The Fairey Barracuda was a British

carrier-borne A carrier-based aircraft (also known as carrier-capable aircraft, carrier-borne aircraft, carrier aircraft or aeronaval aircraft) is a naval aircraft designed for operations from aircraft carriers. Carrier-based aircraft must be able to launch i ...

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

and

dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...

Fairey Aviation The Fairey Aviation Company Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer of the first half of the 20th century based in Hayes, Hillingdon, Hayes in Middlesex and Heaton Chapel and RAF Ringway in Cheshire that designed important military aircraft ...

. It was the first aircraft of this type operated by the

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, RN fighting arms. it is a primarily helicopter force, though also operating the Lockhee ...

(FAA) of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

to be fabricated entirely from

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

. The Barracuda was developed as a replacement for the Fairey Albacore

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

s. Development was protracted due to the original powerplant intended for the type, the Rolls-Royce Exe, being cancelled. It was replaced by the less powerful

Rolls-Royce Merlin The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British Coolant#Liquids, liquid-cooled V12 engine, V-12 Reciprocating engine, piston aero engine of 27-litre (1,650 cu in) Engine displacement, capacity. Rolls-Royce Limited, Rolls-Royce designed the engine an ...

engine. On 7 December 1940, the first Fairey prototype conducted its

maiden flight The maiden flight, also known as first flight, of an aircraft is the first occasion on which it leaves the ground under its own power. The same term is also used for the first launch of rockets. In the early days of aviation it could be dange ...

. Early testing revealed it to be somewhat underpowered. The definitive Barracuda Mk II had a more powerful model of the Merlin engine, while later versions were powered by the larger and even more powerful Rolls-Royce Griffon engine. The type was ordered in bulk to equip the FAA. In addition to Fairey's production line, Barracudas were also built by Blackburn Aircraft, Boulton Paul and

Westland Aircraft Westland Aircraft was a British aircraft manufacturer located in Yeovil, Somerset. Formed as a separate company by separation from Petters Limited just before the start of the Second World War, Westland had been building aircraft since 1915. Du ...

. The type participated in numerous carrier operations during the conflict, in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

and the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

against the Germans, Italians and Japanese respectively during the latter half of the war. One of the Barracuda's most noteworthy engagements was Operation Tungsten, a mass attack upon the German

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

on 3 April 1944. In addition to the FAA, the Barracuda was also used by the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

, the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; , ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The navy is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of February 2024, the RCN operates 12 s, 12 s, 4 s, 4 s, 8 s, and several auxiliary ...

, the Dutch Naval Aviation Service and the

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...

. After its withdrawal from service during the 1950s, no intact examples of the Barracuda were preserved despite its once-large numbers, although the

Fleet Air Arm Museum The Fleet Air Arm Museum is devoted to the history of British naval aviation. It has an extensive collection of military and civilian aircraft, aero engines, models of aircraft and Royal Navy ships (especially aircraft carriers), and paintings ...

has ambitions to assemble a full reproduction.

Design and development

Background

In 1937 the British

Air Ministry The Air Ministry was a department of the Government of the United Kingdom with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force and civil aviation that existed from 1918 to 1964. It was under the political authority of the ...

issued Specification S.24/37, which sought a

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

torpedo bomber A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the World War I, First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carryin ...

to satisfy ''Operational Requirement OR.35''. The envisaged aircraft was a three-seater that would possess a high payload capacity and a high maximum speed.Fredriksen 2001, p. 106. Six submissions were received by the Air Ministry, from which the designs of Fairey and

Supermarine Supermarine was a British aircraft manufacturer. It is most famous for producing the Spitfire fighter plane during World War II. The company built a range of seaplanes and flying boats, winning the Schneider Trophy for seaplanes with three cons ...

