Fairey Swordfish was a large biplanetorpedobomber of the Royal Navy. It was operational from the 1930s and while it had the low basic performance of a biplane, it had good maneuverability and was a highly versatile aircraft that remained in operation until the end of the war. There is something particularly impressive about its versatility, in that it was equipped not only with bomblets, as originally designed, but also with torpedoes. Also, towards the end of the war it was armed with radars and rockets, as well as being loaded with antisubmarine depth charges for chasing U-boats. Seaplanes equipped with floats were also introduced; and the biplane went on a variety of missions at different stages of the war, that could not have been attempted by an all-metal monoplane. Although later, the Royal Navy developed carrier borne all-metal monoplane bombers and torpedo bombers suitable for that era, both had bad reputations, and so reverted back to the Swordfish biplanes.
The artist seems to have misunderstood slightly. Although one would imagine that by "carrier borne all-metal monoplane bombers and torpedo bombers," he is referring to Skua and Barracuda (and also perhaps Firefly and Fulmar); it was the Albacore biplane that was changed for the Swordfish.
