Bilgepumps Taranto 80 part 2 of 3: Fleet Air Arm's Finest Hour

A failed Italian submarine attack and a rapid Malta turnaround allowed Force F to continue through the central Mediterranean.

The delivery of fresh RAF photographs leads into a comparison between official naval records and participants' accounts of how wartime tasks were accomplished.

British ships dispersing from Malta encouraged the belief that their immediate operation was finished, before Illustrious turned north near dusk.

Ark Royal's attacks damaged the personnel and supplies needed to keep reconnaissance aircraft flying, extending their effect beyond destroyed airframes.

A dusk Sunderland overflight confirmed the battleships remained in harbour while the weather still favoured a night attack.

Commander Richard Opie III observed the briefing aboard Illustrious so the US Navy could compare carrier-strike theory with British operational practice before America entered the war.

Sand and mould in aviation fuel supplied to Illustrious caused another aircraft loss and reduced a strike already short of its intended strength.

Each Taranto strike combined flare-droppers, torpedo aircraft, and shallow bombers so that illumination aided attackers while complicating defence.

Slow flight and responsive handling let Swordfish crews evade balloon cables and picket boats when obstacles appeared suddenly in the darkness.

The defenders had already responded to two alarms when the main strike arrived, and an aircraft separated by cloud probably caused the second.

Two heavy cruisers stopped firing and disappeared into the inner harbour's darkness, while searchlights threatened to reveal ships or blind other defenders.

At wave-top height, Swordfish crossed lines of fire that pointed toward friendly ships and Taranto itself.

Canvas covering gave some heavy anti-aircraft shells too little resistance to detonate, although light fire and direct hits to the engine or crew remained dangerous.

Shore defences were weighted toward machine guns and heavy flak, leaving a gap against slow but highly manoeuvrable low-level carrier aircraft.

The opening torpedo aircraft struck Conte di Cavour but ditched beside a floating dock, leaving its pilot and observer to watch the rest of the raid before capture.

Releasing a heavy torpedo changed the aircraft's balance, while the required entry height could force a Swordfish to climb out of its lowest approach.

Lamb's view from about 5,000 feet above the first attackers connects low defensive fire with the risk of hitting ships and the town.

The next two torpedoes missed Cavour for uncertain reasons, while both Swordfish escaped after tight turns inside the harbour.

The harbour had too little room for all twelve aircraft to make torpedo runs and tight escape turns among ships and balloon cables.

Arming errors or releases too low for the fuzes to arm are proposed explanations. Higher-flying flare aircraft had better results against fuel installations, but the cause is not established.

A separated Swordfish released at Littorio from about 400 yards, and a further hit brought the first wave's total to three from six torpedo aircraft.

The Swordfish pilots' hard-left turns lead into an explanation of why most carrier islands were placed to starboard, away from a pilot's instinctive emergency turn.

A proposed addition to the raid uses extra Swordfish to lay mines that would complicate work after the bombing and torpedo attacks.

Taranto's scattered ship positions created defensive crossfire risks but reduced the chance that a torpedo missing one battleship would hit another.

Falling flares and gunfire helped pilots locate ships, while cruisers that stopped firing could disappear into the dark harbour.

Two seaplanes burned, while damage to hangars and stores threatened the support needed for further flying.

Libeccio's dud-bomb damage leads into a comparison of penetration, internal blast and the ability to contain flooding.

Unable to see the other Swordfish through the barrage, Charles Lamb stayed over Taranto to establish what the strike had achieved.

Illustrious used radio cues, flare markers, hooded lights, and a batsman to guide returning Swordfish onto the carrier at night.

A deck accident and a dangling fuel tank reduced the second wave, but quick repair work returned one damaged Swordfish to the strike.

Swordfish repairs after a hangar fire and the Hurricane-Spitfire comparison show how construction affected an air group's ability to sustain operations.

The second wave arrived as repair work began, with fires, noise and lights changing the conditions for both attackers and defenders.

A Swordfish crashed with no survivors, leaving a torpedo found beside a cruiser as uncertain evidence that its crew had released before going down.

A reluctant torpedo forced a hazardous release manoeuvre, and the attacking pair's hit on Littorio could not be assigned confidently to one crew.

The later attackers endured a cable strike and wing damage, while a torpedo missed Vittorio Veneto and bombs hitting Trento failed to detonate.

After roughly six and a half hours in the air, the returning crews found Illustrious and landed with just one minor deck collision.

A separate navigator allowed the pilot to concentrate on flying while the crew found its way over the sea at night with limited navigation equipment.