HMS ARK ROYAL DISEMBARKS HER COMPLEMENT OF FIXED-WING AIRCRAFT [Allocated Title]

In a windy Mediterranean HMS Ark Royal flies off her Phantom, Buccaneer and Gannet aircraft for the last time.

Aerial sequence shot from a helicopter hovering off to port as Ark Royal launches aircraft alternately from waist and main deck catapults. Three Gannet AEW 3 aircraft are followed by the Buccaneer S Mk 2s of 809 Squadron, the last aircraft being 036 launched from the waist catapult. (Ark Royal's complement was 14 Buccaneers of which eleven launches are recorded.) Gannet 043, the last of Ark Royal's flight of four, is launched from the main deck catapult. (The four Gannets all have a bee on the tail fin which, along with the spinner, is decorated in black and yellow - signifying B Flight of 849 Squadron.) The Phantoms of 892 Squadron are marshalled on deck - all bear the Omega symbol on their tail fins, signifying the last service squadron of conventional fixed wing aircraft. The first aircraft away is 007 bearing the legend FLY NAVY. Nine further launches follow (Ark Royal's complement was 12), the last aircraft being 012. The camera-aircraft circles the carrier, now empty of aircraft. The launchings are shown again from a camera onboard - eight Buccaneers (030, 034, 025, 033, 022, 027, 026, 036), Gannet 043, six Phantoms (007, 004, 010, 014, 001, 013), then back to the beginning of the launch sequence for Gannets 042, 044 and 041, the launch of Buccaneer 024, and then the last two Phantom launches - 003 and 012. The last sequence shows air operations before the final disembarkation - LA from camera on portside just forward of one of the arrester wires as a Buccaneer lands on - the aircraft's tail air brake opens as it runs past the camera. Two more Buccaneers land on. Two Gannets land on, 042 and 044. Deck crew surround 044 and a fork lift is brought up - the observer is helped from the aircraft onto the tractor's raised platform, lowered to the deck, and carried to a stretcher. A mobile crane approaches 044.

16mm