Presents the story of the men who crewed the Fairey Swordfish, a biplane in an age of monoplanes: from their triumphs against the Italian Fleet at Taranto and the German battleship Bismarck in the mid-Atlantic, to the deadly challenge of the Channel Dash in the bleak winter waters of their homeland.
"Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy began World War II with torpedo bombers that could devastate enemy warships and merchantmen at will. Britain's Royal Navy squadrons went to war equipped with the Fairey Swordfish. A biplane torpedo bomber in an age of monoplanes, the Swordfish was underpowered and undergunned; an obsolete museum piece, an embarrassment. Its crews fully expected to be shot from the skies. Instead, they flew the ancient 'Stringbag' into legend"--