SWORDFISH PATROL by George E. Sadler

Swordfish Patrol is the story of a Fleet Air Arm pilot during the Second World War. After a lengthy period of pilot training in both the UK and Canada he was drafted to a Swordfish squadron. "The Swordfish, which looked singularly Heath Robinson ...was cold, very cold in winter snow, with an open cockpit. ... forward visibility was poor, petrol and oil tanks fronted by a radial engine were sited directly in front of the pilot whose cockpit was abaft of the wing. I should have felt dismayed on seeing the aircraft I was to fly, it was more like a camel — a horse designed by a committee."

George Sadler was amongst the last group of airmen to go to war in an open cockpit, not far removed from the intrepid pilots of the First World War. But they saw no glamourous single combats over the Western Front, instead they spent long hours in below zero temperatures over the North Atlantic. "Nearer we came ...I could see nothing. I came down to two hundred feet ... Tommy indicated half a mile. Still no sign of anything. At a quarter of a mile, Tommy's comforting voice had lost its conviction. Then we found the carrier and cleared the bridge about half a wingspan to port at an altitude below the level of the flight deck. Straightening up I set the giro compass roughly in line with the deck lights and tried a landing circuit. The visibility was so bad that the carrier could not be seen at all on the downwind leg of my two hundred feet circuit. I had therefore to attempt a landing purely on instrument flying. I came in down wind over the bow, swinging to starboard just in time to avoid colliding with the bridge, the Deck Officer dived into his nets as we sped along the deck. Enough was enough for everybody. We were ordered to gain height and were vectored for over two hours until dawn broke."

SWORDFISH PATROL

by GEORGE E. SADLER

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