Under the Fleet Air Arm's peacetime schedule, the Swordfish should already have been leaving service. The Fairey Albacore was intended to cover only the short interval from roughly 1939 to 1942. The Fairey Barracuda was then expected to enter service as the longer-term successor. War disrupted that orderly replacement cycle and left a mature aircraft serving beyond its planned life. Taranto shows how the Swordfish's build quality and its crews converted that extended service into operational success.
Notable Point · 32:54-34:00
Why the Swordfish outlived its planned replacement cycle
Peacetime plans would have replaced the Swordfish with the Albacore and then the Barracuda, but wartime service kept the older aircraft in combat.