A Fairey Swordfish at an airshow in 2015. The same type of aircraft conducted a flyover of HMS Queen Elizabeth this week (Photo by: Robert Plattner/Oneworld Picture/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Two Royal Navy aircraft from the World War II era flew over HMS Queen Elizabeth as the aircraft carrier began a three-month deployment around the British Isles and northern Europe in support of NATO. The conventionally powered carrier, which returned to service following a nearly two-year refit that began in November 2024, became NATO’s Afloat Command Platform for Allied Response Force (Maritime) in July and left His Majesty’s Naval Base, Portsmouth, last Friday.
The flypast brought together two distinct eras of British naval aviation: the Fairey Swordfish, a biplane torpedo bomber that was already largely obsolete when the Second World War began, and the Supermarine Seafire, the carrier-capable version of the famous Supermarine Spitfire fighter.
Neither historic aircraft could operate from today’s aircraft carriers, but their appearance above HMS Queen Elizabeth highlighted the dramatic evolution of British naval aviation over more than eight decades.
“@HMSQNLZ had a flypast from a Swordfish and a Seafire from Navy Wings. The Swordfish is famous for the Fleet Air Arm attack on Taranto in Nov 1940, and the Seafire is the navalised version of the Spitfire,” HMS Queen Elizabeth’s official X account said.
The Swordfish and Seafire are maintained by Navy Wings, a naval aviation charity that restores, maintains and flies historic Royal Navy aircraft. Based at Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton in Somerset, England, the organization preserves classic Fleet Air Arm and Royal Naval Air Service aircraft as a living tribute to British naval aviators and aircrew. Navy Wings is operated by the Fly Navy Heritage Trust and funded through public donations.
The Fairey Swordfish
The sight of a Fairey Swordfish flying above HMS Queen Elizabeth offered a striking contrast to the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning stealth fighters normally embarked on the carrier. Even during the early years of World War II, the open-cockpit biplane appeared to belong to an earlier age of aviation.
Despite its antiquated appearance, the Swordfish played an important role in two major Royal Navy operations. In November 1940, more than a year before Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Swordfish aircraft launched a successful assault against the Italian Regia Marina at anchor in Taranto harbor.
In total, 21 Swordfish aircraft flew from HMS Illustrious in two waves of 12 and nine. They sank the Italian battleship Conte di Cavour and severely damaged two others: Caio Duilio, which survived only after being run aground, and Littorio, which was struck by multiple torpedoes but did not sink.
The attack crippled a significant portion of Italy’s battleship force and influenced Japanese military planners, who studied the operation while preparing the later campaign against Pearl Harbor.
A Fairey Swordfish I of 820 Squadron over HMS Ark Royal, 1939. (Photo by Charles E. Brown/Royal Air Force Museum/Getty Images)
In late May 1941, Swordfish aircraft operating from HMS Ark Royal helped disable the German battleship Bismarck, contributing to its eventual sinking.
The Swordfish also sank more Axis shipping tonnage than any other Allied aircraft during World War II. It remained in service until Victory in Europe Day, outlasting some of the newer aircraft intended to replace it.
The Supermarine Seafire
Introduced in 1942, the Seafire served with the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm, the French Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy and the Irish Air Corps. Fleet Air Arm and Royal Canadian Navy Seafires operated in the Mediterranean and Pacific theaters, where they proved effective against Japanese kamikaze attacks.
The aircraft also supported the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944, remained in frontline service for the rest of World War II and later saw combat during the Korean War.
The Royal Navy During The Second World War, A Supermarine Seafire taxies to park after landing on board HMS ILLUSTRIOUS, February 1943. (Photo by Royal Navy Official Photographer/ Imperial War Museums via Getty Images)
The Seafire was not ideally suited to carrier operations. The Spitfire had been designed as a lightweight land-based interceptor, and its narrow undercarriage and relatively delicate structure were not fully adapted to the stresses of carrier landings. As a result, it experienced a high accident rate aboard ships.
Few Remaining Of Either Aircraft
A total of 2,391 Swordfish aircraft were built between 1936 and 1944. Only nine survive today, and just four remain airworthy.
Production of the Seafire ended in January 1949 after 2,646 aircraft had been built across all variants. Seventeen survive, although only a small number are capable of flight.
That rarity made this week’s flyover a particularly notable reunion of two historic aircraft above one of the Royal Navy’s most modern warships.