Description
Object description
Deck landings by Firefly FR.1s, Walrus amphibians, Corsairs and Seafires on HMS Glory, then stationed in the Indian Ocean.
Full description
Reel One. Firefly FR.1s of 837 Squadron land on HMS Glory, September 1946 - the camera is shooting aft from a sponson down the port side of the flightdeck to the Deck Landing Control Officer's position, and each landing is preceded by a board giving the date, the aircraft number, the pilot's identity, and sometimes a mission character for the flight. Firefly deck landings are interspersed with some by Walrus amphibians and Corsair IVs of 1831 Squadron. By the end of the reel the date on the boards has advanced to January, 1947. Reel Two. More Corsair and Firefly landings - some of the Fireflies are from HMS Venerable, probably 814 Squadron, and are decorated with a lightning flash below the exhaust stubs (Glory's own Firefly 270 is also decorated with a fine set of shark's teeth). On 4 February 1947, the pilot of one of Venerable's aircraft (serial PP 645) rewards the patient viewer by bouncing over the wires into the crash barrier. The landings continue - by 24 February, aircraft 270 has lost its teeth. In April there are a series of deck landings by Seafire F.XVs - probably those of 806 Squadron, then embarked on Glory. The routine then resumes. A final Seafire landing is particularly spectacular - aircraft 5H comes in far too high to take the wires, but low enough to catch its undercarriage on the safety barrier and nose-dive into the deck. The aircraft rests upright on mainwheels and the leading edge of the wings, its nose cracked open where the engine bearer has been forced upwards by the impact.
Physical description
16mm