Swordfish fighter control before the Wellington AEW trials

Why are the British origins of airborne early warning often overlooked, and was the Wellington really the first example?

Later American systems became better known, while a Swordfish observer coordinating fighters in early 1941 is offered as an earlier British example than the Wellington.

A radar-equipped Fairey Swordfish helping coordinate fighters in the Mediterranean in early 1941 is proposed as an earlier example than the Wellington trials. Its observer used the aircraft's radar for fighter control. Later American systems became more famous and helped obscure that British contribution. There is disagreement over how much priority matters: one position values effective implementation over invention, while the reply stresses the prestige attached to being first. Britain's habit of developing ideas without fully implementing them complicates either judgment.