Fairey Albacore

Although intended to be its replacement, the Albacore was in fact the poor cousin to it Fairey Swordfish. While it featured many advancements such as an enclosed cockpit, heating, and lifesaving dinghy, its performance was never deemed superior. However, with war on the horizon, planes were needed, and so the Albacore was put into production in 1939. By 1943, the Albacore had been supplanted by the Fairey Barracuda (and outlived by the Swordfish, which remained in production until 1944), with a total production run of 800 aircraft and 2 prototypes.

The Albacore had a crew of three: pilot, observer and gunner. The plane could carry one 17.7" torpedo, four 500-lb. bombs, or six 250-lb. bombs. The plane has a range of 930 miles carrying a 1,600-lb. load of ordnance . It burns 41 gallons of aviation fuel per hour at routine usage. A full load of fuel and ammo (excluding bombs) costs $63.

Subassemblies: Light Fighter-Bomber chassis +3; Light Fighter-Bomber wings with Biplane option +3; 3 fixed wheels +1.

Powertrain: 843-kW aerial HP gasoline engine with 843-kW old prop and 240-gallon standard fuel tank [Body], 4,000-kWs battery.

Occ.: 3 CS Body

Cargo: 0 Body

Armor F RL B T U

Body: 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3

Wings: 2/2C 2/2C 2/2C 2/2C 2/2C

Wheels: 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3

Weaponry:

Aircraft LMG/,303 Browning [Wing:F] (500 rounds).

2xAircraft LMG/.303 Vickers K [Body:B] (1,000 rounds).*

4x500-lb. Bombs or 6x250-lb. Bombs [Wings:U].

1x450mm Torpedo/Mk XII [Body:U].

*Linked.

Equipment:

Body: Autopilot, navigation instruments, medium range radio transmitter and receiver, fire extinguisher, arrestor hook, dinghy, casemate and high-angle mount for the rear MG, 2,000-lb. hardpoint. Wings: 4 500-lb. hardpoints.

Statistics:

Size: 40'x50'x14' Payload: 2.26 tons Lwt.: 5.23 tons

Volume: 312 Maint.: 42 hours Cost: $22,211

HT: 8. HPs: 165 Body, 250 each Wing, 15 each Wheel.

aSpeed: 161 aAccel: 4 aDecel: 17 aMR: 4.5 aSR: 1

Stall Speed: 56 mph. Take-Off Run 314 yards (271 with catapult). Landing Run 314 yards (0 yards with arrestor hook).

gSpeed: 203 gAccel: 10 gDecel: 10 gMR: 0.5 gSR: 2

Ground Pressure: Extremely High. No Off-Road Speed.

Design Notes:

Historical wing area was 623 sf. The fuel capacity was based on a rough calculation between range and gas consumption, as no historical value could be located. MG load outs are a guess. Design payload was 4,284 lbs; the historical value has been substituted; design loaded weight was decreased 1% to the historical. Design aSpeed was 189 mph. Performance calculations were based on historical values for wing area and loaded weight.

From the Aerodrome for GURPS