Hermes aircraft 1940-41?

[JackG]

Is there anything known about  the aircraft and how they appeared while on this small carrier - markings, serials, camouflage?  I only find mention of there being the Swordfish Mk.I, anything else?

 

regards,

Jack

[ClaudioN]

Someone with better knowledge will be able to give more details but, as far as I know, Hermes only operated a squadron of Swordfish during the war. The resident unit was No. 814 Squadron.

 

Claudio

 

HMS HERMES, BRITISH AIRCRAFT CARRIER. 1942, AT SEA.. © IWM (A 30464) IWM Non Commercial License

Edited April 9, 2019 by ClaudioN

[EwenS]

The only other aircraft type on Hermes in WW2 were the Walrus of a detachment of 710 squadron for the period 1-17 May 1940 while off West Africa. Info from Squadrons of the FAA.

[JackG]

Thank you both, Claudio and Ewen.

 

I found a general outline of FAA codes for aircraft aboard ships:

- 1st letter represents the ship (in this case H for Hermes), though if a cv was the only carrier in a fleet, then this might be omitted

- 2nd is a number representing the  type/role of aircraft squadron, 4 and 5 usual for strike aircraft  (Swordfish)

- final letter represent individual aircraft within the squadron

 

regards,

Jack

[Seahawk]

According to Ballance's 3rd edition of The Squadrons and Units of the FAA, 814 Squadron Swordfish wore initially codes 701-710, changing to A3A+ in May 1939 and to H3A+ in September 1939.  The only serial code tie-up offered is L9775 705 ie a prewar aircraft. 

 

710 Sq's Walruses wore codes A9A+ and then 9A+: no info on when the change occurred.  L2334 was A9K but there is no reason to associate this with the period of the brief detachment to Hermes: 710 was basically assigned to HMS Albatross from Aug 1939 to Aug 1943.

[iang]

There is a photograph of P4217:L of 814 Squadron in Fleet Air Arm Camouflage and Markings, p.117. Three 814 Squadron Swordfish from Hermes were detached to Ark Royal for Operation Menace. P4217 force-landed at Dakar on 24th September 1940 and the photograph is a close-up after this. I spent a while searching for 814 Squadron Swordfish photographs for the book and in addition to 814 Squadron P4217:L at Dakar, the only other photograph I am aware of is in Sturtivant and Ballance Squadrons of the Fleet Air Arm (2nd Edition, p.174), which shows L2811:F and L9723:H, though they date the photograph incorrectly to early 1940 (the camouflage and markings unambiguously date the photograph to post-June 1940).  There is also film of 814 Squadron's detachment on Ark Royal, which shows L and (from memory H). So, it's my guess that these three (F, H, L) are the 814 detachment on Ark Royal.

 

All three of these Swordfish have a camouflage pattern similar to Ark Royal's 818 and 820 Squadron Swordfish, with high demarcation on the fuselage side with a wavy pattern. The code was a single letter (no carrier ID letter or squadron number) in the middle of a full width fin flash. I'd be very surprised if the rest of the squadron was not finished in the same way. 

Edited April 10, 2019 by iang

[JackG]

Found an image from the Dakar operations:

https://www.gettyimages.ae/detail/news-photo/an-english-bomber-plane-was-recovered-near-traroya-and-news-photo/105211741

 

 

regards,

Jack

 

 

[Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies]

On ‎4‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 9:15 PM, ClaudioN said:

Someone with better knowledge will be able to give more details but, as far as I know, Hermes only operated a squadron of Swordfish during the war. The resident unit was No. 814 Squadron.

 

Claudio

 

HMS HERMES, BRITISH AIRCRAFT CARRIER. 1942, AT SEA.. © IWM (A 30464) IWM Non Commercial License

 

Everything you've said is, I believe, correct. I just wanted to point out that the photograph like many in the IWM collection is incorrectly captioned - it wasn't 1942 as she was sunk in March that year and was wearing the Admiralty Disruptive Pattern camouflage design throughout.

 

What I wouldn't give for one decent image of the port side of the hull in that ~3 month window though!