HMS Victorious June44

I shall check his log book again, I assumed all the phots were from the time he was there in June (He flew in a Barracuda). But come to think of it the Firebrand, SeaFire couldnt have been…sorry…it was late when I did them!

I shall try and pop some shots of the RAF Northolt station flight in the scanner some time

The Seafire (F17?) looks like it is from 778NAS at RNAS Ford – in fact all these aircraft types served with 778, and since it was a service trials unit this could well be some sort of training session for the carrier, post refit or something. One thing is certain – this is post war, not 1944…

Flood

Yes, cracking pics, but I think that at least three are later than 1944. The top left is a Firebrand, bottom left a late Seafire (XVII, I think) and then the Hornet. None of these were in service in June 1944 – the Firebrand was on its way to being a bit of a disaster and the bubble-canopied Griffon-engined Seafires didn’t appear until later.

Strikes me that these are from the time when Victorious was in use as a training carrier without an embarked air wing (so about 1947 – 1950). The ship paid off in 1950 to undergo modernisation, finally re-emerging from the dockyard eight (!) years later.

Nice photos, but I don’t think the Hornet would have been taken in June 1944, the prototype (RR915) didn’t fly until 28 July 1944.

Great pics. 😀

I think that the Hornet shot would be later than June 1944 though.

Best wishes
Steve P