Fairey Barracuda

Carrying the maximum underwing bomb loads resulted in additional drag, which further reduced performance. The Light Fleet Carriers of the 11th ACS (which joined the BPF in June 1945) were all equipped with a Barracuda and a Corsair squadron. By Victory over Japan Day, the BPF had a total of five Avenger and four Barracuda squadrons embarked on its carriers.

A number of Barracudas participated in trial flights, during which several innovations were tested, including RATOG rockets for boosting takeoff performance (which ended up being regularly used when operating off escort carriers at high weights) and a braking propeller, which slowed the aircraft by reversing the blade pitch.

Following the end of the conflict, the Barracuda was relegated to secondary roles, for the most part being used as a trainer aircraft. The type continued to be operated by FAA squadrons up until the mid-1950s, by which time the type were withdrawn entirely in favour of the Avengers.

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Royal Air Force

No. 567 Squadron RAF
No. 618 Squadron RAF
No. 667 Squadron RAF
No. 679 Squadron RAF
No. 691 Squadron RAF

Surviving aircraft

Over 2,500 Barracudas were delivered to the FAA, more than any other type ordered by the Royal Navy by then. Unlike numerous other aircraft of its era, none were retained for posterity and no complete examples of the aircraft exist today. Since the early 1970s, the Fleet Air Arm Museum has been collecting Barracuda components from a wide variety of sources throughout the British Isles to rebuild one.

In 2010, help was sought from the team rebuilding Donald Campbell's record-breaking speed boat, Bluebird, as the processes and skills involved were related to those needed to recreating the aircraft from the crashed remains, so between May 2013 and February 2015 'The Barracuda Project' operated as a sister project to the Bluebird rebuild. The tail section of LS931 was reconstructed using only original material. During September 2014, the wreckage of a rear fuselage was delivered to the workshops to undergo the same processes. In February 2015, the Barracuda sections were transported back to the Fleet Air Arm Museum, where the work continues.

During 2018, the wreckage of a Fairey Barracuda was discovered by engineers surveying the seabed for an electricity cable between England and France. According to Wessex Archaeology it is the only example of the type to have ever been found in one piece and represents the last of its kind in the UK. During 2019 the wreckage was recovered and it was intended to be reassembled and transported to the Fleet Air Arm Museum for preservation.

As of November 2023, the Fleet Air Arm Museum is running a project, including online content to rebuild a Barracuda based on DP872, a Barracuda Mk II built by Boulton Paul in 1943. The project is expected to take ten years and although based on DP872, will use parts from at least four other aircraft, LS931, DR306, MD956 and PM870.

DP872 crashed on 29 August 1944 shortly after takeoff from RNAS Maydown (HMS Shrike) in Northern Ireland. The recovery crew arrived promptly but found the aircraft already sinking in a bog, Blackhead Moss, about from the airfield and were unable to recover the crew of three before the aircraft sank. The remains of the aircraft were recovered in 1971 and stored at the Fleet Air Arm Museum store in Wroughton, Wiltshire. British Naval Aircraft since 1912, The Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II-->

|empty weight lb=9350

|empty weight note=

|gross weight lb=13200

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|max takeoff weight lb=14100

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Powerplant

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|eng1 number=1

|eng1 name=Rolls-Royce Merlin 32

|eng1 type=V-12 liquid-cooled piston engine

|eng1 hp=1640

|eng1 note=

|prop blade number=4

|prop name=constant-speed propeller

|prop dia ft=

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Performance

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|max speed mph=240

|max speed note=

|cruise speed mph=195

|cruise speed note=

|stall speed mph=

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|never exceed speed mph=

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|range miles=1150

|range note=

|combat range miles=686

|combat range note=with torpedo

|ferry range miles=

|ferry range note=

|endurance=

|ceiling ft=16000

|ceiling note=

|climb rate ftmin=

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|time to altitude= in 6 minutes

|wing loading lb/sqft=32.6

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|guns= 2 × 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers K machine guns in rear cockpit