Sink the Bismarck! HMS Ark Royal, 26 May 1941

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Lifts definitely up, Tony; all 15 Swordfish will be ranged, manned up, engines running (I have already chopped off all 45 propellor blades, so I’m committed!), torpedo loaded, chocked but not lashed, augmented deck crew & FDO ready, just waiting for Wings (Cdr Air) to change his red flag to a green one as the ship turns the final few degrees into wind.  The aft lift would have been extremely busy about 30 minutes before as the aircraft were being ranged from the hangar (they probably loaded the torpedoes below in weather like that; handling those manual torpedo trolleys with a ton of weapon on them in 50+kts of wind up top would have been hair-raising...) but we’re well after that point.  They’re 30 seconds from the first aircraft rolling; this sort of thing, but Swordfish instead of Fulmars and Skuas, and horrible North Atlantic storm instead of gorgeous Mediterranean sunshine!

 

As hoped, I have managed to find a few minutes for a bit of airbrushing.  All I’ve done is enough on the decks to allow me to fit things like sights, signal lamps and flag lockers, plus painted the base of the funnel black so I can glue it in position.  Since I first painted the top of the funnel I’ve realised I missed some bits, too, so they had a quick blast of Alclad black primer; can’t have any patches of grey styrene winking at us from inside the funnel!  The decks are Jamie’s NARN23, WW2 Dark Grey Nonslip Deck Paint.  Airbrushes beautifully, using the low pressure and close spraying technique the man himself has demonstrated on camera.

 

Now back in their travelling container ready for the journey back up to London in the morning.

More soon

 

Crisp

Edited February 23, 2020 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[giemme]

Modelling To Go - how cool is that?

 

Seriously, great to see some paint going on

 

Ciao

 

 

[ArnoldAmbrose]

6 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

(they probably loaded the torpedoes below in weather like that;

Gidday Crisp, will this the first or second strike? I read somewhere a while back that after the attack on HMS Sheffield the Swordfish were refueled and re-armed on the open flight deck, as there wasn't time to get them below. I also read that due to the extremely strong wind that flight began their take-off run forward of the island, incase they became airborne and crashed into it. Do you know if that was was true or just a good yarn? Not sure when or where I read these. It could have been Moffat's "I Sank the Bismarck" quite a while back. Regards, Jeff.

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

You may be right about the re-arming - but it’s not relevant to the model, since that process is in the past at the point I am depicting, regardless of where the torpedoes were loaded.

 

I’m less convinced by this “forward range” theory, however.  I’ve read every account I can find, including Jock Moffat’s - a couple of them are quoted at some length in the early pages of this thread - and no-one mentions the strike being ranged anywhere other than in the usual position; Woods in particular describes in detail how the FDO times the take off runs with the pitching of the ship and that it was something of an act of faith on the pilot’s part because he starts the roll pointing down at the sea.   With 15 aircraft - every airframe that was airworthy from 3 Squadrons - on deck the first aircraft are not far from the island as it is; if you range them midships then the strike leader is going to be well forward.  One thing you emphatically don’t do in extreme weather is completely change your SOP.

 

 

Edit: whichever account you’re remembering, it certainly wasn’t Jock Moffat’s.  At the end of a long discussion about whether they should launch the second (i.e. post-Sheffield) attack with contact or influence pistols, he starts “The Swordfish were brought up from the hangar [which strongly suggests they’d been armed down there] and I went out via the ladder on the starboard side.  The weather was atrocious.  On the flight deck, out of any shelter from the side gallery, or by the bridge, the wind hit you like a hammer, threatening to knock you down.  The flight deck was still heaving and the visibility was very bad.  The deck crews were really struggling with the aircraft, spray was coming over the side and waves were breaking over the front of the flight deck....  

 

The rigger was not quite as boisterous as he normally was.  A lot of stokers and other deck hands had been gathered round the aircraft to make sure they didn’t slide about, particularly as the ship turned into the wind.  As the ship turned broadside on to the sea, there was a real danger that she would roll so heavily that the Swordfish would slide sideways.  Standing close to the propeller and turning that heavy starting handle was going to be a tough job on a day like this.  The FDO, Commander Pat Stringer, had a rope round his waist and was lashed down to the flight deck so that he wouldn’t get blown overboard.  He was 6’4” tall and in a very exposed position.  A lot of the deck crew had the same trouble with the wind and the pitching deck but had to be able to move about.  
 

