HMS Hermes Bay of Biscay 1979

HMS Hermes Bay of Biscay 1979

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Discussion

T66ORA

Original Poster:

3,474 posts

256 months

Tuesday 18th October 2011
quotequote all
I spent a couple of hours on Sunday scanning some of my old Navy photos, amongst them lots of Falklands 82, and this one of the big carrier in a bit of "rougher's"in the Bay of Biscay spring 1979,i thought id share it with youbiggrin




Then entering Fort Lauradale Florida a couple of months later.



Edited by T66ORA on Tuesday 18th October 21:22

perdu

4,884 posts

198 months

Tuesday 18th October 2011
quotequote all
Thanks for showing us these

lovely shot of the wide flat bit all wettish wink

[cheekygit]psst, got any more guv? They are great[/cheekygit]

Matt Harper

6,613 posts

200 months

Tuesday 18th October 2011
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One of my closest friends was a MEM on that ship - at that time. Hackford, his name is - more commonly referred to as "The Bison". Scary fker.....

phumy

5,671 posts

236 months

Wednesday 19th October 2011
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I was a stoker on there from 76 to 78. Nasty fking ship, one of the crappiest ships i was ever deployed on.

Eric Mc

121,779 posts

264 months

Wednesday 19th October 2011
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Nice to see it before the ski-jump was added.

Seight_Returns

1,640 posts

200 months

Wednesday 19th October 2011
quotequote all
phumy said:
I was a stoker on there from 76 to 78. Nasty fking ship, one of the crappiest ships i was ever deployed on.
Who so ?

Genuinely interested.

phumy

5,671 posts

236 months

Wednesday 19th October 2011
quotequote all
Seight_Returns said:
Who so ?

Genuinely interested.
Not sure how to answer "who so". Anyway the whole deployment was spoilt by one ahole of a Fleet Chief PO named Mr Dare, or Dan Dare to those who knew of him. One of the nastiest persons i ever came in contact with in the RN, just ask anyone else who has come across him.

Seight_Returns

1,640 posts

200 months

Wednesday 19th October 2011
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Sorry - fat fingers - I meant "How So?" - thanks for your explanation.

CobolMan

1,417 posts

206 months

Wednesday 19th October 2011
quotequote all
Old man was on Hermes between '66 and '68.

phumy

5,671 posts

236 months

Thursday 20th October 2011
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Eric Mc said:
Nice to see it before the ski-jump was added.
I was on board when the first of the Harrier trials started on the Hermes around '77-ish, it was quite interesting having these on board, over the one or two weeks they were on board they landed vertically on the flight deck and had blown massive holes in the non-slip coating on the deck. The trials they did where runs up the deck from different starting points and obviously at different take off speeds also different vectoring positions on the rotatable thrusts, (i think that's what they're called). So invariably you would see the harrier go for take-off and disappear over the front of the flight deck as they dropped, obviously they would readjust the vertical thrusts pretty sharpish to get them going upwards rather than in the drink. Unfortunately i dont have any photos of this time but im sure they must be about on the 'net somewhere. If i remember correctly the pilot who initially came on board for the first time was a famous pilot i think he was something to do with the design of it, maybe Eric might be able to confirm his name, also there was a two-seater for training too, im also re-calling that one of them was a dark blue colour, for some reason, does that ring significant with anyone.

Seight_Returns

1,640 posts

200 months

Thursday 20th October 2011
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Was the harrier test pilot John Farley ?

Eric Mc

121,779 posts

264 months

Thursday 20th October 2011
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They wouldn't have been Sea Harriers as the first of those didn't fly until 1978. I bet the two seater was G-VTOL, which is now on display at Brooklands.

phumy

5,671 posts

236 months

Thursday 20th October 2011
quotequote all
Seight_Returns said:
Was the harrier test pilot John Farley ?
Yes im sure that's the name of the guy who fist flew on board.

phumy

5,671 posts

236 months

Thursday 20th October 2011
quotequote all
Just been on Google, as one does and have found a really interesting forum/thread on "Harrier Carriers", old and new, there is some very good data on there, especially interesting is the info given by a guy called "planeman", an excellent forum.

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.ph...

phumy

5,671 posts

236 months

Thursday 20th October 2011
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Sorry guys but still on the Google i just found this, which backs up my story earlier about the two seater. Its a link to a pdf so give it a little time to load and its all there in 1977 trials for the two seater.

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1977/1...

Edited to say: Eric you are correct in the fact that G-VTOL was on the first sea trials on Hermes, its in this article.

Edited by phumy on Thursday 20th October 10:34

Eric Mc

121,779 posts

264 months

Thursday 20th October 2011
quotequote all
The first carrier landing by a Harrier (or its predecessors) was actually by Bill Bedford back in the 1963 when he carried out some feasibility trials on HMS Ark Royal with a P1127.


Simpo Two

85,149 posts

264 months

Thursday 20th October 2011
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I just consulted 'Wings on my Sleeve', fully expecting Eric Brown to have dumped a Harrier on a flight deck at some time (deck landings were his speciality). However whilst the P.1127 is in his famous 'list', the Harrier isn't. Just after his time I guess.

Eric Mc

121,779 posts

264 months

Thursday 20th October 2011
quotequote all
Simpo Two said:
I just consulted 'Wings on my Sleeve', fully expecting Eric Brown to have dumped a Harrier on a flight deck at some time (deck landings were his speciality). However whilst the P.1127 is in his famous 'list', the Harrier isn't. Just after his time I guess.
Probably because he was an RAE test pilot and the P1127 was test flown by Hawker and Hawker Siddeley's test team.

Simpo Two

85,149 posts

264 months

Thursday 20th October 2011
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Well somebody let him fly the P1127 smile

T66ORA

Original Poster:

3,474 posts

256 months

Thursday 20th October 2011
quotequote all
The first Sea Harrier trials were on the same deployment as the photos, 1979, might have some photos in the loft, the Harriers were light blue and grey IIRC.

I`ve never heard a bad word said about "Happy H" until this thread frown

I know two lads who went on the same course as me, when Hermes was in refit for it`s "nose job" 80/81, they got drafted to HMS Ardent early in 1982.

RiP "Knocker" White and "Bungy" Williams

Hermes might have been a rusty old Tub? but she was well armoured, being designed during the second world war, i know what ship would have preferred to be on.tank