Fairey Albacore

what is it?

The Fairey Albacore is a single-engine biplane torpedo bomber designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Fairey Aviation. It was primarily operated by the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm (FAA) during the Second World War. The Albacore, popularly known as the "Applecore," was conceived as a replacement for the Fairey Swordfish, an earlier biplane introduced during the mid 1930s.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · biplane · fixed tailwheel (taildragger) · 15.2 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 259 km/htop speed
• size 5,820 kgmax take-off weight
• built 800made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 88 years ago, in 1938.
• 🏎️Top speed is 2.0× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 15.2 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1938-12-12

introduced

1939

retired

1946

status

retired

number built

800

role

torpedo bomber

origin

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

makers

Fairey Aviation Company

engines

1× Bristol Taurus XII / Bristol Taurus

crew

2

length

12.2 m

wingspan

15.2 m

height

3.9 m

max take-off weight

5,820 kg

top speed

259 km/h

cruise speed

225 km/h

range

—

ceiling

5,730 m

wings

biplane

landing gear

fixed conventional landing gear

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.