Hurricanes Landing on a Carrier

[fubar57]

News to me. Reading the book "Men of the Battle of Britain" and in the entry for Sgt. Stanley Andrew of 46 Squadron, it says, "....On May 18 1940 he sailed with the squadron for Norway in the carrier HMS Glorious. The Hurricanes flew off the carrier, landing at Skaanland on the 26th. The campaign was short-lived. On June 7 46's surviving Hurricanes were flown back on to the Glorious, the first time such a landing had been attempted....". Anyone have any other info on this event

 

[SaparotRob]

You got me curious, fubar57. I found a reference at historytoday.com. "History of controversy ". Not much about the Hurricanes landing on HMS Glorious. It's mostly about the loss of the carrier.

 

[SaparotRob]

Check this out on "warhistoryonline.com".
How Ingenuity, Skill And The Humble Sandbag Saved A Squadron Of Hurricanes.

 

[fubar57]

Great read

 

[nuuumannn]

It's a commonly mentioned escapade in written histories of the Hurricane and RN aviation wartime activities and Eric Brown mentions the incident as proving in the eyes of those interested the Hurricane's suitability for deck operations, particularly since the RAF pilots were wholly inexperienced in such a thing, since at that time the admiralty was in discussion with Hawker regarding a navalised Hurricane. There are a few accounts by pilots who survived the operation, including a pilot who was told not to land back on Glorious but to go to Ark Royal, which was in the vicinity, as Glorious' deck was full. Once he landed, he heard that Glorious had been sunk. Can't remember where I read this, or the name of the pilot in question...

 

[Gnomey]

Interesting!