Picture of the day

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SSTC 502 'Joan'

https://web.archive.org/web/20090129022732/http://harringtonmuseum.org.uk/RedStocking.htm

^Joan - Eleanor
 
For a short period, the British christened it as the HMS Diamond Rock. For administrative (and crewing purposes), it was a ship of the line.

The combined French and Spanish fleets had trouble sinking it ;) However, once surrounded, after a few months the crew of the mighty HMS Diamond Rock eventually ran out of food, water, and ammo.
 
A very good writer of historical fiction, Dudley Pope, wrote a series of novels about a fictional character named Ramage. One of those novels was called "Ramage's Diamond", and it was based on the actual events at Diamond Rock.
 
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“Carrier flight deck scene taken by a Steichen unit photographer , 4 December 1943. Ship is probably USS Yorktown (CV-10) or USS Lexington (CV-16), then participating in the Marshall Islands raids. Planes on deck include Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat fighters and Douglas SBD-5 Dauntless bombers.”
 
Hellcats also served in the Fleet Air Arm.

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May 28th 1945: Four aircraft were put out of action when Lt. T H Pemberton's aircraft, Hellcat JW723, bounced on landing, missed all the wires and broke through the barriers into the aircraft park, causing damage to JX827, JW733 & JX889.

Pemberton was thus one away from becoming a German ace.

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Lt Pemberton must've hit pretty damned hard to miss ALL the wires and break through the barrier........:eek::eek::eek:

The RN Fleet Air Arm could not use their Seafires on the Palembang operation to take out the Indonesian oil refineries. The seas were just too heavy for the fragile undercarriage. They missed their fighter screen due to this. Harsh wartime conditions - still have to get the operation completed. Harrowing story btw.

It says his squadron flew from HMS Ameer which was based in Trincomalee.
 
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Martlet was the Wildcat. Hellcat was initially the Gannet, but then changed to Hellcat to keep from confusing folks.

Besides, I don't like gannets. They wet their nests.

[youtube]eCM2nEBE0RY[/youtube]

Another Grumman product in FAA service - the Avenger:

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