As an ancient French sailor, flight deck crew member aboard Porte-avions Foch and Clémenceau in the early 90's, i must say that's an amazing footage, very impressive, magnificent Wessex and F4, Buccanneers were so massive!! well done! the Ark royal was a very nice ship not very different than ours, old fashion way..Back in time i usually worked around the Flottille 12F equipped with F8 Crusader, the last gunfighter, amazing aircraft, night ops were pretty scary,..Cheers fron France
@Slater Slater I think the French navy was the last operational user ( early 2000's) after Philipines dicomintionned their own F-8, ours F-8E ( FN) recieved special modifications like the angle attack of the deployed wing, leading edges slats in two element, new avionics...glad to have seen these amazing fighters in action on board...
@Slater Slater yes the exocet missile/ Super Etendard was a deadly combo, RIP for the crews of the Sheffield destroyer...When i was aboard the Foch and Clémenceau most of the entire air group could fit on the hangar ( aproximatly 30 aircrafts), 2 Alouette III ( aka " PEDRO" escadrille 23S.), 1 or 2 Dauphin chopper ( also " Pedro") same job than your Wessex, Super Etendard ( 10 aircrafts flottille 14F, 17F) ( like Buccanneer), few Etendard IV P for recon mission ( P for Photo flottile 16F ), 4 or 5 Bréguet Alizé ( same as Gannet flottille 6F.) AEW mission, and like the Phantoms, F-8E FN for the air superiority missions ( less than 10, Flottille 12F call sign "lascar"), a couple of Super-frelon ( like seaking flottille 33F) and often, 2 super Etendard with air refuelling belly pods. Flottille had the same type of aircraft, escadrille were composed with different aircrafts ( Alouette II/ III, Dauphin).most of the time only few planes were spotted on the flight deck when the 3 hangars were fully load...
@Slater Slater i have some very good mémories about the F-8 at sea, during night ops, full afterburner after cat launch, and that aircraft was magnificent on the glide slope with fully rised wing, full down flaperons, dark smoke at every power management, And what about that amazing front wheelie after every touch down...
HMS Ark Royal RO9, was my first ship in my 25 year Naval career. I was on board 1972 to 1973, just one year, but what a year! Trips to Rosyth, Oslo, Gibraltar, Barcelona, Malta and then a 3 month deployment to the Caribbean and the USA where I managed to get a week's leave in Florida. This footage is from two years after I left but nothing has changed, with the mighty Phantoms and Buccaneers in high profile. I worked in the Pay Office with a dozen others but would often spend my leisure time up on the 'Goofing Deck' on the Island amidships watching the take-offs and landings and taking slide pictures. It was known as the 'Jewel in the Crown' of the Royal Navy at the time, and I was sad to see it scrapped. The name ARK ROYAL has been lost, it seems but maybe one day it will emerge again, I do hope so!
I'm always struck by just how short our catapults were. BTW, the full video is a great teaching-aid for anyone wanting to show their little uns something about teamwork.
I was on board the Ark when they made this video. A very exciting place to be working as a young lad - particularly during recovery stations in rough seas and at night.
More than 50 years have passed by since this incredible documentary was shot. Most of the sailors and naval aviators depicted in this film must be 75 years old +/-! Those blokes served their country on a magnificent flattop. Pity that no more money was allocated by the government to build a third QE-class carrier to bear the legendary name HMS Ark Royal.
This is the sort of gem of a film that makes it worthwhile coming to RUclips. I loved every moment of it, thank you - and who doesn't just love the sight and sound of a busy Aircraft Carrier (especially with Buccaneers!) ? Just brilliant.
I visited HMS Ark Royal in the 2nd half of the 70's ...I was more or less 16/17, impressive shipi, visitors were welcome and guided by Royal Marines.. unforgettable... I am now 63...
I'm an american and sailed along side of her back in 1975 while I was stationed aboard the USS Independence, CV-62. I was on the flight deck and your phantoms landed on our flight deck.
