Ark Royal / Eagle Cat take off duty Wessex.

[At Sea]

Fancy building some FAA stuff in the future, I really like the aircraft that the RN had in the days of proper carriers.

I know a lot about the Phantom FG.1's and Buccaneer S.1 & S.2. The Sea Vixen is going to be a FAW.2 just because the kit is there and I am waiting for a 1/48 Gannet of any descripton...

My real curiosity is what kind of Wessex was used for cat take off duty?

What is the best 1/48 kit, Italeri?

Thanks.

[Harry Lime]

Depends on the time, but I know HAS.1's were used for the role. Would need to check, but I don't remember seeing mention of HAS.3's being used as plane guards. The old Modeldecal sheet 18 included decals for XS880 on Ark Royal and sheet 99 includes XP117 from Hermes, XM845 from Eagle and XP160 from Victorious. I know the Modeldecal sheets are 1/72, but hopefully should give you some pointers for Google.

However, a quick check of the Italeri website reveals that one of the decal options in their 1/48 Wessex HAS1 kit is for XS869 from Hermes so it would seem you have an OOB option straight off the bat!

Regards,

Mark.

[davecov]

She normally carried two Wessex HAR.1's in the Seventies. One was XS880 as you can see here.

Dave

[detail is everything]

A good reference for FAA carrier aircraft from the 50's to 2005 and in particular those carried by Ark Royals (R09) and (R07) is Aviation Workshop's On-Target Special HMS Ark Royal Fifty Years of Flight 1955-2005 by Denis J. Calvert & Gary Madgwick Illustrated by Jon Freeman.

http://www.hyperscale.com/2008/reviews/books/arkroyalbookreviewrk_1.htm

[At Sea]

Thanks chaps.

OOB makes a nice change!

[Grizzly]

They were known as plane guard ships flight two Wessex HAR1 ARK ROYAL FLT were named MAKE 046 & MEND 047 HERMES Name was carried on the nose of her fit she was the only one to carry two Whirlwind HAR 9 For the early commissions .

[John_W]

Someone wiser may correct me, but I believe the Ark Royal aircraft had their doors removed.

[davecov]

Tonight, I have been reading a Paul Beaver article on a visit he paid to HMS Ark Royal and he said that Ark's plane guard aircraft often had their door removed for plane guard and SAR missions. Note he said "often" and not "always". Of course, he may be wrong!

Dave

[Junchan]

I have seen some photos of the HAS. 1s of 814 Squadron from HMS Victorious with the door removed.

However, never seen those from Ark Royal or Eagle.

Jun in Tokyo

https://www.flickr.com/photos/horaburo/albums

Edited May 28, 2016 by Junchan

[huvut76g7gbbui7]

Note that it appears that the fuselage escape hatches on '057' have been removed.

RG

[At Sea]

Great pictures, interesting...

[junglierating]

Very interesting stuff strange that in my sea Harrier days we never had plane guards ,I can only assume that cat launches were deemed a greater risk to life than ski jump lunches.

I will have to ask the old bucc and tomb boys at the monthly fixed wing curry night meet at yeovil spoons .

Dit on

[heloman1]

The Italeri Wessex HAS Mk1 kit is quite good, if you don't look to closely!!! The kit has marking for an SAR cab aboard Hermes 1970, in. Day-glo Red and RAF Blue/grey. A second option is from Victorious 1961, in Yellow and RAF B/G. If you are lookig for a reference work, the 4Plus book Wessex at around 12 Quid will give you most of what you need.

Colin

[Roof Rat]

Hello At Sea

Sorry for the delay in responding to this I've been away from home quite-a-bit lately.

This link may help :- http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234948601-rn-wessex-plane-guardrescue-helo-hms-ark-royal-1970s-how/

The Plane Guard SAR Wessex would be the first aircraft to launch and the last to recover, providing SAR cover for all fixed-wing flying day & night.

With an aircraft (a/c) on a cat the deck crew would give the a/c the once-over the SAR would take up station on the portside and do the same for the parts of the a/c not that visible from the deck, then drop back slightly to cover the launch. For recovery stations the SAR would fly adjacent to the wires area portside.

Can't say that the cabin door was removed that often (not that difficult to do tho), but the escape hatch was removed quite frequently, especially if a snapper (photographer) was filming/taking pictures the launch, from there he wouldn't get in the winchman & diver's way.

Hope this is of help.

RR

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

The Sea Vixen is going to be a FAW.2 just because the kit is there and I am waiting for a 1/48 Gannet of any descripton...

The AllyCat FAW1 conversion is really good, so you can do either mark of Vixen.

And there is a Classic Airframes Gannet AS4 around; just not an AEW Gannet (which was very different)

[71chally]

You could always do the COD Gannet to keep it appropriate for the later era, 849 also had a couple of ECM.6s but unsure if they visited the Ark or not.

831 Sqn ECM.6s did occasionally operate from carries, mid 1960s.

Re the Wessex planeguards, there is good footage of these on the 'Flying the Ark' DVD c.1975, I think 'Sailor' had footage of them as well