Fairey Barracuda (Torpedo/Dive bomber)

[Louis]

Machinery One Rolls-Royce Merlin 32 liquid-cooled V12 engine rated at 1,640hp
Armament: 2x7.7mm Vickers K machine guns, 735kg bomb/torpedo carrying capacity
Crew 3 / Speed, Maximum: 340 km/h / Range, Normal 1,165 km

 

[Louis]

 

[mTk]

I did not know...
Well, if a B-25 could take off of a carrier I guess one of those beasties could too.

 

[Gunner]

Wondering where you might see one of these.....

"After its withdrawal from service during the 1950s, no intact examples of the Barracuda were preserved despite its once-large numbers, although the Fleet Air Arm Museum has ambitions to assemble a full reproduction."

 

[Louis]

Training on runway that simulated the deck of an aircraft carrier.

 

[Gunner]

Am I crazy or is that bus all decked out to look like a ship with masts, funnel, portals and even a life boat?

 

[Nort]

My guess is that the bus is intended to replicate the conning tower of the aircraft carrier.

 

[Louis]

Am I crazy or is that bus all decked out to look like a ship with masts, funnel, portals and even a life boat?

Yep, I have looked it up on the web and it is as Nort says. Royal Navy officers 'aboard' 'HMS SPURIOUS MARK II' - a bus converted to resemble the island of an aircraft carrier. The bus is being driven along a runway at Royal Naval Air Station East Haven at Carnoustie, Scotland. Also it could be driven down a runway to simulate a moving vessel to help trainee carrier pilots learn to land on a moving deck.

 

[Gunner]

Thanks luis.

That would make a grand float in a parade.

 

[Louis]

This Fairey Barracuda overshot its mark while taxiing forward past the barrier after landing and crashed onto the fo'c'sle. The pilot was unharmed. The ship? According to the source, it is the HSM Rajah (D10) who operated as a deck landing training carrier, being visited by a variety of aircraft, and was not without some mishaps. There were a number of accidents (the posted photo shows one of them). 1944

 

[Gunner]

You can't park there mate.