Stilton wrote:
"Forgive me if this has been asked before:
What was the maximum number of Sea Harriers / Gr's operated on the Hermes or Invincible class ?"
The Invincibles can operate up to a maximum of 22 aircraft each, the exact mixture depending on operational requirements. The optimum number of Harriers/SHARs was found to about 14, more could be carried but the ship became somewhat crowded. The remainder of the air group would be made up of helos, three ASaC 7 Sea Kings and four to six Merlins. Latterly a couple of Lynx have been added to the air groups for various duties. Hermes could carry more, being a larger ship and in the Falklands operated around twenty FRS1s/GR3s as well as an ASW Sea King sqn and other detachments from time to time (the GR3s took up space vacated by a sqn of HC4 Sea Kings after the landings at San Carlos). Current estimates (in Indian Service) are that Hermes/Viraat can carry around 30 Harriers plus some helos.
