Swordfish HS491 now on Malta

[Warbirdnerd]

Sorry if this has already been mentioned here...
From ANN:
Maltese Aviation Museum Lands A Swordfish
One Of the Rarest Of Warbirds Comes From Canada

It was slow and ugly and... remarkably effective against German
U-Boats. Not only that, but a British Faery Swordfish also crippled
the pocket battleship Bismark, leading to its ultimate destruction
at the hands of the Royal Navy.

Now, one of the 12 Swordfish still in existence has arrived at
Malta, where it will be restored by volunteers over the next ten
years.

"The museum is extremely grateful to its volunteers who carry
out painstaking restoration which commercially costs about ($86.40)
an hour," said Ray Polidano, director general of Malta's Aviation
Museum Foundation. He was quoted in the Times of Malta.

This particular Swordfish, HS491, was purchased by the museum
from Canadian Bob Spence. The aircraft was built in 1943 and
commissioned by the Royal Canadian Air Force. The aircraft remained
in Canadian service until it was scrapped in 1946. Spence bought it
in the 1970s and cannibalized it to restore another Swordfish.

Polidano said Spence was moved to sell the remains of his
Swordfish for less than US $40,000 after seeing the quality of the
restoration work the museum had done on another project -- a Hawker
Hurricane fished from the sea more than nine years ago.

When finished in 2014, the Swordfish will go on display at the
yet-to-be-built Battle of Malta Memorial Hangar.

Among the other 11 Swordfish, one is flying in Canada. Two
have been restored for the UK's Fleet Air Arm and one other is
being restored there.
FMI: www.digigate.net/aviation/museum/index.asp

Last edited by Warbirdnerd on Wed Sep 29, 2004 2:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[AirJimL2]

So which Spence hulk is this, the really beat up one, or the one in much better shape that was recently shown here by Setter?

I wish I understood or could track down the current status of all the ex-RCN fish hulks.

Jim

--------------------------------------------------

from the Times of Malta

A Fairey Swordfish, one of the rarest World War II airplanes which the
Ta' Qali Aviation Museum bought from Canada, has now arrived and is
awaiting restoration as another long-term project by the museum.

Ray Polidano, director general of Aviation Museum Foundation, said the
restoration of the Swordfish would take about 10 years and cost close to
half a million liri.

"The museum is extremely grateful to its volunteers who carry out
painstaking restoration which commercially costs about £m 30 an hour,"
Mr Polidano added.

The Swordfish was one of the most unusual combat aircraft of World War
II. It was a big, slow, and cumbersome biplane. It looked obsolete but
managed to serve until the end of the war. At first, Swordfish planes
operated from the large fleet carriers but later operated from escort
carriers and were most effective against U-boats.

Only 12 of this plane remain worldwide and the Aviation Museum will give
its plane pride of place with other aircraft at the Battle of Malta
Memorial Hangar which the museum is planning to build.

Out of the 12 surviving Swordfishes in various stages of restoration,
one is in flying condition in Canada, two are in the U.K. with the Fleet
Air Arm. and there is another also at the Fleet Air Arm which is being
restored to flying condition.

The Swordfish was bought by the museum from Bob Spence, a Canadian
collector of planes.

The Swordfish, HS491, which the museum bought, was made in February 1943 for the Royal Canadian Air Force. It had been dumped in a scrap yard after it was written off in 1946. Mr Spence bought it in the 1970s,
cannibalising it to restore another Swordfish.

The versatility of the Swordfish was immortalised in its moniker, the
Stringbag. The planes became famous for the attack on Taranto, where the battleship Littorio was sunk and two others were heavily damaged.

In May 1941, Swordfish planes from HMS Ark Royal crippled the
Bismarck -- a most impressive success for such an old-fashioned
aircraft.

The museum has for the past nine years also been restoring a Hurricane
which was fished out of the sea close to Wied Iz-Zurrieq.

Mr Polidano said Mr Spence had been greatly impressed by the restoration
work the museum had done on the Hurricane and offered to sell them the
HS491.

The aircraft parts were purchased for 50,000 Canadian dollars, or £m
13,000. The money came mainly from a hefty donation by DavidDalton, a
British flying enthusiast.

The proceeds from the sale of a 1982 Cadillac donated by the late
Charles Puglisevich, former honorary consul general of Malta in
Newfoundland, also went towards the purchase.

The Swordfish the museum will restore had not operated in Malta. The
third model ever produced in Britain, the K5934, was delivered to the
anti-aircraft cooperation unit in Malta, along with another good number
of Swordfish planes.

"The planes operated mainly at night because of their remarkably low
speed and some were equipped with floats to operate from the water," Mr
Polidano explained.

[Steve T]

Well well well!

This really is a great piece of news...into the bargain giving me a brand new serial for my list of ex-Ernie Simmons collection aircraft. Previously only had HS554 and HS517 from the seven 'fish auctioned in 1970 at Ernie's farm in Courtland ON. Bob Spence used parts of four 'fish to restore HS554 to fly. The one Setter posted about and the other "really bad" one Jim mentions would still leave one more. Anyway, it's great to hear of the museum in Malta obviously going from strength to strength and inventively regaining pieces of the George Cross Island's history for display. (There's a link here with one of Rob R's book projects: The museum in Malta will now have a Swordfish to represent those used in the island's defence; none of those aircraft survived...but similar 'fish were used as gunnery trainers in Canada, and a bunch of them were bought surplus by an eccentric collector here in the 40s, four of them passing to another collector who restored one to fly...and now one of the "spares" from that project will be a prized artifact in a museum halfway round the world. Most cool.)

S.

[AirJimL2]

would still leave one more.

HS509?

Jim

[airnutz]

Whew... tooo much good news in one night! The Navy busts a smart
move with BW-372. A stringbag finds a great home in Malta due to the benevolent actions of 2 godfathers....and one "bag" is still out there to be
found!
"The schtuff dreams are made of , schweet-haught....." OK...so Bogey
I ain't...