{"id":864,"date":"2012-09-21T06:57:16","date_gmt":"2012-09-21T13:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.mechadigital.net\/?p=864"},"modified":"2021-08-26T20:37:59","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T20:37:59","slug":"to-war-in-a-stringbag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/to-war-in-a-stringbag\/","title":{"rendered":"“To War in a Stringbag”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n

It was while doing an air show in Albuquerque many years ago that I wandered into a used book store and made my way to the aviation section.\u00a0 I\u2019m surprised that I picked up the book because its title certainly gave no hint as to its compelling story.\u00a0 The book was \u201cTo War in a Stringbag\u201d by Commander Charles Lamb and it immediately become one of the favorites of my library.\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the story of a British aviator\u2019s wartime experience flying the Fairey Swordfish, a decrepit but oddly effective fighting aircraft.\u00a0 The Swordfish was a biplane that would enter the second world war an obsolete aircraft but still be flying by war\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

In our video featuring retired Navy Admiral Mike Bowman, you saw Mike, telling me (between slow rolls in his British designed and Canadian built DeHavilland Chipmunk) that the British had pioneered virtually all the important developments in aircraft carrier design. \u201cTo War in a Stringbag\u201d is a firsthand telling of British carrier aviation that testifies to the importance of some of those developments.<\/p>\n

I think that one of the attractions of this book is the very British understated humour contained in it.\u00a0 Lamb\u2019s recollections of events is done in a very British, dry and sometimes hilarious manner.\u00a0 Even the account of his capture and imprisonment as a Prisoner of War is an entertaining look at the strained relationships between combatants, with sometimes humorous anecdotes.<\/p>\n

Lamb had a \u201cFitter\u201d and a \u201cRigger\u201d, who maintained his Swordfish.\u00a0 The bond between the three men was important and was, perhaps, a little unorthodox because of the familiarity between the young officer and the two enlisted men.\u00a0 Lamb had a flask of brandy which he took with him on missions.\u00a0 There developed a routine:\u00a0 On the way home, he would take a swig of the liquor, the amount consumed was dependent on the stress of the mission.\u00a0 Upon landing, Rigger Brown would fish out the flask and take a big slurp of the brew.\u00a0 Then Burns, the Fitter would finish off the flask.\u00a0 In Commander Lambs words, \u201cIt became a daily routine, which would have shocked most naval officers, because if the flask was empty, Brown would say, in a in a voice of unqualified admiration, \u2018you bastard, Sir\u2019!\u201d<\/p>\n

At one point, Lamb is selected to be a \u201cGuinea Pig\u201d in order to test how short a fully loaded Swordfish can takeoff from the deck of a carrier.\u00a0 After several test hops, the landing gear of the ship collapses from multiple carrier landings while fully loaded. An upset Fitter Burns observes, \u201cEvery time you touched down, Sir, your undercart was spreading apart like an old sow giving birth.\u00a0 There isn\u2019t an aircraft in the Fleet Air Arm that\u2019s designed to deck-land with all that weight.\u00a0 What did they want to go and pick on THIS aircraft for?\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown said to Burns, with a sly grin, \u201cWell, they wanted to know how much deck the worst pilot in the ship would need with a full load!\u00a0\u00a0 It wouldn\u2019t have been much of an experiment if they\u2019d used a GOOD pilot!\u201d<\/p>\n

Even Lamb\u2019s acknowledgements are sprinkled with humour. He thanks \u201cMiss Susanna Lamb, my granddaughter, without whose help I would have finished in half the time\u201d.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The book begins right before the beginning of the war and Lamb\u2019s observations about some pre-war attitudes are particularly noteworthy, In discussing the disappearance of a fellow pilot, Lamb comments to the Squadron\u2019s Commanding Officer, \u201cHas it occurred to you, sir, that they might have been shot down?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cShot down!\u00a0 Don\u2019t be an ass!\u00a0 We\u2019re miles from anywhere out here.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The tragedy had given me the opportunity of saying something that had been bothering me for a week.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s a very remote possibility, but it isn\u2019t impossible; and I think it\u2019s time we armed the aircraft guns.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve been watching too many films about the last war!\u201d said (the C.O.) scathingly.\u00a0 \u201cWhat on earth do we want bullets in our guns for?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause they are more useful with them than without, \u201cI replied, equally scathingly, and was rebuked for being impertinent.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Lamb\u2019s Swordfish was the last aircraft to be recovered on HMS Courageous.\u00a0 He hops out of his aircraft and makes his way to the mess hall, looking forward to a drink with his pals.\u00a0 He never makes it.\u00a0 The carrier is sunk and before long Lamb finds himself floating in the sea.<\/p>\n

\u201cStringbag\u201d was the affectionate nickname for the Swordfish.\u00a0 It came from the fact that it could carry such a wide variety of bombs, mines or other armament.\u00a0 While being tested with this wide array of loads, some wag had commented that, \u201cNo housewife on a shopping spree could cram a wider variety of articles into her Stringbag.\u201d\u00a0 The name stuck, and from that moment the pilots always called it the Stringbag when talking about it amongst themselves.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 As a premier carrier based aircraft in the pioneering\u00a0 days of carrier aviation, the Swordfish deserves the accolades it receives in this riveting reminiscence by a British aviator who was\u00a0 an important\u2014and articulate- participant in this period.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo War in a Stringbag\u201d is a thoroughly delightful read.\u00a0 I recently dusted it off to re-read this wonderful account of Lamb\u2019s career and the story of the amazing Fairey Swordfish.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo War in a Stringbag\u201d is available from Amazon.com and Alibris.com, as well as some other sellers of used books.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lamb\u2019s Swordfish was the last aircraft to be recovered on HMS Courageous. He hops out of his aircraft and makes his way to the mess hall, looking forward to a drink with his pals. He never makes it. The carrier is sunk and before long Lamb finds himself floating in the sea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}