Fairey Albacore 1/72 Scale Model

British - This is a model of one of the carrier based Royal Navy torpedo bombers that were outfitted with three 250-lb bombs under each wing and used as dive bombers against the Vichy French in northern Algeria during Operation TORCH in November 1942. Most of the British planes participating in this operation were painted with American insignias in the hope that the French would be less likely to fire at them. (It didn't work.) The Albacore was the last British combat biplane and entered service in 1940. It was supposed to replace the Fairey Swordfish, but its performance was only marginally better. By the end of 1943 it had been replaced by the Fairey Barracuda and American built Grumman Avenger.

More Photos: Left, Right, Top, Front Angle Right, Front Angle Left, Rear Angle Right, Rear Angle Left, Rear, Above Right, Above Left

Air War for Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete 1940-1941, Christopher Shores

Black Cross/Red Star: The Air War Over the Eastern Front, Volume 1, Operation Barbarossa, Christer Bergstrom

Bloody Shambles: Comprehensive Account of Air Operations over South-East Asia, February-May 1942; The Defense of Sumatra to the Fall of Burma, Christopher Shores

Britain's Fleet Air Arm in WWII, Ron MacKay

Coastal Command at War, Chaz Bowyer

Concise Guide to British Aircraft of World War II, David Mondey

Dust Clouds in the Middle East: The Air War for East Africa, Iraq, Syria, Iran and Madagascar, 1940-42, Christopher Shores

Fairey Swordfish and Albacore, W.A. Harrison

Fighters Over the Desert: The Air Battles in the Western Desert. June 1940 to December 1942, Christopher Shores

Fleet Air Arm Handbook 1939-1945, David Wragg

Malta: The Spitfire Year, 1942, Christopher Shores

The Naval War in the Mediterranean 1940-1943, Jack Greene

Operation TORCH: The Allied Gamble to Invade North Africa, William Breuer

RAF Coastal Command in Action 1939-1945, Roy Conyers Nesbit