( Type 322) were selected and a pair of prototypes of each design were ordered.Taylor 1974, p. 313. On 7 December 1940, the first Fairey prototype conducted its

.Taylor 1974, p. 314. The Supermarine Type 322 did not fly until 1943 and, as the Barracuda was already in production by then, its development did not progress further. The Barracuda was a shoulder-wing

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

monoplane It had a retractable undercarriage and non-retracting tailwheel. The hydraulically-operated main landing gear struts were of an "L" shape which retracted into a recess in the side of the fuselage and the wing, with the wheels within the wing. A flush arrestor hook was fitted directly ahead of the tail wheel. It was operated by a crew of three, who were seated in a

tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which two or more animals, machines, or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. ''Tandem'' can also be used more generally to refer to any group of persons or objects w ...

arrangement under a continuous-glazed canopy. The pilot had a sliding canopy while the other two crew members' canopy was hinged. The two rear-crew had alternate locations in the fuselage, the navigator's position having bay windows below the wings for downward visibility.Bridgman, Leonard. ''Jane's Fighting Aircraft of World War II''. New York: Crescent Books, 1988. p. 120 The wings were furnished with large Fairey-Youngman flaps which doubled as dive brakes. Originally fitted with a conventional tail, flight tests suggested that stability would be improved by mounting the elevator higher, similar to a

T-tail A T-tail is an empennage wikt:configuration, configuration in which the tailplane of an aircraft is mounted to the top of the vertical stabilizer, fin. The arrangement looks like the capital letter T, hence the name. The T-tail differs fr ...

, an arrangement on the second prototype. For carrier stowage the wings folded back horizontally at the roots; the small vertical protrusions on the upper wingtips held hooks that attached to the tailplane.

The Barracuda had originally been intended to be powered by the Rolls-Royce Exe X block, sleeve valve engine, but production of this powerplant was beset with difficulties and eventually abandoned, which in turn delayed the prototype's trials.Bishop 1998, p. 401. It was decided to adopt the lower-powered 12-cylinder V-type

Mark 30 engine [] to drive a three-bladed de Havilland propeller and the prototypes eventually flew with this configuration. Experiences gained from the prototype's flight testing, as well as operations with the first production aircraft, called ''Barracuda Mk I'', revealed the aircraft to be underpowered which apparently resulted from the weight of extra equipment that had been added since the initial design. Only 23 Barracuda Mk Is were constructed, including five by

. These aircraft were used for trials and conversion training. Carrier landing the Barracuda was relatively straightforward due to a combination of the powerful flaps/airbrakes fitted to the aircraft and good visibility from the cockpit. Retracting the air-brakes at high speeds while simultaneously applying

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

would cause a sudden change in trim, which could throw the aircraft into an inverted dive.Brown 1980, pp. 105–106.Smith 2008, p. 337. Incidents of this occurrence proved fatal on at least five occasions during practice torpedo runs; once the problem was identified, appropriate pilot instructions were issued prior to the aircraft entering carrier service.

Further development

The definitive version of the aircraft was the Barracuda Mk II which had the more powerful Merlin 32 driving a four-bladed propeller. A total of 1,688 Mk IIs were manufactured by several companies, including Fairey (at

Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...

and Ringway) (675), Blackburn Aircraft (700), Boulton Paul (300), and Westland (13). The Barracuda Mk II carried the metric wavelength ASV II (Air to Surface Vessel) radar, with the Yagi-Uda antennae carried above the wings.Harrison 2002, p. 26. The Barracuda Mk III was an ASW Mk II; changes included the replacement of the metric wavelength ASV set by a centimetric ASV III variant, the scanner for which was housed in a blister under the rear fuselage. 852 Barracuda Mk IIIs were eventually produced, 460 by Fairey and 392 by Boulton Paul. Fairey Barracuda Mk III

The Barracuda Mk IV never left the drawing board. The next and final variant was the ''Barracuda Mk V'', in which the Merlin was replaced with the larger Rolls-Royce Griffon engine. The increased power and torque of the Griffon required other changes, which included the enlargement of the fin and increased wing span with tips being clipped. The first Barracuda Mk V, which was converted from a Mk II, did not fly until 16 November 1944. Fairey had only built 37 aircraft before the war in Europe was over. Early Merlin 30-powered Barracuda Mk Is were deemed to be underpowered and suffered from a poor rate of climb but once airborne the type proved relatively easy to fly. During October 1941, trials of the Barracuda Mk I were conducted at RAF Boscombe Down, which found that the aircraft possessed an overall weight of when equipped with a torpedo. At this weight the Mk I had a maximum speed of at , a climb to took 19.5 minutes, with a maximum climb rate of at and a service ceiling of .Mason 1998, pp. 294, 306. Fairey Barracuda TF

