HMS Eagle Hands to flying stations Vixens Tooms and Buccs

[david parry]

PHANTOMS ON HMS EAGLE - British Pathe (http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=46084) EXTRA ! HMS EAGLE - British Pathe (http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=46110)

[tarantonight]

Top stuff as usual David. Maybe we should send this to David Cameron and his cronies!

Quick shot of a guy named Hugh Drake in the rear of the F4 early on.

TN.

[Senior Pilot]

An old one of Eagle on the last commission:

9GmedVgbW-A

[N2erk]

Love the footage of the first high-speed Bucc flypast on the b&w movie of Eagle.:ok:

[4Greens]

Good one Dave.

[Stendec5]

Great shots of a magnificent ship and her brood. Although listening to the commentary (initial order for 50 Phantoms whittled down to 28) shows that the worm was in the apple even then.
How useful Eagle/Ark would have been in the South Atlantic.

[CoffmanStarter]

Splendid ... Many thanks for sharing :ok:

[safetypee]

Any ideas as to why the Sea Vixen shown in ‘Extra’ appears to be carrying a yellow Firestreak?

[tartare]

God it just seems so small compared to the Nimtz class.
Amazing to think that freight train of a jet could be landed on a deck that size.

[RAFEngO74to09]

It certainly was an amazing feat to operate the Phantom FG1 from HMS Ark Royal and do the trial on HMS Eagle.

HMS Ark Royal vs USS Nimitz:

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3235/2389802305_9e36657fce_z.jpg

[thing]

Great pic Eng but what always amazes me is that they tie up these multi trillion ton behemoths with bits of old rope.

[tartare]

...that photo literally puts it all in perspective.

[Fly3]

And the crew of the one on the right always wanted an invitation over to enjoy a pint of CSB!

[tartare]

Are there any images/drawings around showing the QE2's size in relation to a Nimitz class?
She certainly looked pretty large in that `target' thread the other day - the photo of her in the dock...
I see from Wikipedia 290 metres for the QE2 versus 330ish for the Nimitiz in length.
That's big.

[Navaleye]

Tartare,

See the link below

https://navynews.co.uk/archive/news/item/10195

[4Greens]

There is a rat guard on the Arks stern line. Nimitz doesnt appear to have them.

[Boudreaux Bob]

The USS Midway was a smaller carrier than the Nimitz Class.

In rough seas she earned the name "Skidway".

Her Keel was laid in October 1943 and was Commissioned in 1945.

Over her long life she grew from 57,000 Tons Displacement to 74,000 Tons, added an angled deck, enclosed her Bow, but had two thirds the displacement of a CVN.


http://www.midwaysailor.com/midway/history.html




http://www.midwaysailor.com/midwaymessages/midway-498b.jpg

[sandiego89]

Yeah the Midway really suffered with the additional side blisters and top weight. The size of the angled deck overhang is amazing.

[Hangarshuffle]

..from that era, and was quite struck by some of the tales told. In a way, its easy to feel a little cheated if your own career was spent say between the big UK carriers. At any career, rank or branch level perhaps? I always liked to hear the tales about the carriers in the 60's, seemed risky...a bit rock and roll. All my time was spent on the ships of the 1980s and onwards. Like Led Zeppelin versus ******* Visage or Soft Cell at times? (If you will excuse the comparison).
Then again we actually did operations, in the 1960s and 70s on carriers what did everyone do, except wear flares?

[Kitbag]

Then again we actually did operations, in the 1960s and 70s on carriers what did everyone do, except wear flares?Prepare for the big one, you know the unthinkable conflict?

Lucky for you and me it never kicked off

[orca]

Does anyone know how the Landing Areas compared between Nimitz and Ark Royal? Looking at the photo they are not dissimilar.

A lot of the size difference appears to be parking outboard of the LA and forward of the bridge. Neither of which matter a jot when trying to recover.

Did the Brits also go for a lighter Max Trap weight as the run off long of the LA does seem smaller?