Fairey Swordfish

The Fairey Swordfish, also known as the Stringbag. was a two-decker British torpedo bomber used during the Second Great War. They were equipped with torpedoes and machine guns for anti-shipping operations. Most American naval personnel considered the aircraft to be slow, ugly and as primitive as the Japanese aircraft they had encountered earlier.

Several of these were deployed against the US vessels Josephus Daniels and the Townsend which were supplying both men and munitions off the Irish coast to the Irish irregulars fighting the British occupation forces. The crew of the two American vessels including George Enos, Jr. and Thurman shot down several Swordfish bombers. However, both vessels soon came under attack from modern British fighters.