly, which was only marginallly better and the Fairey Barracuda, a lumbering torpedo bomber. This company's only aircraft of note was the Fairey Swordfish, very outdated, but notable for its successes against the Italian Fleet at Taranto and jamming the rudder of the Bismarck. The Americans, on the other hand, produced some amazing planes: the F6F Hellcat, the Grumman Avenger, the Dauntless, the Helldiver and probably the best plane of all, the F4U Corsair. I hope you have produced some videos on the aforementioned machines? Thanks for the research highlighting this abominable plane and the brave aircrew who were ordered to take it into battle.

ravenclaw
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The Fairey Battle was a decent aircraft with excellent handling qualities with fairly good speed (257mph only 9 mph slower than the Blenheim ) compared to the other bombers at the time but was used using poor tactics. This was made all the worse by the fact that the German army had the finest anti aircraft protection in the world. However, the least that could of been done is to add another forward firing machine gun to the other wing and double up the one firing to the rear. Bad idea to bomb on the straight and level not far up. Why not bomb in a shallow dive to get extra speed and be less of a target? Today the Battle still looks sleek and handsome. Thanks

davidk
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The most hated plane the Germans seen was the Mosquito : --
"It makes me furious when I see the Mosquito. I turn green and yellow with envy. The British, who can afford aluminum better than we can, knock together a beautiful wooden aircraft that every piano factory over there is building, and they give it a speed which they have now increased yet again. What do you make of that? There is nothing the British do not have. They have the geniuses and we have the nincompoops. After the war is over I’m going to buy a British radio set – then at least I’ll own something that has always worked." Hermann Goering
Is there an audio recording of Herman Goering's speech in Berlin in January 1943, which three RAF Mosquitoes dropped bombs while Herman was about to do a "pep" talk with the German people And had to cancel it because of the Mosquitos Proving that at any time or place The RAF could And would bomb Germany
Germany Tried to build their own version with wood However 2 of the 3 aircraft crashed due to poor glue And meshing having the wings And tail rip off mid flight....
How good is something When your enemy wants

freakyflow
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My uncle was a radio op / gunner on 150 Sqn in Battles. On two missions in the phoney war they dropped leaflets on Germany! His last Battle flight was bombing Boulogne to try to sink invasion barges. Moved on to Wellington’s and then the Lancaster. He flew with the Australians in Lancaster G George now the centrepiece of the Australian National War Memorial

ianhenderson
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This is amazing! I have studied WWII in depth through video and print and never once have I even heard the name Fairey Battle or even Fairey before! Thanks so much for broadening my knowledge! That’s why I love your channels!

annehersey
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Fairey developed a series of H configuration engines, essentially two opposed-cylinder engines stuck together. The biggest was the 24 cylinder Monarch capable of something like 2500 HP. Fairey envisaged these for naval use as they would provide twin-engine power and redundancy with single-engine aerodynamics. These were axed by the Ministry under pressure from the big-engine mafia, RR, Bristol and Napier. The Monarch was also to be used on the Battle, and one Battle was used as a company transport, fitted with the prototype (it can be seen in the clip), where it ran impeccably throughout the war.

ricardodavidson
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The aircrew who flew in the Battle must have had nerves of steel . It was more or less a one way mission . We will never have a generation like that again .
I always wondered if a Battle and a Ju87 ever engaged each other in what could be described as a highly unusual dogfight ?

markhindmarsh
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Die anscheinend automatische Übersetzung ins Deutsche ist stellenweise gruselig.

detlevuhrig
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i visited Belgium some years vack and the area around the rivers are dotted with little memorials to the crews, I understand that towards the end, the crews knew they wouldnt return and decided to drop one crew member to avoid three men dying

nickw
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Trivia - I heard from an Air Force friend in Singapore that there is a road at the Tengah Air Base called Battle Road - named after the Fairey Battle although it was never based there.
I like the Battle just as I like the Fulmar - sleek and beautiful. I have 5 Airfix Battle models built over 4 decades.

weetionghamjames-rhpd