The later Barracuda Mk II had the more powerful Merlin 32, providing a increase in power. During late 1942 testing of the Mk II was performed at RAF Boscombe Down. When flown by naval test pilot Lieutenant Roy Sydney Baker-Falkner at it achieved a climb to in 13.6 minutes, with a maximum climb rate of at and an effective ceiling of . During June 1943, further testing at Boscombe Down by Baker-Falkner demonstrated a maximum range while carrying either a torpedo or a bomb , of and a practical range of , while carrying 6 × bombs reduced the range to and , respectively. During the earlier part of its service life the Barracuda suffered a fairly high rate of unexplained fatal crashes, often involving experienced pilots. Baker-Falkner was brought in to address the issues and boost morale among operational squadrons.Kilbracken 1980, p. 197. During 1945 the cause was traced to small leaks developing in the hydraulic system. The most common point for such a leak to happen was at the point of entry to the pilot's

pressure gauge Pressure measurement is the measurement of an applied force by a fluid (liquid or gas) on a surface. Pressure is typically measured in units of force per unit of surface area. Many techniques have been developed for the measurement of press ...

and was situated such that the resulting spray was directed straight into the pilot's face. The hydraulic fluid contained

ether In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group, a single oxygen atom bonded to two separate carbon atoms, each part of an organyl group (e.g., alkyl or aryl). They have the general formula , where R and R� ...

and as the aircraft were only rarely equipped with

oxygen mask An oxygen mask is a mask that provides a method to transfer breathing gas, breathing oxygen gas from a storage tank to the lungs. Oxygen masks may cover only the nose and mouth (oral nasal mask) or the entire face (full-face mask). They may be ma ...

s and few aircrew wore them below anyway, the pilot quickly became unconscious during such a leak, inevitably leading to a crash.Kilbracken 1980, p. 203. At the end of May 1945 an Admiralty order was issued that required all examples of the type to be fitted with oxygen as soon as possible and for pilots to use the system at all times.

Operational history

British service

The first Barracudas entered operational service on 10 January 1943 with 827 Squadron of the

(FAA) under the command of Lieutenant Commander Roy Sydney Baker-Falkner, the former Admiralty test pilot at RAF Boscombe Down, who were deployed in the

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...

. Eventually a total of 24 front-line FAA squadrons were equipped with Barracudas. While intended to principally function as a torpedo bomber, by the time the Barracuda arrived in quantity relatively little

Axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

-aligned shipping remained, so it was instead largely used as a dive-bomber.Smith 2008, p. 333. From 1944 onwards, the Barracuda Mk II was accompanied in service by radar-equipped, but otherwise similar, Barracuda Mk IIIs; these were typically used to conduct anti-submarine operations. The

(RAF) also operated the Barracuda Mk II. During 1943 the first of the RAF's aircraft were assigned to No. 567 Sqn., based at RAF Detling. During 1944 similar models went to various squadrons, including 667 Sqn. at RAF Gosport, 679 Sqn. at RAF Ipswich and 691 Sqn. at RAF Roborough. Between March and July 1945 all of the RAF's Barracudas were withdrawn from service. During July 1943, the Barracuda first saw action with 810 Squadron aboard off the coast of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

; shortly thereafter, the squadron was deployed to the

to support the landings at Salerno, a critical element of the

Allied invasion of Italy The Allied invasion of Italy was the Allies of World War II, Allied Amphibious warfare, amphibious landing on mainland Italy that took place from 3 September 1943, during the Italian campaign (World War II), Italian campaign of World War II. T ...