Stringer was a life-saver that day.  He would signal to start the take-off roll when he sensed that the ship was at the bottom of a big wave, so that even if I thought I was taking off downhill, the bows would swing up at the last moment and we would be flying above the big Atlantic swell rather than into it.  I felt that I was thrown into the air, rather than lifting off, and I was struggling to control the aircraft while the wheels were still on the deck, watching for a sideways gust that might push me into the bridge... [since Moffat’s was one of the first flight of 3 to launch, that means he can’t have been starting his take-off run ahead of the island].

 

 

There is an old aviators’ mantra: “there is nothing so useless as runway that’s behind you”.  
 

I’m sticking to my original plan.

Edited February 24, 2020 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[Modelholic]

I'd imagine that heavily pitching deck must have had a similar effect to a modern carrier's ski ramp.

Tom

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

12 minutes ago, Modelholic said:

I'd imagine that heavily pitching deck must have had a similar effect to a modern carrier's ski ramp.

Tom

Indeed.  If the launch was exciting, the recovery must have been even more so; decidedly dicey.  Three aircraft had done the splits on landing after the Sheffield attack, and at least three more did the same on returning from Bismarck; when they launched again the following morning to finish her off, only 12 went - though they only had 12 torpedoes left by then, which will have had something to do with it.  In peacetime - or even in less extreme wartime circumstances - nothing would have got airborne that day, but they knew they had almost no time left to nail Bismarck before she came into range of shore-based air cover, so it was sh*t or bust.  It was really close; not long after Ark recovered her aircraft after Bismarck had gone down, she was indeed attacked by land-based aircraft (albeit unsuccessfully).  One of the accounts tells of how frustrated the Fulmar crews were; finally something to do & the deck was littered with Stringbags and the Fulmars stuck below!

[Modelholic]

I wonder if they'd have launched non torpedo armed Swordfish if any had been available. Maybe only to serve as 'flak bait' the Bismarck's gunners would have had to honour the threat (would they have been able to see if the Swordfish were armed or not?) as the weather would preclude bombing.

Tom

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Ex, yeah, fair enough. 🙂 I was relying on very old memories and Jock Moffat's was the only one I could recall by name, hence me jumping to the wrong conclusion. You've obviously got more knowledge on this subject than me and so from this I'll consider my education enhanced. 👍 Many thanks. Sincere regards, Jeff.

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

2 hours ago, Modelholic said:

I wonder if they'd have launched non torpedo armed Swordfish if any had been available. Maybe only to serve as 'flak bait' the Bismarck's gunners would have had to honour the threat (would they have been able to see if the Swordfish were armed or not?) as the weather would preclude bombing.

Tom

Probably not, because by the time of that particular attack (which in fact never happened because KGV & Rodney told them to hold off) it was clear that Bismarck was doomed - you wouldn’t want to risk aircrew and aircraft as flak bait when you knew that it was just a matter of finishing her off.  
 

If Bismarck had survived the 26 May attack unscathed, however, they’d have put up anything that could fly.  Mind you, if she’d survived the 26 May attack, she would almost certainly have made it to France and the whole Atlantic war could have taken a different turn for a while.

 

But she didn’t.  
 

Jock Moffat was 21 and had 350 hours total when he attacked the Bismarck; less than 250 on type - and he wasn’t even the least experienced on the raid.  Makes you think.

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Back to work with the tiny brass things; this evening the two sights that will eventually sit inside the tubs in the rear of the funnel.  Quite hard to see how nicely designed these are (BZ Mr Tetra) pre-paint, but I reckon they’ll scrub up nicely in due course.  For now, however, they were moved into my Safe Stowage for Teeny Brass Things as soon as the photo was done.

Probably a far bigger step in this build than a couple of tiny sights - but looking no different - is the fact that the funnel is now glued in position, along with a sliding door on the starboard side of the island, which I’d somehow missed.

I also forgot to tell you about my experimental weld seam.  There’s good news and bad news.

 

The bad news is that I forgot it was there and was heavy handed with some masking tape, thus removing some of it.  No biggy, cos this was only ever supposed to be a test, so easy to replace.  The good news, as I hope what’s left shows you, is that the Archer’s transfers look good under the paint.

