Second World War Archives - Page 6 of 38

British Aircraft Carrier HMS Warrior

HMS Warrior leaving Plymouth Sound bound for the Far East 1953

British Aircraft Carrier HMS Warrior (R31)

When completed on 2 April 1945, the Colossus-class aircraft carrier HMS Warrior was lent to the Royal Canadian Navy as HMCS Warrior. She remained in Canadian hands from 14 March 1946 until 23 March 1948.

Upon returning to British service, HMS Warrior was refitted at Devonport, where she was equipped with an experimental flexible deck. The concept of the rubber deck was to permit aircraft to land without an undercarriage, the impact of landing being absorbed by the flexible deck. Although successful it was not implemented and Warrior was paid off to reserve in 1949.

Re-commissioned in 1960, Warrior was used to transport troops and equipment for the Korean War. When she returned to the UK in 1955, she was refitted, and an angled deck installed, along with upgrades to the arrester system and catapults to enable the operation of aircraft up to 20,000lbs.

During 1957, Warrior was used as the headquarters ship for Operation Grapple the British hydrogen bomb tests. For this operations she embarked Grumman Avenger AS4s to collect samples and a flight of Westland Whirlwind helicopters. The Avengers became contaminated from flying through the radioactive dust clouds and were dumped overboard at the end of the operation.

Warrior was decommissioned on 28 February 1958 and sold to Argentina as ARA Independencia on 6 August 1958.

Photos of HMS Warrior

HMS Warrior in Service

HMS Warrior (R31) at anchor in 1945 — HMS Warrior (R31) fitting out

Armament

Twin-40mm anti-aircraft guns on HMS Warrior

Twin-40mm anti-aircraft guns on HMS Warrior

Aircraft Operations

Fairey Firefly and Hawker Sea Fury

Hawker Sea Fury and Fairey Firefly aircraft on HMS Warrior

Westland WS-51 Dragonfly

Rubber Deck Trials

de Havilland Sea Vampire landing on flexible flight deck on HMS Warrior

Vultee XP-54 Swoose Goose

Vultee XP-54 Swoose Goose resulted from United States Army Air Corps proposal R-40C issued on 27 November 1939 for aircraft with improved performance, armament, and pilot visibility over existing fighters; it specifically allowed for unconventional aircraft designs. Also designed to this request were the Curtiss XP-55 Ascender and the Northrop XP-56 Black Bullet.

Initially designed as a low-altitude interceptor, this was changed to a high-altitude interceptor. The resulting addition of a pressurized cockpit led to a unique pilot entry method, where the seat acted as an elevator. The seat was lowered and raised electrically while the pilot at it it. Bail out was also complicated by the pusher propellors and a downward firing ejector seat was installed.

Two prototypes were built (41-1210 and 42-108994, although the second was wrongly marked 42-1211). Performance fell short of design expectations, which combined with project delays and increased costs led to its cancellation. Both aircraft saw out their days as experimental airframes until a lock of spare parts led to their grounding.

British Aircraft Carrier HMS Vengeance

Photos of HMS Vengeance

HMS Vengeance in Service

Completed on 15 January 1945, HMS Vengeance was a Colossus-class aircraft carrier built for the Royal Navy. Vengeance arrived in Sydney Australia in July 1945, but was still in port when the Japanese surrendered and therefore saw no action during the Second World War.

Post war she was converted for Arctic conditions, and from 5 February 1949 to 8 March 1949 operated in Arctic waters as part of Operation Rusty: an experimental cruise to determine how well ships, aircraft, and personnel functioned in extreme cold.

When the construction of the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne was delayed, Vengeance was loaned to the Royal Australian Navy and commissioned as HMAS Vengeance on 13 November 1952.

Vengeance was returned to the Royal Navy on 25 October 1955, but was not reactivated. Instead she was sold to Brazil on 14 December 1956 and commissioned into the Marinha do Brasil (MB, Brazilian Navy) as NAeL Minas Gerais on 6 December 1960.