.Willis 2009, pp. 72–73. During the following year, the Barracuda entered service in the Pacific Theatre.Harrison 2002, pp. 31–32 As the only British naval aircraft in service stressed for dive bombing following the retirement of the Blackburn Skua the Barracuda participated in Operation Tungsten, an attack on the while it was moored in Kåfjord, Alta,

. On 3 April 1944, Strike Leader Roy Sydney Baker-Falkner led two Naval Air Wings with a total of 42 aircraft dispatched from British carriers and scored 14 direct hits on ''Tirpitz'' using a combination of and bombs for the loss of one bomber.Willis 2009, pp. 74–75.Gunston, Bill. ''Classic World War II Aircraft Cutaways.'' London: Osprey, 1995. pp.120-1.. This attack damaged ''Tirpitz'', killing 122 of her crew and injuring 316, as well as disabling the ship for over two months during the critical period leading up to the Normandy invasion.Smith 2008, pp. 337, 339. However, the slow speed of the Barracudas contributed to the failure of the subsequent Operation Mascot and Operation Goodwood attacks on ''Tirpitz'' during July and August of that year, but were effective as diversionary tactics while the Normandy landings in

Operation Overlord Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allies of World War II, Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Front (World War II), Western Europe during World War II. The ope ...

were underway. On 21 April 1944 Barracudas of No 827 Squadron aboard ''Illustrious'' began operations against Japanese forces.Smith 2008, pp. 339-340. The type participated in air raids on Sabang in

Sumatra Sumatra () is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the list of islands by area, sixth-largest island in the world at 482,286.55 km2 (182,812 mi. ...

, known as Operation Cockpit.Willis 2009, p. 75. In the Pacific theatre, the Barracuda's performance was considerably reduced by the prevailing high temperatures; reportedly, its combat radius in the Pacific was reduced by as much as 30%. This diminished performance was a factor in the decision to re-equip the torpedo bomber squadrons aboard the fleet carriers of the British Pacific Fleet with American-built Grumman Avengers.Willis 2009, pp. 75–76. In the Pacific, a major problem hindering the Barracuda was the need to fly over

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

n mountain ranges to strike at targets located on the eastern side of

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

, which necessitated a high-altitude performance that the Barracuda's low-altitude-rated Merlin 32 engine with its single-stage

supercharger In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement (engine), displacement. It is a form of forced induction that is mechanically ...

could not effectively provide. Carrying the maximum underwing bomb loads resulted in additional drag, which further reduced performance. The Light Fleet Carriers of the 11th ACS (which joined the BPF in June 1945) were all equipped with a single Barracuda and single Corsair squadron. By

Victory over Japan Day Victory over Japan Day (also known as V-J Day, Victory in the Pacific Day, or V-P Day) is the day on which Surrender of Japan, Imperial Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect bringing the war End of World War II in Asia, to an end. The ...

, the BPF had a total of five Avenger and four Barracuda squadrons embarked on its carriers. A number of Barracudas participated in trial flights, during which several innovations were tested, including RATOG rockets for boosting takeoff performance (which ended up being regularly used when operating off escort carriers at high weights),Harrison 2002, p. 16 and a braking

propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...

, which slowed the aircraft by reversing the blade pitch.Harrison 2002, p. 20 Following the end of the conflict, the Barracuda was relegated to secondary roles, for the most part being used as a

trainer aircraft A trainer is a class of aircraft designed specifically to facilitate flight training of pilots and aircrews. The use of a dedicated trainer aircraft with additional safety features—such as tandem flight controls, forgiving flight characteristic ...

. The type continued to be operated by FAA squadrons up until the mid-1950s, by which time the type were withdrawn entirely in favour of the Avengers.

Canadian service

On 24 January 1946, the

(RCN) took delivery of 12 radar-equipped Barracuda Mk II aircraft; this was a Canadian designation, in British service these aircraft were referred to as the Barracuda Mk. III. The first acquired aircraft were assigned to the newly-formed 825 Sqn. aboard aircraft carrier HMCS ''Warrior''. The majority of Canadian aircraft mechanics had served during the war and had been deployed on numerous British aircraft carriers, notably and which, along with some Canadian pilots, the RCN crewed and operated on behalf of the RN. During 1948, the ''Warrior'' was paid off and returned to Britain along with the Barracuda aircraft.

