HMS Belfast February 22, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in British Isles, England, Great Britain, London, Museums, Second World War, aircraft, ships.Tags: 38th parallel, 4-inch gun, 40mm gun, 6-inch gun, Admiral Frobisher, Admiral Nelson, Admiralty Disruptive Camouflage Type 25, Barracuda, battleship, British Army, Canadian Army, Chance-Vought, Communist, Corsair, cruiser, D-Day, dazzle camouflage, Fairey, Fleet Air Arm, floating museum, German Navy, Gold Beach, Grumman, Hellcat, HMS Belfast, Imperial War Museum, June Beach, Korean War, London, magnetic mine, Normandy, North Korea, Norwegian coast, Operation Tungsten, Pro Tanto Quid Retribuamas, River Thames, Royal Navy, Tirpitz, triple 6-inch mounts
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HMS Belfast
An 11,000 ton, 6-inch gun cruiser is an impressive ship; in this case HMS Belfast is made even more impressive by being anchored in the centre of London. Cared for by the Imperial War Museum, this veteran of both World War Two and the Korean War, serves as a living reminder of the ‘big gun navy’, when the art of naval gunnery was practised aboard battleships and cruisers by the direct ‘descendents’ of admirals such as Nelson and Frobisher. Twelve 6-inch guns are carried in four triple mounts, and there is a secondary armament of 4 -inch and 40mm guns, also. Commissioned just prior to the outbreak of WW2 (5th August 1939), the ship was almost lost when hitting a magnetic mine in November of that year, and repairs took nearly three years. Here you can see her wearing a particularly fetching ‘dazzle camouflage’ – Admiralty Disruptive Camouflage Type 25 – of the middle of the Second World War. Perhaps her most notable role was bombarding targets in France during the D-Day landings in Normandy, where she used both her 6 inch and 4 inch guns to great effect (she could reach targets more than 11 miles inland); her main role was supporting British and Canadian landings on Gold and Juno beaches.
Operation Tungsten – an aerial attack on the German battleship ‘Tirpitz’ , by Fairey Barracuda, Grumman Hellcat and Chance-Vought Corsair aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm – saw her providing cover for the aircraft carriers stationed off the Norwegian coast.
HMS Belfast’ s last taste of action was during the Korean War when she regularly bombarded Communist targets ashore on both sides of the 38th parallel. She was in almost continuous action from July 1950 to September 1952, when she finally sailed for her home port.
Saved for the nation by a vigorous campaign lead by ex-officers of the ship, she entered retirement, and was moored in the Thames as a floating museum. She is, technically, a branch of the Imperial War Museum. I have visited HMS Belfast on a number of occasions, and am always struck by a sense of history, when onboard.
Truly, as the ship’s motto says, Pro Tanto Quid Retribuamas (For so much, how shall we repay?)
Yes, I know, I know, it’s ANOTHER An-2……. February 3, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in Aviation, Great Vintage Flying Weekend, aircraft, ships.Tags: 'Anna', 'Anushka', Abingdon, Aero Troika, Air Show, An-2, An-2T, Antonov, Aviation, Cologne, F-4, Flight Training Cologne, German Air Force, Great Vintage Flying Weekend, GVFWE, LSK, Luftstreitkrafte, Luftwaffe, Mielec, North Vietnam, Phantom, Poland, PZL, South Vietnam, torpedo, USS Long Beach, Vietnamese War
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An-2, D-FKMA
I may have said this before but I REALLY like the An-2. The ‘Anushka’ is big, bold and burly….and makes a statement on the flightline. Thanks to the German Air Force, who declined this PZL-built former LSK (Luftstreitkrafte) East German machine (LSK-440), it came onto the open market. Here seen in the markings of ‘Aero Troika’ on the flightline at GVFWE Abingdon, it is now operated by Flight Training Cologne, and gives pleasure flights, mostly operating out of its home base. This An-2T (nicknamed ‘Anna’) was not built – at Mielec in Poland – to any agreed international civilian standard, so the CAA would have a problem with allowing that kind of operation in the UK.
I went inside this aircraft and found it typical of the breed. The cockpit had an almost ‘agricultural’ feel to it; almost like a flying tractor – and about as tough, too! Difficult to think of this as being in any way belligerent, but, during the Vietnamese War, some North Vietnamese An-2s were fitted with two torpedoes slung underneath their wing, in an attempt to attack South Vietnamese coastal shipping. One of these North Vietnamese An-2s was shot down by an F-4 Phantom, under the control of USS Long Beach!
‘Is it a bird, is a ‘plane…no, it’s a paddle steamer (minus paddles)’ January 24, 2009
Posted by shortfinals in London, Second World War, ships.Tags: art gallery, conference centre, England, ferry, Humber Bridge, Hungerford Bridge, King's Reach, Lincoln Castle, LNER, London, New Holland, nightspot, paddle steamer, PS Tattershall Castle, pub, railway, River Humber, River Thames, Second World War, Victoria Embankment, Westminster, Wingfield Castle, WW2
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PS Tattershall Castle, London
Viewed from the south bank of the Thames, here we can see today’s mystery object. A paddle steamer? A ferry? An art gallery? A wartime transport? A conference centre? A nightclub? A pub? A railway company asset? Well, yes, just select the box that says, ‘all of the above’.
Built in 1934, to the order of the London and North Eastern Railway Co., the PS Tattershall Castle (the PS stands for ‘Paddle Steamer’) was used as a ferry on the LNER route across the Humber Estuary from Hull to New Holland – a journey of approximately 4 miles. She did this about 8 times a day, carrying up to 1,000 passengers, freight and some vehicles. The Second World War saw her take on wartime duties, ferrying trops and supplies all over the estuary. Demobilised at the end of the war, along with her two sisters, she went back to the ferrying work, along with a series of pleasure charters. In 1973, she was retired, having reached the end of her useful life. It is likely that when the Humber Bridge was finally finished in 1981, it would have spelt the end for the ferry service anyway. The scrapyard did NOT beckon, however, as she was snapped up by a London businessman who wanted to open a floating art gallery in the centre fo London, on King’s Reach in the City of Westminster. That venture, unlike the PS Tattershall Castle, foundered after a few years and she was taken over by a pub chain. After restoration, modifications (her paddles were removed, and the paddle box space utilized) and repairs, she was towed back up the Thames to her present postion. If you fancy a really spectacular river-side venue for a meal, then you could do much worse than the Tattershall Castle. By the way, by an amazing stroke of good fortune, both of the other ‘paddlers’ on this ferry route, Wingfield Castle and Lincoln Castle survived and are in preservation!
