Types
Torpedo bombers first appeared during the latter years of World War I.
Generally, they carried torpedoes designed for air launch, that were smaller and lighter than those used by submarines and surface warships. Nonetheless, as an airborne torpedo could weigh as much as 2000 pounds (or 907 kilograms), more than twice the bomb load of a contemporary single-engined bomber, the aircraft carrying it needed to have a more powerful engine. Carrying torpedoes also required a long bomb-bay (or in any case a longer fuselage), which was why a special type of plane was needed for this role.
A number of multi-engined, heavier aircraft have also been used in the torpedo bomber role, with the Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" being used in the sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse. The same squadron and planes later attempted a torpedo attack on USS Lexington, but the carrier's combat air patrol and anti-aircraft guns downed 17 of the Japanese planes, which exposed the vulnerability of this type against such defenses.
Torpedo bombers disappeared almost immediately at the end of the war, being replaced by more generalized aircraft, and then missiles. However, some postwar jet aircraft (such as the Ilyushin Il-28T) were adapted as torpedo bombers in the late 1940s and 1950s. The last known torpedo bomber attack was made by U.S. Navy Skyraiders against Hwacheon Dam during the Korean War. The North Korean Air Force notably had the world's last operational torpedo bombers in the 1980s.
In a parallel development, some maritime strike aircraft and helicopters have been capable of launching guided torpedoes against submarines. However, the mode of operation of these aircraft is considerably different.
Read more about this topic: Torpedo Bomber
Famous quotes containing the word types:
“The bourgeoisie loves so-called “positive” types and novels with happy endings since they lull one into thinking that it is fine to simultaneously acquire capital and maintain one’s innocence, to be a beast and still be happy.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)
“As for types like my own, obscurely motivated by the conviction that our existence was worthless if we didn’t make a turning point of it, we were assigned to the humanities, to poetry, philosophy, painting—the nursery games of humankind, which had to be left behind when the age of science began. The humanities would be called upon to choose a wallpaper for the crypt, as the end drew near.”
—Saul Bellow (b. 1915)
“The rank and file have let their servants become their masters and dictators.... Provision should be made in all union constitutions for the recall of leaders. Big salaries should not be paid. Career hunters should be driven out, as well as leaders who use labor for political ends. These types are menaces to the advancement of labor.”
—Mother Jones (1830–1930)