Variants

;Barracuda: Two prototypes (

serial numbers A serial number (SN) is a unique identifier used to ''uniquely'' identify an item, and is usually assigned incrementally or sequentially. Despite being called serial "numbers", they do not need to be strictly numerical and may contain letter ...

P1767 and P1770) based on the Fairey Type 100 design. ;Mk I: First production version,

30 engine with 1,260 hp (940 kW), 30 built ;Mk II: Upgraded Merlin 32 engine with 1,640 hp (1,225 kW), four-bladed propeller, ASV II radar, 1,688 built ;Mk III: Anti-submarine warfare version of Mk II with ASV III radar in a blister under rear fuselage, 852 built ;Mk IV: Mk II (number ''P9976'') fitted with a Rolls-Royce Griffon engine with 1,850 hp (1,380 kW), first flight 11 November 1944, abandoned in favour of Fairey Spearfish. ;Mk V: Griffon 37 engine with 2,020 hp (1,510 kW), payload increased to 2,000 lb (910 kg), ASH radar under the left wing, revised tailfin, 37 built

Operators

; *

- Postwar ; * Dutch Naval Aviation Service in exile in the United Kingdom ** No.860 Squadron (Dutch) Fleet Air Arms ;

Thetford 1982, pp. 162, 172. * 810 Naval Air Squadron * 812 Naval Air Squadron * 814 Naval Air Squadron * 815 Naval Air Squadron * 816 Naval Air Squadron * 817 Naval Air Squadron * 818 Naval Air Squadron * 820 Naval Air Squadron * 821 Naval Air Squadron * 822 Naval Air Squadron * 823 Naval Air Squadron * 824 Naval Air Squadron * 825 Naval Air Squadron * 826 Naval Air Squadron * 827 Naval Air Squadron *

828 Naval Air Squadron 828 Naval Air Squadron (828 NAS) was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm carrier based squadron formed in September 1940 as a torpedo spotter reconnaissance squadron. It operated in a number of the theatres of the Second World War, carrying out a number ...

* 829 Naval Air Squadron *

830 Naval Air Squadron 830 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm squadron formed in Malta in July 1940 flying Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers. During 1940–41 the squadron carried out attacks against the Axis supply effort in the Mediterranean. These ...

* 831 Naval Air Squadron * 831 Naval Air Squadron * 837 Naval Air Squadron * 841 Naval Air Squadron * 847 Naval Air Squadron * 860 Naval Air Squadron * 700 Naval Air Squadron * 701 Naval Air Squadron *

702 Naval Air Squadron 702 Naval Air Squadron (702 NAS), also referred to as 702 Squadron, was a Fleet Air Arm (FAA) naval air squadron of the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy (RN). It most recently operated the Westland Lynx, as the Lynx Headquarters and Training Squadr ...

* No. 567 Squadron RAFLewis 1959, p. 112. * No. 618 Squadron RAF * No. 667 Squadron RAF * No. 679 Squadron RAF * No. 691 Squadron RAFLewis 1959, p. 124.

Surviving aircraft

Over 2,500 Barracudas were delivered to the FAA, more than any other type ordered by the Royal Navy by then. Unlike numerous other aircraft of its era, none were retained for posterity and no complete examples of the aircraft exist today. Since the early 1970s, the

has been collecting Barracuda components from a wide variety of sources throughout the British Isles to rebuild one. In 2010, help was sought from the team rebuilding Donald Campbell's record-breaking speed boat, '' Bluebird'', as the processes and skills involved were related to those needed to recreating the aircraft from the crashed remains, so between May 2013 and February 2015 'The Barracuda Project' operated as a sister project to the Bluebird rebuild. The tail section of ''LS931'' was reconstructed using only original material. During September 2014, the wreckage of a rear fuselage was delivered to the workshops to undergo the same processes. In February 2015, the Barracuda sections were transported back to the Fleet Air Arm Museum, where the work continues. During 2018, the wreckage of a Fairey Barracuda was discovered by engineers surveying the seabed for an electricity cable between England and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. According to Wessex Archaeology it is the only example of the type to have ever been found in one piece and represents the last of its kind in the UK. During 2019 the wreckage was recovered and it was intended to be reassembled and transported to the