@@timj41 Maybe you should realise that the old commie agitator Merkle is really Putin's friend, she is slowly making Europe dependent on Russia for energy supply and now setting people up for Sputnik instead of AZ, watch what some former East Germans and eastern Europeans are up to, some of them still long for the old system and are longing to spread throughout the EU
Was on board during this as a stoker. Happy days! I remember watching these launches and recoveries, what bottle! Also the pilot of SAR 47 who on RAS’s used to throw the Wessex around the sky like a toy. Fantastic
@@MikeLacey52 Buccaneers aren’t USA and all carrier technology is British apart from daft Nuclear Power that will be disastrous when they see real naval warfare
RAF old man here: worked with many of these Buccaneers when they moved over to us. Strike, Maritime Strike and Nuclear Strike, through the times at Red Flag, and into the latter years when so many were grounded 'cos pols wouldn't spring for the remanufacture of some of the spars. Never ran out of spare parts due to this though, and our two-seat Hunter trainer for Buccaneer crews lasted another twenty years after the Buccs were retired, even though we had to replace a wing due to a 'firm' landing. The film 'Exercise Open Gate' (IIRC) covers the year before I came to Honington. Awesome Vangelis music, too. ;-)
Its good to be reminded that the Royal Navy has decades of experience deploying aircraft carriers and their flight wing. I was never in favour of losing our carrier fleet for those years before the Queen Elizabeth class were built and commissioned.
@@jacktanner4948 Because it fits much better. Ark Royal is THE name for british aircraft carriers. QE is a battleship name, now appropriate for a submarine, not for a carrier.
American flattops are named after presidents so the Brits followed the same piece of advice by naming their new carriers after the Queen and her heir. It would've been fantastic to name the new carriers HMS Ark Royal and HMS Victorious since both names represent a magnificent naval heritage in the Royal Navy. It's all politics nowadays.
The bitch would have scrapped it. Just like she was set to get rid of one-third of the UK Navy's surface fleet following the 1981 "Defence" Review. She was also intending to sell HMS Invincible and her aircraft to the Australians.
These were the golden ages. A Royal Navy Britain could justifiably be proud of. Just imagine if the Falklands War had been fought with assets like these. Maybe it would had never taken place, right?
John Cameron FFS John.Our American friend wasn't having a dig.He was merely stating a fact.The fleet air Arm boys done a great job landing those jets on our smaller carriers.
One of the greatest inventions by the Royal Naval Air Arm was the Ramp. Simple and elegant and copied by the Russians and Chinese... I wonder why the Americans have not subscribed to it
@Teh Goat, the ramp affords less than half the payload and weight of the Aircraft than the Catapult. The Ramp has no advantages over the catapult: none.
What saddens me, is that its likely that many of the people seen in this video are now either dead or doddery! 47 years is a long time and if they were in their 30's back then, they will be in their late 70's-early 80's now! That said, I hope they all had great service lives and enjoyed their lives after they left the service. Thanks for keeping us peasants safe!...xxx
This was made the year I was born, the Royal Navy really used to be something. Maybe with the introduction of the new Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers it will restore some pride to the RN.
God bless the Royal Navy. Undefeated since its inception, and all us Brits should be thankful for evermore for that. My father served for 15 years and was a Cold War submariner. It set the standards for all Anglosphere and Commonwealth navies and its traditions and excellence are still alive today, thankfully. Hearts of Oak indeed.
The whole West has gone backwards, courtesy of the leftard quislings. Someone like Callahan would have licked Galtieri's boots after handing him over the Falklands.
@@Charlesputnam-bn9zy How do you know that? The Labour Party supported Thatcher during the Falklands. I'm no fan, believe me, but Callahan and Healy were decent people.
@@mookie2637 decent as individuals, no doubt. But moved by their leftist convictions which had always been those of the appeasers who view patriotism as warmongering. Like (the British Noam Chomsky)Alan John Percival Taylor's ''There was nothing wrong with Hitler except he was a German.'' in his 1968''The Origins Of The Second World War''.
This a top quality document, with lots of details about the preparation work to be done prior a plane departs. Never seen that before, well done and thanks for sharing
Me too, coming over on the ferry from Larne for Easter and summer holidays. As they chopped her up she rose out of the water to offer more of herself. What a visitor attraction she would be now but perhaps her destruction was a more fitting end.
This isn't a training film, it's a recruiting film! I can't resist watching every time it's here available: great tempo, great announcing, the unbeleivable squeeze of giant a/c on a Very Short deck, a classy Gannet, i could go on... It would B nice 2 C the new twins snap it up like this old FAA used 2
So this kid puts on a captain's hat and says "Yarrrr! I'm a PIRATE!" I asked him "Where's your Buccaneers?" And he says "On the sides of me Buccan 'ead!"
One of the pilots (at 5:30) is David Hansom, known as Twiggy. David and I joined Cathay Pacific on the same day, and we did our command courses (on the B747) at the same time, We were both checked (one of many over many months!) by a fellow by the name of Pete de Sousa, ex Fleet Air Arm Scimitars (who was checked out by my Hamble instructor, Roy Noyes). I recall going up to the 4th floor of the CX building around Christmas 1987 with David to sight our check reports (which we had to read and sign off). De Sousa did us proud, we both got reports that glowed in the dark. Sadly, both have now passed away.