More later in the week

 

Crisp

Edited February 24, 2020 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[Richard E]

9 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Jock Moffat was 21 and had 350 hours total when he attacked the Bismarck; less than 250 on type - and he wasn’t even the least experienced on the raid.  Makes you think.

Many years ago I spent a week gliding at Pocklington in North Yorkshire, one of the regular club pilots was a former FAA Swordfish pilot but, sadly, like many of that great generation he only shared a couple of his wartime reminiscences with us over the obligatory morning coffee and bacon bap.  

Edited February 24, 2020 by Richard E

[Bandsaw Steve]

On 24/02/2020 at 20:55, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

.  

Jock Moffat was 21 and had 350 hours total when he attacked the Bismarck; less than 250 on type - and he wasn’t even the least experienced on the raid.  Makes you think.

Wow! That’s amazing!

[TheBaron]

As yourself and others have noted Crisp, it is sobering to consider being just 21 years of age and thrown by history into such momentous, mortal events of this kind. Of course historical hindsight gives a significance to such occasions that many would not have had time to contemplate in the lived moment of it happening, yet none of this diminishes the utter 'otherworldliness' of such experiences when contrasted with the normalities of peacetime. The strain upon their souls must have been incredible.

 

 

 

 

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Nicely put.  They would have had literally no idea whether they were going to be blown to bits, die fast, slow or somewhere in between, never getting anywhere near Bismarck - or do what they actually did, which was to add a significant nail to the early stages of the Nazis’ coffin.  
 

Anyway.  Models are afoot as well as musing on mortality.  Finally I cannot put off any longer the somewhat daunting task of starting on the pom-poms.  The following represents 3 hours of concentration (albeit while listening to the football), and is approximately 15 pieces of PE, plus 6 brass barrels.  These were 8-barrelled guns, so fairly obviously I stopped before getting anywhere near the end.  The Tetra design is superb - sufficiently good that when something doesn’t fit, you can be pretty sure that the mistake is yours, so go back and check yet again.

First 2 shots are the centre section, 5 barrels in place.

Then a little further on, now with 6 barrels and the start of the mounting.

With a little luck I might manage to complete one gun tomorrow.  Only 4 of these needed (which at least gives me a spare or two if necessary).

 

More soon

 

Crisp

Edited February 27, 2020 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[TheBaron]

Amazing! 👏

[CedB]

Seconded! With knobs on…  

[Terry1954]

Thirded (is that a word?) with knobs and barrells on! They look spectacularly good. 

 

Terry

[giemme]

Can he actually shrink himself to Lilliput size to do this kind of job? Or is it a kind of magic?

Impressive, Crisp  

 

Ciao

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Thanks, everyone.  The Tetra set is so well engineered that fitting the things together isn’t really too hard, provided you take your time and get Optivisored-up large.  Fixing them in place is, however, a different thing entirely.  I wasn’t exaggerating when I said that half-built pom-pom has a dozen pieces in it; it’s a tiny 3D jigsaw, and in some cases the purpose of some of the inner parts (fnarr) only becomes apparent several stages down the line.  For instance, each individual gun breech (the rectangular structures poking out of the back of the box-like block) is folded from PE - tricky, but doable enough.  You then have to fit it into a square-ish hole in the rear face of the block; if you’ve got it correctly aligned, it fits neatly into slots on an inner piece (inside the block). [Not easy to explain this, so for the next pom-pom I’ll do a step by step].

 

You THEN feed the brass barrel in through a circular hole on the front face of the block... and with some careful jiggling, if everything has worked as designed, a stud on the breech end of the barrel fits all the way through into the breech.

 

Fine, as far as it goes - and it has to be said that the results look pretty amazing (& I haven’t even started on the ammunition feeds yet).  But how exactly do you secure a breech thingy inside the centre of a hollow PE block?  Solder is out of the question, and trying to get glue inside without clogging up the slots for other 7 breeches is... a good game.

 

But they do look amazing.

 

Not for the first or last time, hat tip to @foeth.  He scratch built his brass pom-poms for Hood.  Gulp.

