Fairey Swordfish II LS326

LS326 was built at Sherburn-in-Elmet by Blackburn, and is therefore a 'Blackfish'. It was delivered to the Royal Navy at Donibristle on 17 August 1943. From October 1943 the aircraft served with the MAC-Ship parent squadron, 836 NAS (Navy Air Squadron, based at Maydown, Northern Ireland. During her time with the Unit LS326 was attached to L Flight (as L2) embarked on the MAC-Ship Rapana, and from February 1944 in K Flight operating from Empire MacCallum. During this time the aircraft flew numerous anti-submarine sorties, protecting the trans-Atlantic convoys.
Following her active wartime service, LS326 was used for training and communication duties, firstly at RNAS Culham, and later at Worthy Down.

She was then bought back by the Fairey Aviation Company in 1945, and participated in the Victory Fly-Past after the War. In 1947 Fairey registered the aircraft as G-AJVH, and it was painted in Fairey Blue house colours. It was then operated out of Hamble until the following when it was placed in store at White Waltham.
In 1955, as a result of Sir Richard Fairey's strict orders, LS326, now looking slightly worse for wear was rebuilt. The restoration work completed in October 1955, and was kept in flying condition at White Waltham.
In 1959 LS326 was repainted as aircraft '5A' from 825 NAS, to play a starring role in the film 'Sink The Bismarck!'

Airshow Bookings for LS326
[courtesy of the RNHF]

The availability of LS326 for the 2005 airshow season is still to be confirmed by the RNHF.

In September 1960 LS326 was presented back to the Royal Navy by the Westland Aircraft Company, which by this time had taken over Fairey's aircraft production interests. LS326 kept her '5A' identity and colour scheme until 1986, with fuselage and wing white/black/white/black/white stripes added for the 40th Anniversary of the D-Day landings in 1984, when she over-flew the beaches in Normandy. In 1987 it was re-covered at Booker Airfield, and re-united with her wartime 836NAS 'Rapana' colours and markings.

In the late 1990's LS326 was named "City of Liverpool" in recognition of the part played by the people of Liverpool in the Battle of the Atlantic, and the historical links she has with the Merchant Navy and MAC-Ships in particular.

During the spring of 2000 the RNHF team discovered corrosion in the wing spars, and LS326 was immediately grounded. A combined RNHF and volunteer British Aerospace team are progressing well with repairs to the corroded parts at the BAE-Systems Brough factory, when work commitments permit. It is hoped that the aircraft will be back flying again by the end of 2005.

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