Why Swordfish crews flew WITHOUT a cockpit floor

Описание: One hundred and twenty miles over the Atlantic, two Royal Navy aviators stared straight down through an empty fuselage shaft into the open sea below. During the May 1941 torpedo attack on the battleship Bismarck, their Fairey Swordfish survived shells that pierced its canvas skin without detonating. Yet a violent force during the run threw the biplane off course, stripped away its weapon, and tore out the rear floor—turning the flight back to HMS Victorious into a brutal fight to stay inside the aircraft.

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