for preservation."Lost WW2 Aircraft lifted from sea after more than 75 years."
''heritagedaily.com'', 5 June 2019. As of November 2023, the Fleet Air Arm Museum is running a project, including online content to rebuild a Barracuda based on ''DP872'', a Barracuda Mk II built by Boulton Paul in 1943. The project is expected to take ten years and although based on ''DP872'', will use parts from at least four other aircraft, ''LS931'', ''DR306'', ''MD956'' and ''PM870''. ''DP872'' crashed on 29 August 1944 shortly after takeoff from RNAS Maydown (HMS Shrike) in Northern Ireland. The recovery crew arrived promptly but found the aircraft already sinking in a bog, Blackhead Moss, about from the airfield and were unable to recover the crew of three before the aircraft sank. The remains of the aircraft were recovered in 1971 and stored at the Fleet Air Arm Museum store in Wroughton, Wiltshire.

Specifications (Barracuda Mk II)

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Bishop, Chris (Ed) "The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II." ''Orbis Publishing Ltd'', 1998. . * Brown, Eric, CBE, DCS, AFC, RN.; William Green, and Gordon Swanborough. "Fairey Barracuda". ''Wings of the Navy, Flying Allied Carrier Aircraft of World War Two''. London: Jane's Publishing Company, 1980, pp. 99–108. . * Brown, J. David. ''Fairey Barracuda Mks. I-V (Aircraft in profile 240)''. Windsor, Berkshire, UK: Profile Publications Ltd., 1972. * Brown, David. ''HMS Illustrious Aircraft Carrier 1939-1956: Operational History '' (Warship Profile 11). London: Profile Publications, 1971. * Fredriksen, John C. ''International Warbirds: An Illustrated Guide to World Military Aircraft, 1914-2000''. ABC-CLIO, 2001. . * Hadley, D. ''Barracuda Pilot.'' London: AIRlife Publishing, 2000. . * Halley, James J. ''The Squadrons of the Royal Air Force & Commonwealth 1918–1988''. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1988. . * Harrison, W.A. ''Fairey Barracuda, Warpaint No.35''. Luton, Bedfordshire, UK: Hall Park Books Ltd., 2002. * Jefford, C.G. ''RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912''. Shrewsbury, UK: Airlife Publishing, 2001. . * Kilbracken, Lord. ''Bring Back my Stringbag''. London, Pan Books Ltd., 1980 (also London: Peter Davies Ltd, 1979), . * Lewis, Peter. ''Squadron Histories: R.F.C., R.N.A.S. and R.A.F. 1912–59''. London: Putnam, 1959. * Mason, Tim. ''The Secret Years: Flight Testing at Boscombe Down, 1939-1945''. Manchester, UK: Hikoki Publications, 1998. . * Smith, Peter C. ''Dive Bomber!: Aircraft, Technology, and Tactics in World War II''. Stackpole Books, 2008. * Taylor, H.A. ''Fairey Aircraft Since 1915.'' London: Putnam, 1974. . * Thetford, Owen. ''British Naval Aircraft since 1912''. London: Putnam, Fifth edition, 1982. . * Willis, Matthew. "Database: The Fairey Barracuda." ''Aeroplane Monthly'', May 2009, Vol. 37, No. 5, pp. 57–77.

External links

The Barracuda Project
Barracuda restoration project *
Newsreel film of the Barracuda's attack on ''Tirpitz''

Newsreel about the life and death of the ''Tirpitz'' showing the Barracuda in action
{{Authority control 1940s British bomber aircraft Aircraft with retractable conventional landing gear Carrier-based aircraft Fairey aircraft, Barracuda High-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1940 Single-engined piston aircraft