Did you happen to have know a Phantom driver named Jim Bellamy either in the navy or with Cathay Pacific? He was a cabin mate at Dartmouth, but we lost touch. I understand he too passed away.
It just shows you can't have a navy on the cheap..... HMS Ark Royal was the best carrier of her time, cats and traps, with phamtom's and buccanners. We should have had cats and traps on HMS QE's carrier but it will cost us in the end!!!
Man read my comment! I don't know why they built them with no cats? So the only platform that can fly off QE and PoW is the f35. I guess the future is vstol. I don't know? Maybe.
Our new carriers have NO airborne early warning or airborne anti submarine capability. Unlike the US, who have the E2 hawkeye (the last thing the fleet air arm had with those sorts of capabilities was the Fairey Gannet)
I was only 9 at the time but I remember the Audacious-class Ark Royal being decommissioned It'd be nice to see an Ark Royal in the Navy's SuperCarrier fleet. I know they only plan on having 2 but a lot can change over the next decade or so. A Nuclear powered Carrier with emals and lasers may be out of the question due to costs but 10 or 20 years down the road when have all our F35's maybe then, It'd be good for the Navy to have the option to field multi-role aircraft like the Typhoon & maybe even a few Gripens if they're smart enough to buy some..
My grandfather worked on that ship, he was an engineer who would fixedThe jets if there was a problem. He was on another ship which I don’t know the name off but there where sea fury’s and sword fish on it with the jets
Mine was involved in building her! He fitted the fire fighting systems. Thinking about it, it was probably the previous Ark Royal, not this one, the one that eventually got torpedoed and sank in the Med.
A golden era no doubt - in fact I'd argue there was still a role of Buccaneers - not exactly 5th Gen but with its boundary layer control and ground effect could get in very fast and low and have capacity to deliver some serious ordnance.
Could be my favorite video; the building tension, beautiful aircraft (even Gannets, in their own quirky way), intake/exhaust/contraprop anxiety on a very compact deck (FEAR- the bulgy shape of a Buc must be to fair-in the pilot's cojones, but what about deck crew?). Wish we, Ever, could produce film ala Britannia. But how could 950' of deck look so small? 💜
Gannets, Buccaneers and Phantoms (with the able assistance of Sea Kings and Wessexes) - this was the Royal Navy's air force. It boggles the mind to think what's become of that.
R09 my old ship, before the angled flight deck added, for three yrs - but my work was deep inside rather than on deck. My mess deck was right below one of the catapults.
No thanks, she and the rest of the 'nobility' of Europe have fucked over the common people for over a thousand years, she's a traitor and broke her sworn oath days after taking the throne.
Flight deck procedures look pacy enough by day and in fair weather. What must it have been like at night or in poor weather? I remember being told that a carrier such as Ark Royal could reckon on losing a man per commission through incidents such as walking into a Gannet's prop disk.
That was the old way of doing it. The modern nose wheel tow bar first appeared on the E-2 Hawkeye in 1962, with subsequent aircraft designs such as the F-14 Tomcat and F/A-18 Hornet being built with the new system, but the older bridle launch method was still being used on the French Super Étendard right up to its retirement in 2016.
Remember doing a periphot under here when I served on British nukes great fun they never knew we were there till we sent a under water flare on to her deck lol
11-17: The father of a great friend of mine, told the stories of his time in the Fleet Air Arm and having seen more than one poor sod literally 'lose their head' when stepping in front of an aircraft having forgotten its air-screw (propeller) was in their way...
Even as a humble REM(A) on Buccs I could see that if the Ark had been in the Falklands we would have had no excorcettes being launched from the horizon as the trusty old gannet would have given us hundreds of miles of eyes and a phantom or two despatched before they got anywhere near us or anyone else in the fleet. The buccs could have done there low level thing and pasted the shite out of them, the sea kings could have done there anti sub thing, the wessex 7s doine there rescue thing. The harrier could do none of those roles.a big retrograde step going through deck cruiser. The Ark was incredible,took months to find your way around.can you beleave there was a chinese community who used to run the laundry as well as tailoring. 71 now and all a long time ago but what an experiance.
The Buccaneer had a tail bumper / skid as well. Also the Phantom in British Royal Navy service was built with an extending nose-wheel leg for the same reason. It's in this film.
far out 7.50 .. love that nose gear and angle of attack .... gold . is it just me or is the usaf f4 nose strut shorter .. why did the brits do it so different ?
In truth, British carriers, mostly designed in the piston-engined era, were too small for operating modern jet aircraft and this was one of the expedients used to enhance them.
