Fairey Swordfish Mk III NF370Photographed on 15 March 2011 in the AirSpace hangar at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford.
This aircraft was delivered on 1 April 1944 from the Blackburn Aircraft Ltd plant at Sherburn-in-Elmet in Yorkshire and is one of only two left in the world. NF370 was allocated to an RAF Squadron in February 1944, although no records exist as to which one. The black paint that signified its RAF service was discovered during the restoration process and it has been restored to show its RAF colours.
My father, a rigger in the RAF attached to the Fleet Air Arm on HMS Eagle during WW2, told me of his time in the Mediterranean working on "Stringbags" while being bombed (ineffectually) by the Italian Air Force.
Picture added on 25 March 2011 at 07:23
