Fairey Swordfish - Operators

Operators

Australia

• Royal Australian Air Force
  • Three aircraft were used by No. 25 Squadron RAAF in 1942.

Canada

• Royal Canadian Air Force
• Royal Canadian Navy

Italy

• Regia Aeronautica

Swordfish 4A was first to fall into Italian hands in the aftermath of the Battle of Taranto, in poor condition. Swordfish K8422 of HMS Eagle was shot down and captured during a raid on Maritza airfield, Rhodes on 4 September 1940. Evaluated at Guidonia Test Centre and kept serviceable until mid-1941 with spare parts coming from captured Swordfish K8422 (4H). Swordfish P4127 (coded 4F) of 820 squadron on HMS Ark Royal, involved in bombing raid on Cagliari, Sardinia. Hit by ground fire, it force-landed on the enemy airfield at Elmas on 2 August 1940. The crew were taken POW and the aircraft captured intact. Caproni repaired it locally and fitted it with an Alfa Romeo 125 engine. It was taken to the Stabilimento Costruzioni Aeronautiche in Guidonia on 27 February 1941. It was still listed as being there 6 April 1942.

Netherlands

• Royal Netherlands Navy -
  • Dutch Naval Aviation Service in exile in the United Kingdom
    • No. 860 (Dutch) Squadron Fleet Air Arms

Spain

Swordfish W5843 of 813 squadron at North Front, Gibraltar, lost its bearings during an anti-submarine sweep and force landed between Ras el Farea and Pota Pescadores, in Spanish Morocco, on 30 April 1942. The crew were all interned. The final fate of the aircraft is not known.

Swordfish P4073 of 700 squadron of HMS Malaya ran out of fuel whilst shadowing the German battleship Scharnhorst on 8 March 1942. Aircraft and crew were interned in Spain. The Swordfish was put on the strength of the Spanish airforce as HR6-1 in 6 December 1943 with 54 Escuadrilla, Puerto de le Cruz, Tenerife, Canary Islands. Retired March 1945 at Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.

United Kingdom

• Royal Air Force
  • No. 8 Squadron RAF
  • No. 119 Squadron RAF
  • No. 202 Squadron RAF
  • No. 209 Squadron RAF
  • No. 273 Squadron RAF
  • No. 613 Squadron RAF
  • No. 3 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit (No. 3 AACU), Malta and Gibralter
  • No. 4 Anti-Aircraft Co-operation Unit (No. 4 AACU), Singapore
  • 9 (Pilot) Advanced Flying Unit
• Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (prior to May 1939 part of RAF)
  • 700 Squadron
  • 705 Squadron (float-equipped aircraft from the battlecruisers Repulse and Renown)
  • 771 Squadron
  • 810 Squadron
  • 811 Squadron
  • 812 Squadron
  • 814 Squadron
  • 815 Squadron
  • 816 Squadron
  • 817 Squadron-transferred to South Africa in 1945
  • 818 Squadron
  • 819 Squadron
  • 820 Squadron
  • 821 Squadron
  • 822 Squadron
  • 823 Squadron
  • 824 Squadron
  • 825 Squadron
  • 836 Squadron
  • 838 Squadron