AlaskaRailroadguy Ark wasn’t big enough. The USN struggled with the Midways and they were bigger wasn’t till the Kitty Hawks that the F14 was usable, Midway would have not seen action into the 90’s had it not been for the introductions the FA18a,b and c.
As an ancient French sailor, flight deck crew member aboard Porte-avions Foch and Clémenceau in the early 90's, i must say that's an amazing footage, very impressive, magnificent Wessex and F4, Buccanneers were so massive!! well done! the Ark royal was a very nice ship not very different than ours, old fashion way..Back in time i usually worked around the Flottille 12F equipped with F8 Crusader, the last gunfighter, amazing aircraft, night ops were pretty scary,..Cheers fron France
@Slater Slater I think the French navy was the last operational user ( early 2000's) after Philipines dicomintionned their own F-8, ours F-8E ( FN) recieved special modifications like the angle attack of the deployed wing, leading edges slats in two element, new avionics...glad to have seen these amazing fighters in action on board...
@Slater Slater yes the exocet missile/ Super Etendard was a deadly combo, RIP for the crews of the Sheffield destroyer...When i was aboard the Foch and Clémenceau most of the entire air group could fit on the hangar ( aproximatly 30 aircrafts), 2 Alouette III ( aka " PEDRO" escadrille 23S.), 1 or 2 Dauphin chopper ( also " Pedro") same job than your Wessex,
Super Etendard ( 10 aircrafts flottille 14F, 17F) ( like Buccanneer), few Etendard IV P for recon mission ( P for Photo flottile 16F ), 4 or 5 Bréguet Alizé ( same as Gannet flottille 6F.) AEW mission, and like the Phantoms, F-8E FN for the air superiority missions ( less than 10, Flottille 12F call sign "lascar"), a couple of Super-frelon ( like seaking flottille 33F) and often, 2 super Etendard with air refuelling belly pods. Flottille had the same type of aircraft, escadrille were composed with different aircrafts ( Alouette II/ III, Dauphin).most of the time only few planes were spotted on the flight deck when the 3 hangars were fully load...
What a great conversation you two are having! Thanks. I enjoyed your interaction.
Super Entendard or Buccanneer, thats a hard choice.
@Slater Slater i have some very good mémories about the F-8 at sea, during night ops, full afterburner after cat launch, and that aircraft was magnificent on the glide slope with fully rised wing, full down flaperons, dark smoke at every power management, And what about that amazing front wheelie after every touch down...
HMS Ark Royal RO9, was my first ship in my 25 year Naval career. I was on board 1972 to 1973, just one year, but what a year! Trips to Rosyth, Oslo, Gibraltar, Barcelona, Malta and then a 3 month deployment to the Caribbean and the USA where I managed to get a week's leave in Florida. This footage is from two years after I left but nothing has changed, with the mighty Phantoms and Buccaneers in high profile. I worked in the Pay Office with a dozen others but would often spend my leisure time up on the 'Goofing Deck' on the Island amidships watching the take-offs and landings and taking slide pictures. It was known as the 'Jewel in the Crown' of the Royal Navy at the time, and I was sad to see it scrapped. The name ARK ROYAL has been lost, it seems but maybe one day it will emerge again, I do hope so!
I've always said that one of our new QE class carriers should have been given the ARK ROYAL title.
@@NOWThatsRichy ...and another should be Eagle for sure? :)
Can you describe a tyical day for yourself. What was your shift pattern and what was the food like?
My Dad was on RO9, he was on its last commission voyage. Just married and was at sea straight afterwards. He was chef and boxing 😂
Narrator has nearly the same enthusiasim and tone as a sports commentator and I love it
I'm always struck by just how short our catapults were. BTW, the full video is a great teaching-aid for anyone wanting to show their little uns something about teamwork.
I was on board the Ark when they made this video. A very exciting place to be working as a young lad - particularly during recovery stations in rough seas and at night.
That's awesome. Bet those memories will be with you forever.
How old are you, James boy? You must be 75 years old or so, mustn't you?
@@NJTDover ... 65. The video was made around the mid seventies.
How were the buccaneers? I’m a big fan of them but couldn’t find any stories from carrier crew.
More than 50 years have passed by since this incredible documentary was shot. Most of the sailors and naval aviators depicted in this film must be 75 years old +/-! Those blokes served their country on a magnificent flattop. Pity that no more money was allocated by the government to build a third QE-class carrier to bear the legendary name HMS Ark Royal.
This is the sort of gem of a film that makes it worthwhile coming to RUclips. I loved every moment of it, thank you - and who doesn't just love the sight and sound of a busy Aircraft Carrier (especially with Buccaneers!) ?
