Air Torpedo Attacks 1939-1942
 

I'm reviewing the effectiveness of air torpedo attacks in these yers. Have collected information on attacks by the British Swordfish aircraft but no others. Mostly I am looking for leads on when and where these torpedo attacks occured. Any refrences, dates, units, targets, or other information that will help me track this down is most welcome. Info about obscure &little published attacks are particularly sought.

Any discussion on this is most welcome as well

Thanks

Carl S

Re: Air Torpedo Attacks 1939-1942
 

Carl,

This is a topic I have interest in as well.

There is the very fine history of Coastal Command with data tables http://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Offe.../dp/0714641472

There is this for German operations but there are no source notes:
Luftwaffe Aerial Torpedo Aircraft and Operations in World War Two
By Harold Thiele
Artwork by Tim Brown
Hikoki
96 pages, 5 color profiles

Do not know about Japanese, Italian, USAAF,USN. I suspect Airwar Pacific by Eric Hammel for the PTO might have the information but one has to tally the sorties involving torpedoes.

NB: I should add that for ETO and MTO the very fine chronologies by Shores, Cull,etc. detail sorties with detail on the type of weapons used-torpedoes or bombs. You know there are many to go through depending on theater and time of year.

I have a copy of Not by Courage Alone or similar regarding the Italian Air Force and it is not detailed. There are Italian Official Histories on aerial operations which are multi-volume.

Re: Air Torpedo Attacks 1939-1942
 

Thanks, add those to the list.

Re: Air Torpedo Attacks 1939-1942
 

How about any of the many books of Pearl Harbor/Midway?

Re: Air Torpedo Attacks 1939-1942
 

Morison's multi-volume history of USN operations will give you a good overview of the early Pacific battles, but, as suggested, you should consult the numerous written accounts of those battles for more detailed information regarding size of attacking forces, numbers of torpedoes launched, strikes claimed vs hits, etc. An important sidebar to your study should include the impact of defective US torpedoes during that period.

Re: Air Torpedo Attacks 1939-1942
 

Thanks for the help. I've got a long reading list now. If anyone recalls a obscure of seldom mentions torpedo attack post the location & date. ie: I'd not known a couple flights of Swordfish attempted a attack @ Dakar Africa & several were shot down by H75 fighter planes.

Re: Air Torpedo Attacks 1939-1942
 

Hi Carl,

As my main area of interest is the RAAF, the only operations (in the Pacific at least) were restricted to the Beaufort and Catalina.

I checked my Beaufort references last night. There are 2 which may be of interest.

1. The Beaufort File - Roger Hayward (Air Britain). This book contains a lot of history of individual aircraft with some technical details and photos. It does have a comprehensive list of ships sunk (confirmed/probable) in the Appendix naming the Ship, Type of weapon (Bombs, Torpedo, Mine) and the date of the action. I don't think there is any detailed action accounts in the book though. Note the summary includes RAF actions as well.

2. Nr 6 OTU Base Operations Unit and RAAF Beaufort Torpedo Operations by John Lever (Self Published - Sunnylands Press). This book has a quite extensive history of the training and technical development of the Beaufort for Torpedo bombing. The last few chapters also have a number of action reports of Torpedo attacks.

Both these books are Out of Print, though by a quick search the second is still available for various prices.

The Catalina, from memory was only seldom used for night Torpedo attacks. I think they were on harbours. I have quite a few Catalina books and can't recall which one such an account was in but I don't think there were more than 1 or 2 instances of such attacks.

The only other RAAF squadron that could possibly have performed torpedo attacks was 455 squadron operating Hampdens but I can't recall whether they ever flew on operations as torpedo bombers.

Regards

Michael

Re: Air Torpedo Attacks 1939-1942
 

Not much over the Indian Ocean either. Sommervilles fleet came close against Nagumo, but missed by a few hours. A squadron of Swordfish was shot down near Colombo, tho not on a attack mission.

Re: Air Torpedo Attacks 1939-1942
 

A much more detailed book on RAAF Beaufort operations is "Song of the Beauforts - No. 100 Squadron RAAF and Beaufort Bomber Operations" by Colin M. King. Has very detailed action reports.

Readily available throught the Australian War Memorial Bookshop.
https://www.awm.gov.au/search/shop/?...auforts&submit=

Re: Air Torpedo Attacks 1939-1942
 

Felix... I should have asked earlier. Exactly what is your interest in the subject? Mine started with a question about the effectiveness of the German air force against cargo ships early in the war & sort of spread across all air-to-ship strikes.