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BARRACUDA From the Cockpit, No 16

Robert McCandless

The Fairey Barracuda has traditionally received a mixed press, and there is no doubt that it gained something of a reputation for unexplained accidents when it first entered service, but it proved to be an important—if somewhat underpowered—component of the Fleet Air Arm’s inventory during World War II, and, once pilots had mastered the challenges of flying it, it came to be regarded as a rugged and reliable strike aircraft. It was widely employed throughout the fleet, seeing service more as a dive bomber than as a torpedo bomber, and it carried out valuable work in the second-line squadrons, especially in the anti-submarine rôle. It was not finally retired until mid-1953.

This new book’s principal author, Lt-Cdr Robert McCandless, served on 827 (Barracuda) Squadron during the latter years of the war, taking part in the strikes against the German battleship Tirpitz and later flying from the carrier Colossus in the Far East. His incisive and detailed text is, as usual with this series of books, amplified by the recollections of others with first-hand memories of the Barracuda—pilots, observers and TAGs—throughout its operational career.

210 × 297mm, 144 pages (8 in colour), 162 photographs, 34 artworks. ISBN 978 0 946958 78 8. Price £18.95 net.