Just brilliant.
My Yankee heart goes out to you Men for sharing the load of protecting the free world. And y’all make it look really really good!
I visited HMS Ark Royal in the 2nd half of the 70's ...I was more or less 16/17, impressive shipi, visitors were welcome and guided by Royal Marines.. unforgettable... I am now 63...
I'm an american and sailed along side of her back in 1975 while I was stationed aboard the USS Independence, CV-62. I was on the flight deck and your phantoms landed on our flight deck.
We.will get Biden's crew uninstalled and you Commonwealth will get right too. Then we can get back to this and space too. Fuck China
@@genebohannon8820 No need to fuck China, that is a self-fucking scenario.
My father was stationed in southern Italy. The Indy came to a nearby port (Brindisi) in 76. I went on board.
Maybe worry more about Trump’s friend in the Kremlin , he’s the one messing in everyone else’s stuff. No one has stood up to him in the past 4 years
@@timj41
Maybe you should realise that the old commie agitator Merkle is really Putin's friend, she is slowly making Europe dependent on Russia for energy supply and now setting people up for Sputnik instead of AZ, watch what some former East Germans and eastern Europeans are up to, some of them still long for the old system and are longing to spread throughout the EU
Always nice to see phantoms. I spent 20 years of my life working on F4C/D/E radars in USAF.
I absolutely love these old films. What a gift
Was on board during this as a stoker. Happy days! I remember watching these launches and recoveries, what bottle! Also the pilot of SAR 47 who on RAS’s used to throw the Wessex around the sky like a toy. Fantastic
British ship with British aircraft! I LOVE IT😍😍😍
The good old British Phantom, eh?
@@MikeLacey52
Buccaneers aren’t USA and all carrier technology is British apart from daft Nuclear Power that will be disastrous when they see real naval warfare
A superb film, which really put you on the carrier deck. Great stuff! Incidently, my cousin served onboard HMS Ark Royal as a Master Ship's Diver.
7 years later we could have done with that beauty and her brood ....
Hey, Labour needed the money for.... something.
Yep would of love to seen the buccaneer dropping bombs on the argies
@@motormech1h343 Coming in at 150 feet above the deck..... "SURPRISE"!
If we'd had her, the Argentinians probably wouldn't have attacked in the first place.
@@mongohotline Thatchers government sold her for scrap in 1980 but yeah you blame Labour you muppet.
Love it! Only the Brits could do commentary like that!
My late great uncle was on this ship at this time RN Engineer
@@SGBlackstar :
Who's most responsible for the giving up of this ship: *Callahan?* , *Heath?* , *Wilson?*
@@Dreaded88 Wilson!! Heath could have stopped it but didn't , Callahan was off to the IMF so could not even as a ex-navy man he would want to.......
RAF old man here: worked with many of these Buccaneers when they moved over to us.
Strike, Maritime Strike and Nuclear Strike, through the times at Red Flag, and into the latter years when so many were grounded 'cos pols wouldn't spring for the remanufacture of some of the spars.
Never ran out of spare parts due to this though, and our two-seat Hunter trainer for Buccaneer crews lasted another twenty years after the Buccs were retired, even though we had to replace a wing due to a 'firm' landing.
The film 'Exercise Open Gate' (IIRC) covers the year before I came to Honington. Awesome Vangelis music, too. ;-)
Fast-paced commentary - excellent stuff. They don't make documentaries as good as this anymore.
OMG THOSE GUYS ARE CRAZY! Holy crap that deck is small!!!!! Hats off to ya Britts good Lord.
You were more crazy during the war because you didn’t have armoured decks and that’s why the Japs were smashing into you
(kamikaze)
Its good to be reminded that the Royal Navy has decades of experience deploying aircraft carriers and their flight wing. I was never in favour of losing our carrier fleet for those years before the Queen Elizabeth class were built and commissioned.
Great film footage. Amazing narration too like listening to a horse race but adds the tension.
They should have named the Queen Elizabeth Ark Royal, and the Prince of Wales Eagle.
Hermes would have more appropriate for Prince of Wales , yes Queen Elizabeth should have been name Ark Royal.
Why?
@@jacktanner4948 Because it fits much better. Ark Royal is THE name for british aircraft carriers. QE is a battleship name, now appropriate for a submarine, not for a carrier.
American flattops are named after presidents so the Brits followed the same piece of advice by naming their new carriers after the Queen and her heir. It would've been fantastic to name the new carriers HMS Ark Royal and HMS Victorious since both names represent a magnificent naval heritage in the Royal Navy. It's all politics nowadays.
