Enjoy!

[mrloudly]

These were the days!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5lpja_ark-royal-...

[topsparks]

Great stuff,if only we'd kept the Ark for a few more years there wouldn't have been a Falklands war.

[Hooli]

Ahh back when we had armed forces.

[Eric Mc]

Good stuff.

That chap who had six goes was getting me worried.

[kiteless]

Great find. Enjoyed that one.

Unrelated, my uncle was Master At Arms on that Ark Royal for a time.

[tdm34ds]

Brilliant find!!

[hidetheelephants]

If anyone wants the rest of that, it's an excerpt from the BBC's pioneering fly-on-the-wall doc 'Sailor'. Really good stuff, and as noted a reminder of when we had a navy the bad guys were scared of.

[bob1179]

Excellent stuff. It makes me a little sad looking at the state of our armed forces now.

[scubadude]

Makes you want to put the National Anthem on and stand weeping quietly at our nations fall....

Loving the cool-calm tower crew discussing the 6 tries chap, very British :-)

[DieselGriff]

hidetheelephants said:

If anyone wants the rest of that, it's an excerpt from the BBC's pioneering fly-on-the-wall doc 'Sailor'. Really good stuff, and as noted a reminder of when we had a navy the bad guys were scared of.

Yup - I bought it on DVD as I saw a clip sometime back and I got all nostalgic remembering when I saw it when it was first broadcast.

Some excellent clips and it comes with a bonus DVD of RN air ops in the Med

[P10DGR]

Really enjoyed that, thanks for posting!

[Simpo Two]

In hindsight, where did we get the money from to pay for all that?

Serious question.

[Eric Mc]

A lot came through NATO funding.

Also, I am pretty sure that the welfare budget as a percentage of the overall national budget was a lot less then.

[hidetheelephants]

Simpo Two said:

In hindsight, where did we get the money from to pay for all that?

Serious question.

Rationing(Ark was mostly built before it stopped) and matelots used to get st pay and conditions(hammocks anybody?). And debt; the national debt has grown hugely since WW2. And running it on a shoestring; the engine room had a fair quantity of recycled machinery, some of which allegedly came off the WW1 battleship HMS Ramilles. After the sistership Eagle was mothballed she was heavily plundered for spares to keep the Ark going to 1978.

[pstruck]

Nice video. Enjoyed that. It's quite tense just watching those F-4's and Buccs approaching.