The British Carrier Strike Fleet. David Hobbs
trials were carried out in Illustrious in July 1951 but entry into service, intended for 1953, was delayed by the discovery of weaknesses in the undercarriage and arrester hook mounting.24 In the event the more highly developed FAW 21 was the first to embark operationally in 1955. It was equipped with AN/APS-57 radar supplied by the USN under the MDAP and known as AI Mark 21 in RN service. The standard armament for both versions was four 20mm cannon in the nose and bombs and rockets could be carried under the wings.
In the longer term, the Admiralty had issued Specification NA38 for a more advanced two-seat, twin-engined all-weather fighter with transonic performance to the MoS in 1952 and this had been accepted and passed to de Havilland for tender action. The Admiralty had hoped that the requirement could be met by a development of the de Havilland DH 116, a comparatively small, high-performance aircraft with a single re-heated turbojet engine which was at the design study stage. By 1952, however, the Admiralty was advised by the MoS that the firm’s design capacity was insufficient to cope with the work required to take the DH116 forward and it had been abandoned. As an alternative, the MoS recommended that the DH110 be considered25 and an investigation into its possible application to meet NA38 was carried out in 1952. It proved to be a much larger aircraft, with a wingspan of 50ft against 42ft 10in and a maximum weight of 46,700lbs compared with 15,000lbs. It did, however, have the advantage that it could be stowed more densely in a hangar since, with its twin-boom layout, aircraft could be parked nose under tail. The DH110 was also expected to carry a substantial weapons load, making it suitable for the strike role. If adopted it was expected to be in service from ‘about 1957’ but, as with other aircraft, this was to prove optimistic since too few prototypes were procured and the firm lacked both design and testing capacity during a period of frantic activity.26
By 1952 the Gannet had been given ‘super priority’ status and 210 were on order for the RN. It was described as a ‘single package’ anti-submarine aircraft, able to search for submarines over a wide area with ASV-19B radar and visually, localise a target with sono-buoys and attack with a homing torpedo or depth charges. Fears that the Gannet might prove too heavy to operate from escort carriers in any future conflict led to specification M123D for a light anti-submarine aircraft which could be produced easily and economically in quantity during an emergency and operate in rough weather from small, slow carriers. Short Brothers were awarded a contract to produce a simple aircraft of rugged construction which emerged as the Seamew. Very much in the tradition of the late-war Swordfish III that operated from MAC-Ships, it was expected to fly in 1953.
The Westland Wyvern S4, the first production version of the long-delayed strike fighter, was expected to equip an operational squadron in 1953. About the same weight as a DC-3 Dakota airliner, the Wyvern was a big aircraft and it had considerable problems with engines, propeller control units and the airframe which delayed it by years. Its Armstrong Siddeley Python turbo-prop engine was actually the third power unit to be tested in its airframe. It was expected to be able to carry a single Mark 17 torpedo, three 1000lb bombs or a variety of weapons under development when it came into service.
In the longer term, Specification NA39 called for a two-seat, twin-turbojet engined strike aircraft that was eventually to emerge as the Buccaneer. It was to incorporate all the lessons of Korean operations and carry a weapon load of 4000lbs over a radius of action of 500 miles from its parent carrier. Maximum speed at sea level was to be ‘at least 580 knots’ and it was to be capable of attacking at extremely low level under enemy radar coverage. Preliminary discussions with the MoS informed the Admiralty that production aircraft were unlikely to reach squadrons before 1959. Another new specification, NA43, was written for an anti-submarine helicopter of about 15,000lbs maximum weight, a considerable size for 1952. It was to be capable of carrying both dipping sonar, known at the time as asdic, and a homing weapon or the equivalent weight of depth charges. Preliminary discussions with the MoS indicated that the requirement could best be met by a version of the Bristol Type 173,27 a prototype of which was flying in 1952. The Supermarine Sea Otter biplane amphibian was withdrawn from service by 1952 and replaced in carriers and naval air stations by a licence-built version of the Sikorsky S-51 helicopter known as the Westland Dragonfly.
Aircraft supplied by the USN under MDAP arrangements continued to fill an important place in the RN, both in reality and theory since it was believed that in the event of war with the Soviet Bloc the British aircraft industry would struggle to cope with orders for the RAF and the RN would have to rely heavily on Lend-Lease American aircraft as it had in the Second World War. For this reason British carrier specifications continued to require the ability to operate USN types but new aircraft such as the Douglas A-3 Skywarrior with a wingspan of 72ft 6in and a maximum weight of 82,000lbs were viewed with alarm. The RN expected to receive 100 Grumman TBM-3E Avengers in 1953 which were to replace Barracudas and Fireflies as a stop-gap until sufficient Gannets were available. They were to be modified for the anti-submarine role to British standards by Scottish Aviation at Prestwick.
Also in 1953, the RN expected to receive twenty-five Sikorsky HO4S-3 helicopters equipped with dipping sonar which it intended to use in trials to evaluate the short range anti-submarine role and twenty Hiller helicopters to be used for pilot training. The most important aircraft delivered under MDAP was the Douglas AD-4W Skyraider which equipped the re-formed 849 NAS in July 1952 in the airborne early warning role. Known as the Skyraider AEW 1 in British service, its AN/APS-20C radar could detect a destroyer-sized surface ship at about 120 miles and a four-engined bomber in flight at about 60 miles. About fifty of these aircraft were to be supplied, some of which were to be used as spares. The RN operated these aircraft in a very different way from the way they were used in American service. In the USN the AD-4W flew with a single pilot and one or two technicians in the rear seats who were responsible for maintaining a data link that transmitted the radar picture back to the parent carrier where it was interpreted. They could not interpret or make use of the radar picture themselves but the pilot did have a small screen in the front cockpit. In the RN, the two rear seats were occupied by specialist observers, trained as fighter controllers and able to interpret the radar picture for both surface and air searches,28 acting in effect as a flying operations room.
A Skyraider AEW 1 of 849B NAS lined up on Ark Royal’s angled deck for a free take-off. Note the huge radome for the AN/APS-20 scanner between the main undercarriage legs.
Air Weapons
Work on the 30mm Aden cannon at this time centred on producing a version with a higher muzzle velocity, expected to be in the region of 2500ft per second. As a back-up in case it failed the Hispano Type 825 which had a considerably higher muzzle velocity, was kept in development. Due to the high expenditure of bombs in the Korean conflict, there was a general shortage of bombs both in the FEF and in the UK. The run-down British bomb-manufacturing industry was concentrating in 1952 on the build-up of weapons for Bomber Command’s new V-Force jet bombers and so a number of bombs had to be procured from US sources. Consequently a number of types not usually met in naval service had found their way into the supply chain and had to be modified locally to fit RN aircraft suspension points. Many of these bombs were of cast, as opposed to forged, construction and were therefore unsuitable for use against armoured or hardened targets.29
A Wyvern S 4 of 831 NAS tensioned ready for launch on Eagle’s starboard catapult. It is armed with sixteen 3in rockets on underwing rails. (Author’s collection)
Three new heads for the standard 3in rocket were under development in 1952; these included the Type D anti-submarine solid head with a straight underwater trajectory, the 60lb anti-tank hollow-charge head and a 60lb anti-tank squash head. A 36-round 2in rocket launcher was adopted as a joint requirement with the RAF; initially expected to be used on the Sea Hawk, it did not in fact come into service until the 1960s. Throughout the early 1950s work continued to meet a joint Naval/Air Staff requirement for an unguided air-to-ship strike weapon which was allocated the codename ‘Red Angel’. It was a development of the earlier ‘Uncle Tom’ rocket, had an 11.5in diameter and