@@UriNierer Queen Elizabeth is also the name of our, err, Queen...
I love when the funky wah guitar comes in near the end. It dates the film perfectly!
My Late-Cousin was an air frame fitter on the Ark in the late 50's-60's.
Love those british carriers. Much more beautiful than the current ones.
Love the commentary. RN humour at its best.
They sound like horse racing commentators 😁
You can understand why Maggie was disappointed when she was told the Ark Royal was no longer in service in Spring 82,!
she was scrapped in 1980, the story goes that maggie wanted a ship sent to the falklands, but did not realise it was 3 weeks sailing time
Who's most responsible for the giving up of this ship: *Callahan?* , *Heath?* , *Wilson?*
The bitch would have scrapped it. Just like she was set to get rid of one-third of the UK
Navy's surface fleet following the 1981 "Defence" Review. She was also intending to
sell HMS Invincible and her aircraft to the Australians.
Im sorry, but who's maggie?
@@amandajeanerachelica4797 :
*Margaret Thatcher*
These were the golden ages. A Royal Navy Britain could justifiably be proud of. Just imagine if the Falklands War had been fought with assets like these. Maybe it would had never taken place, right?
That was wonderful. I'd have been at school at the time, but I loved anything flying or sailing.
Such amazing footage, thank you very much! I do miss those lovely old times...
went round her on a kids daytrip at Edinburgh in 1977, it was great ,i remember the ship had its own newspaper i picked one up and kept it for years
Amazing how fast they work. All in unison, like a well oiled machine
Fascinating. As a frenchie , fell really sad for your Navy. A shame.
seeing what we used to have makes me want to cry......
John Cameron FFS John.Our American friend wasn't having a dig.He was merely stating a fact.The fleet air Arm boys done a great job landing those jets on our smaller carriers.
One of the greatest inventions by the Royal Naval Air Arm was the Ramp. Simple and elegant and copied by the Russians and Chinese...
I wonder why the Americans have not subscribed to it
Air frame lasts a lot longer with ramps so its a toss up between catapult and ramp.
@Teh Goat, the ramp affords less than half the payload and weight of the Aircraft than the Catapult. The Ramp has no advantages over the catapult: none.
Right up to the point that the catapult goes u/s. Yes it does happen.
What saddens me, is that its likely that many of the people seen in this video are now either dead or doddery!
47 years is a long time and if they were in their 30's back then, they will be in their late 70's-early 80's now!
That said, I hope they all had great service lives and enjoyed their lives after they left the service.
Thanks for keeping us peasants safe!...xxx
My dad was CPO flight deck on the Ark mid '70s,he died aged 58 in 1999.He loved the old girl, she was his last ship before he went shorebased.
A little carrier with a big punch. Crewed by the best.
This was made the year I was born, the Royal Navy really used to be something. Maybe with the introduction of the new Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers it will restore some pride to the RN.
46 year
Fascination view of a time in history.
FAA Phantoms FGR2s in that blue colour are are finest looking aircraft ever. Its also fun to see Buccaneers having to climb to land on a deck.
Great video. The Buccaneer was a great aircraft
God bless the Royal Navy. Undefeated since its inception, and all us Brits should be thankful for evermore for that. My father served for 15 years and was a Cold War submariner. It set the standards for all Anglosphere and Commonwealth navies and its traditions and excellence are still alive today, thankfully. Hearts of Oak indeed.
I only ever saw her being broken up at cairnryan while I was serving as an AB with Townsend Thoresen ..
Europic Ferry and the FE 4...
I was 6 then ! My dad was radio engineer on HMS Eagle. Amazing watching this again 😀
We seem to have gone backwards over the last Forty years.
The whole West has gone backwards, courtesy of the leftard quislings.
Someone like Callahan would have licked Galtieri's boots after handing him
over the Falklands.
@@Charlesputnam-bn9zy :
Who's most responsible for the giving up of this ship: *Callahan?* , *Heath?* , *Wilson?*
@@Charlesputnam-bn9zy How do you know that? The Labour Party supported Thatcher during the Falklands. I'm no fan, believe me, but Callahan and Healy were decent people.
@@mookie2637 decent as individuals, no doubt.
But moved by their leftist convictions which had always
been those of the appeasers who view patriotism as warmongering.
Like (the British Noam Chomsky)Alan John Percival Taylor's
''There was nothing wrong with Hitler except he was a German.''
in his 1968''The Origins Of The Second World War''.
@@Charlesputnam-bn9zy Both served in the second World war. In the Navy and Army. They were also officers.
Incredible operations!
Love the voices in this
Awesome.. Thanks from NZ 👍🇳🇿
I got a good tingle in my spine watching this!
