Papers by Alistair Byford-Bates
Delivering The Deep. Maritime archaeology for the 21st century: selected papers from IKUWA7, 2024
During survey work in 2018, the extant remains of a Fairey Barracuda, subsequently presumed to be... more During survey work in 2018, the extant remains of a Fairey Barracuda, subsequently presumed to be Fairey built LS473 lost during take-off on the 06/01/1944, were discovered submerged off the former RNAS Daedalus. Widely used, the Barracuda was the first all-aluminium high winged monoplane of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, no surviving complete example of this aircraft exist. The current identification is based on a combination of records related to the aircraft’s engine manufacture, government contracts, supply records, surviving paint evidence, combined with available loss records, and ordnance configuration on the plane.
This paper outlines the ongoing research into the aircraft and various archives identifying several inconsistences' leading to questions about the initial identity of the aircraft, the records around its loss, and that of other aircraft of the same type lost in close proximity to the crash site. The examination of the aircraft’s remains has giving insights into wartime production contingencies across aircraft manufacturers, and the variations in aircraft design as types are altered or upgrade during the production process, with the recovered aircraft showing features from more than one mark. Though produced under licence to the same set of design drawings, with updates to individual drawings, there is still evidence of significant variation between manufacture’s methods, along with examples of quality control marks, graffiti, and shortcuts being taken in the manufacturing processes. There is also evidence of differing interpretations of the construction drawings, along with several ad hoc alterations to correct errors in the construction process.
The Recovery and Reuse of a MKII Fairey Barracuda from the Solent, Hampshire
International Journal of Nautical Archaeology
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Papers by Alistair Byford-Bates
This paper outlines the ongoing research into the aircraft and various archives identifying several inconsistences' leading to questions about the initial identity of the aircraft, the records around its loss, and that of other aircraft of the same type lost in close proximity to the crash site. The examination of the aircraft’s remains has giving insights into wartime production contingencies across aircraft manufacturers, and the variations in aircraft design as types are altered or upgrade during the production process, with the recovered aircraft showing features from more than one mark. Though produced under licence to the same set of design drawings, with updates to individual drawings, there is still evidence of significant variation between manufacture’s methods, along with examples of quality control marks, graffiti, and shortcuts being taken in the manufacturing processes. There is also evidence of differing interpretations of the construction drawings, along with several ad hoc alterations to correct errors in the construction process.