Originally Posted by
treadigraph
It is amazing though; the Stringbags used against the Channel Dash, Bismarck and other operations, what fantastically brave crews they were... and an aeroplane that seems to have been better than its intended replacement, the Applecore...
I'd like to ask a question about the Swordfish and the Albacore. In a thread on the Military part of Pprune, I saw a statement that the Albacore was phased out before the Swordfish because the crews preferred the older aircraft.
My question is how would this preference work its way up the chain and become effective? Whenever a new piece of equipment is introduced, some users will prefer the old gear (I assume that somewhere there were pilots asking for their Hurricanes back instead these new Spitfire things). How would it become known that the preference for the Swordfish wasn't just ordinary change resistance? Was there a concerted effort (in the 1930s and '40s) to understand aircrew preferences, and how often did it make a difference?
Sorry for thread drift, if it is--perhaps you could find some people who had some kind of loyalty to the old equipment, and so weren't too bothered? Or were content if they were facing similarly obsolete enemy aircraft.