I.enjoy watching these docu from the old royal navy
My dad served on the Ark Royal at the same time we believe ❤
This a top quality document, with lots of details about the preparation work to be done prior a plane departs. Never seen that before, well done and thanks for sharing
I watched this video in early 70' at Hong Kong television station RTV.
Nice to see the crazy cool Garnnet.
Another great video ...thanks again! Great info.
I remember seeing her being scrapped in Lough Ryan..it was a melancholy start to the annual family holiday in Blackpool
Me too, coming over on the ferry from Larne for Easter and summer holidays. As they chopped her up she rose out of the water to offer more of herself. What a visitor attraction she would be now but perhaps her destruction was a more fitting end.
This isn't a training film, it's a recruiting film! I can't resist watching every time it's here available: great tempo, great announcing, the unbeleivable squeeze of giant a/c on a Very Short deck, a classy Gannet, i could go on...
It would B nice 2 C the new twins snap it up like this old FAA used 2
That was brilliant to watch 👍
Incredible work all around. Whiplash at 23:00 for that Phantom driver!
My father was on the air arm and flew the Sea Vixen. He wanted me to follow him into the service, but unfortunately I am cross eyed.
So this kid puts on a captain's hat and says "Yarrrr! I'm a PIRATE!"
I asked him "Where's your Buccaneers?"
And he says "On the sides of me Buccan 'ead!"
The RN would say they have been scrapped dam it .
One of the pilots (at 5:30) is David Hansom, known as Twiggy. David and I joined Cathay Pacific on the same day, and we did our command courses (on the B747) at the same time, We were both checked (one of many over many months!) by a fellow by the name of Pete de Sousa, ex Fleet Air Arm Scimitars (who was checked out by my Hamble instructor, Roy Noyes). I recall going up to the 4th floor of the CX building around Christmas 1987 with David to sight our check reports (which we had to read and sign off). De Sousa did us proud, we both got reports that glowed in the dark. Sadly, both have now passed away.
rightangle do you know a guy called Dave Waller, he was an engineer on the ship. He’s my grandfather
Hi Harry, no I'm afraid I don't know him.
Did you happen to have know a Phantom driver named Jim Bellamy either in the navy or with Cathay Pacific? He was a cabin mate at Dartmouth, but we lost touch. I understand he too passed away.
Would be the same Pete de sousa who flew scimitars off Victorious 58/59
Brilliant love the commentary
It just shows you can't have a navy on the cheap..... HMS Ark Royal was the best carrier of her time, cats and traps, with phamtom's and buccanners. We should have had cats and traps on HMS QE's carrier but it will cost us in the end!!!
yes ,,,true words...penny wise pound foolish..mod and uk governments
You would have had F35Cs, E2Ds, even EA18Gs and other british made aircraft (maybe a sea tempest)
George Collie agreed, but they haven’t ruled out putting an ems system in at a later date
Man read my comment! I don't know why they built them with no cats? So the only platform that can fly off QE and PoW is the f35. I guess the future is vstol. I don't know? Maybe.
Our new carriers have NO airborne early warning or airborne anti submarine capability. Unlike the US, who have the E2 hawkeye (the last thing the fleet air arm had with those sorts of capabilities was the Fairey Gannet)
I was only 9 at the time but I remember the Audacious-class Ark Royal being decommissioned It'd be nice to see an Ark Royal in the Navy's SuperCarrier fleet. I know they only plan on having 2 but a lot can change over the next decade or so. A Nuclear powered Carrier with emals and lasers may be out of the question due to costs but 10 or 20 years down the road when have all our F35's maybe then, It'd be good for the Navy to have the option to field multi-role aircraft like the Typhoon & maybe even a few Gripens if they're smart enough to buy some..
UK's new Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers makes the Ark Royal look like a steam boat :)
My grandfather worked on that ship, he was an engineer who would fixedThe jets if there was a problem. He was on another ship which I don’t know the name off but there where sea fury’s and sword fish on it with the jets
Mine was involved in building her! He fitted the fire fighting systems. Thinking about it, it was probably the previous Ark Royal, not this one, the one that eventually got torpedoed and sank in the Med.
Bloody great
A golden era no doubt - in fact I'd argue there was still a role of Buccaneers - not exactly 5th Gen but with its boundary layer control and ground effect could get in very fast and low and have capacity to deliver some serious ordnance.
yea and there was a better jet for this role, panavia tornado, we should've kept it in service tbh
Could be my favorite video; the building tension, beautiful aircraft (even Gannets, in their own quirky way), intake/exhaust/contraprop anxiety on a very compact deck (FEAR- the bulgy shape of a Buc must be to fair-in the pilot's cojones, but what about deck crew?). Wish we, Ever, could produce film ala Britannia.
