Dive-bombing the Tirpitz | "It was a waste of time"

Part Two of Two
   • When Corsairs & Hellcats hit the Tirpitz   ◁ For Part 1 of the Sink the Tirpitz series

The Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm conducted a campaign of surprise air strikes against Germany's last remaining battleship, Tirpitz, in 1944. This represented the first operational deployment of the controversial Fairey Barracuda. The ungainly high-wing torpedo-dive bomber was pitted against the cold, mountains and fjords of northern Norway in an effort to drop their bombs on a target almost always concealed by smoke.
Operation Tungsten, April 1944, was the most successful - putting Tirpitz out of action for three months and keeping her away from the D-Day convoys. On 3 April 1944, Barracudas from the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm launched an attack on Tirpitz while it was anchored. The strike aircraft scored several direct hits on the battleship.
However, the attack was not as successful as the British had hoped. Only one of the bombs that hit Tirpitz caused significant damage, and the battleship was able to return to service after repairs were made. But the attack made it clear that the battleship was vulnerable to air attack.
As the Fleet Air Arms raids continued, especially for Operation Goodwood in August, Tirpitz defenders became quicker and more effective in concealing the hunted warship under smoke. The attack on the Tirpitz was a significant moment in the war, as it demonstrated the importance of carrier-borne aircraft in naval warfare and contributed to the eventual destruction of the Tirpitz later that year.

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VIDEO CONTENTS

0:00 CHAPTER 1: Introduction
0:20 William Coster (Pilot 826 and 820 Naval Air Squadrons)
0:50 Mastery at Sea (Documentary clip)
1:28 Cyril Price (Observer 828 Naval Air Squadron)
2:07 Norman Harrison (Observer 831 Naval Air Squadron)
2:41 Cyril Price (Observer 828 Naval Air Squadron)
3:56 Wings Over Water (Documentary clip)
4:22 Robert McCandless (Pilot 827 Naval Air Squadron)
5:55 Cyril Price (Observer 828 Naval Air Squadron)

6:53 CHAPTER 2: The Threat
7:00 War Pictorial News No. 158 (Newsreel clip)
7:17 Norman Harrison (Observer 831 Naval Air Squadron)
9:00 Cyril Price (Observer 828 Naval Air Squadron)

9:58 CHAPTER 3: Deployment
10:00 Wings Over Water (Documentary clip)
11:17 Norman Harrison (Observer 831 Naval Air Squadron)
12:00 Cyril Price (Observer 828 Naval Air Squadron)
12:40 Norman Harrison (Observer 831 Naval Air Squadron)
13:28 Cyril Price (Observer 828 Naval Air Squadron)

13:57 CHAPTER 4: The Approach
14:04 Wings Over Water (Documentary clip)
14:27 Cyril Price (Observer 828 Naval Air Squadron)
15:30 Robert McCandless (Pilot 827 Naval Air Squadron)
16:26 Norman Harrison (Observer 831 Naval Air Squadron)
17:16 William Coster (Pilot 826 and 820 Naval Air Squadrons)
18:06 Robert McCandless (Pilot 827 Naval Air Squadron)

19:02 CHAPTER 5: The Attacks
19:09 Wings Over Water (Documentary clip)
19:47 Norman Harrison (Observer 831 Naval Air Squadron)
20:59 Cyril Price (Observer 828 Naval Air Squadron)
22:08 Robert McCandless (Pilot 827 Naval Air Squadron)
23:22 Norman Harrison (Observer 831 Naval Air Squadron)
24:09 Robert McCandless (Pilot 827 Naval Air Squadron)

24:49 CHAPTER 6: Aftermath
25:50 War Pictorial News No. 158 (Newsreel clip)
25:56 Norman Harrison (Observer 831 Naval Air Squadron)
26:57 Robert McCandless (Pilot 827 Naval Air Squadron)
27:47 Cyril Price (Observer 828 Naval Air Squadron)
27:32 Norman Harrison (Observer 831 Naval Air Squadron)
29:09 Edmund Poland (Torpedo Officer, HMS Furious)
30:58 Cyril Price (Observer 828 Naval Air Squadron)

32:26 CHAPTER 7: Postscript
32:32 Mastery At Sea (Documentary clip)
33:24 Robert McCandless (Pilot 827 Naval Air Squadron)
34:46 Cyril Price (Observer 828 Naval Air Squadron)
35:23
36:15 Cyril Price (Observer 828 Naval Air Squadron)
37:20 Norman Harrison (Observer 831 Naval Air Squadron)
38:21 The Tirpitz (Newsreel)

38:51 End Titles


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