 

[Incidentally, a quick note for @hendie and others of a non-maritime persuasion.  This weapon (of which there were high hopes, but which in the end proved less effective than single mountings) was officially called a QF [Quick Firing] 2-pounder Mk.VI Anti-Aircraft Gun... but it was universally known as the “Multiple Pom-Pom”, I assume because of the noise it made when firing.  The design was almost 20 years old, and there seems to be some truth in the rumour that one reason they went for this design was because they had vast quantities of 2-pounder ammunition left after WW1.  40mm barrels.]

 

More later.

Edited February 27, 2020 by Ex-FAAWAFU

[foeth]

Easy stuff, just takes several iterations and tons of time   I even have 2 Mk V's and 1 Mk VI, for the discerning modeler Plus, at the time there weren't any good models for sale... so I had to...

 

 

Edited February 27, 2020 by foeth

[Terry1954]

1 hour ago, foeth said:

Easy stuff, just takes several iterations and tons of time   I even have 2 Mk V's and 1 Mk VI, for the discerning modeler Plus, at the time there weren't any good models for sale... so I had to...

 

 

Is there a word or phrase that means awesome, unbelievable, gobsmaked, and total envey? 

 

Respect!

 

Terry

[giemme]

28 minutes ago, Terry1954 said:

Is there a word or phrase that means awesome, unbelievable, gobsmaked, and total envey? 

Yes: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!

 

 

 

And I concur.

 

Ciao

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

1 hour ago, foeth said:

Easy stuff, just takes several iterations and tons of time   I even have 2 Mk V's and 1 Mk VI, for the discerning modeler Plus, at the time there weren't any good models for sale... so I had to...

 

 

OK, I’ll bite... there’s a different ?sighting? frame arrangement on the one in the tub, so I’m assuming that’s the Mk.VI.  Any other visible differences?  I think the actual difference between Mk.V & VI was to do with remote control, but I am definitely no expert.

 

I am torn about the paint job, too.  Yours looks fantastic, and the contrast of the belted rounds with the rest of the weapon is great & really adds visual interest in a sea of greys.  However, every wartime picture of Ark appears to show the ammunition feeds being covered with some sort of ?canvas - e.g. the below, which was indisputably taken on 13 November 1941.

[IWM photo, obvs]
The enquiry into the PoW / Repulse sinking concluded that a single 40mm Bofors was a more effective weapon than a pom-pom under director control, because pom-pom ammo wasn’t tracer, so it was much harder to aim.  Repulse’s ammunition had deteriorated badly after a long time in ready use stowages (and it was probably 20 years old into the bargain), and the radar on the directors (which Ark didn’t have) didn’t cope with tropical humidity very well. “Repulse’s Commissioned Gunner spent the whole action running from one pom-pom mount to another trying to keep them operational due to faulty ammunition.” [Wikipedia, quoting Middlebrook]. I wonder whether the covers were an attempt to keep the worst of the salt off the ammo feeds?  
 

Anyway.  I cannot decide whether to cover the ammo area (foil, probably) and paint it a canvas-y colour, or leave the ammo feeds on display like yours.  Do aesthetics trump realism for once?

[foeth]

2 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

OK, I’ll bite... there’s a different ?sighting? frame arrangement on the one in the tub, so I’m assuming that’s the Mk.VI.  Any other visible differences?  I think the actual difference between Mk.V & VI was to do with remote control, but I am definitely no expert.

The Mk V has a slightly different frame and minor differences in the central gun block, but nothing you can easily spot (especially once done!). I noticed minor differences when going over Lambert's drawings. The conical flash suppressors are not a sign of the Mk V or VI, and both guns were seen with and without suppressors (early versus mid/late war). The remote control versioned is more late war. The Lambert books show all in stunning detail!

 

Mk V:

Mk VI: See! nearly the same.

 

I scribbled a bit here: http://ontheslipway.com/?s=pompom

 

As a modeler the differences between the types are totally insignificant, but you *do*  have to select the correct barrels!

 

[Terry1954]

5 minutes ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said:

Anyway.  I cannot decide whether to cover the ammo area (foil, probably) and paint it a canvas-y colour, or leave the ammo feeds on display like yours.  Do aesthetics trump realism for once?

I guess the answer to that is would the ammo covers be taken off for action, presumably to help clear feed blockages etc, and therefore would the ship be at action stations at the moment in time you are modelling, given they are about to undertake an attack. Against that I suppose there is the appalling weather situation, would would seem to require them to be covered? A tricky one I guess.

 

Terry