British accounts often identified Indomitable's torpedo attacker during Operation Husky as a German Ju 88. That identification is doubtful: few torpedo-capable Ju 88s were available in the Mediterranean, and German records do not show the attack. Italian records instead describe a lone Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 making a torpedo run at the carrier. Its night approach followed a route from which a returning Fairey Albacore was expected, catching a fleet confident in its control of the night. An initial assumption that the attacker was German subsequently acquired the more specific Ju 88 identification, illustrating how an uncertain report can harden into an accepted account.
Notable Point · 3:12:08-3:19:32
Why Indomitable's attacker was probably an Italian SM.79
Italian records and the approach of a lone SM.79 challenge the familiar identification of Indomitable's attacker as a German Ju 88.