The Swordfish' slow, 30s-biplane stall speed enabled it to operate - including floating off Ark Royal's pitching deck into the gale attending the crucial strike on Bismarck, IIRC - that many a sleeker, faster plane just could not have coped with. The Germans, other denizens of the North Sea, also totally "got it" about the StringBag - and designed their own version, in the slow and ungainly (but actually very well-engineered) Fiesler Storch. Just as, years later the Douglas "Spads" would remain highly effective - precisely due to some of their low-performance characteristics - over decades, into the "Jet Age".

And, actually, that's the same theme operative in my pending move: as nearby, and as little, as I can get away with. I haven't found a place yet, but I'll move next door - or one or two houses down, if I can arrange it. Because my "low-performance" lifestyle, and situation, are already just about as good as anything I could imagine!

Happy ThanksGiving, Don!

- Matty