But how could 950' of deck look so small? 💜
Only 800ft deck . 845ft total inc bow bridle catcher & stern extension !
Solidarity some great team work from the working class.
Gannets, Buccaneers and Phantoms (with the able assistance of Sea Kings and Wessexes) - this was the Royal Navy's air force. It boggles the mind to think what's become of that.
Thank God we have carriers back .
Makes you wonder if the falklands would have been over that much faster if the RN still had its strike carriers.
Gunslinger800 don’t think the Falklands would have happened at all if the Ark and Eagle had been retained and replaced by CVA-01 as intended.......
R09 my old ship, before the angled flight deck added, for three yrs - but my work was deep inside rather than on deck. My mess deck was right below one of the catapults.
stoker??
God save the Queen
No thanks, she and the rest of the 'nobility' of Europe have fucked over the common people for over a thousand years, she's a traitor and broke her sworn oath days after taking the throne.
Flight deck procedures look pacy enough by day and in fair weather. What must it have been like at night or in poor weather?
I remember being told that a carrier such as Ark Royal could reckon on losing a man per commission through incidents such as walking into a Gannet's prop disk.
A flight deck crewman told me one man per month
A flight deck crewman told me 1 man per month lost . He was R09 74-78 .
Awsome video, my favorite was the buccaneer launch.
If memory's correct a couple of years later she featured in the ITV series "Sailing"?
I used to know a couple of "tiffys" on this cruse from 849 B Flight from Lossiemouth.....hels bells, those Gannets were plug-ug aircraft or what?
what a FANTASTIC clip
Wow...didn't know about that catapult launch method of hooking aircraft to the fuselage itself instead of just the nose landing gear...
That was the old way of doing it. The modern nose wheel tow bar first appeared on the E-2 Hawkeye in 1962, with subsequent aircraft designs such as the F-14 Tomcat and F/A-18 Hornet being built with the new system, but the older bridle launch method was still being used on the French Super Étendard right up to its retirement in 2016.
I swear the fleet air arm museum used some of this for the carrier deck experience
Steeley here just sayingh hi. 1980 lossiemouth
thrilling!!!
Remember doing a periphot under here when I served on British nukes great fun they never knew we were there till we sent a under water flare on to her deck lol
11-17: The father of a great friend of mine, told the stories of his time in the Fleet Air Arm and having seen more than one poor sod literally 'lose their head' when stepping in front of an aircraft having forgotten its air-screw (propeller) was in their way...
Great narrator: Gannet, Buccanneer, Phantom! They think it's all over. It is now!
Does anyone know who is doing the commentary? The voice reminds me a bit of the actor Patrick Holt.
Now we know exactly why carriers have a large crew compliment.
That oildrum!
Thats the last strike carrier we had
Even as a humble REM(A) on Buccs I could see that if the Ark had been in the Falklands we would have had no excorcettes being launched from the horizon as the trusty old gannet would have given us hundreds of miles of eyes and a phantom or two despatched before they got anywhere near us or anyone else in the fleet. The buccs could have done there low level thing and pasted the shite out of them, the sea kings could have done there anti sub thing, the wessex 7s doine there rescue thing. The harrier could do none of those roles.a big retrograde step going through deck cruiser. The Ark was incredible,took months to find your way around.can you beleave there was a chinese community who used to run the laundry as well as tailoring. 71 now and all a long time ago but what an experiance.
21-54: 'Little PAR' = (Power) - Dartmouth Naval College accent! LOL)
The Buccaneer's front wheel is off the deck when ready for launch. That's unusual.
The Buccaneer had a tail bumper / skid as well.
Also the Phantom in British Royal Navy service was built with an extending nose-wheel leg for the same reason. It's in this film.
Love phanthoms f4 and especialy their stance at cat before they takeof!!!
Brewster aircraft had a Buccaneer after the Buffalo...I believe Republic bought Brewster shortly around ww2.
Pretty big aircraft, small deck…varsity. I flew F-4J onboard Indendence(CV-62) and that seemed small.
far out 7.50 .. love that nose gear and angle of attack .... gold . is it just me or is the usaf f4 nose strut shorter .. why did the brits do it so different ?
In truth, British carriers, mostly designed in the piston-engined era, were too small for operating modern jet aircraft and this was one of the expedients used to enhance them.
a higher angle of attack at take off meant they could get away with a lower take off speed
I want to join THAT navy. Where do I sign? LG.
Woulda been cool to see a F-14 Tomcat in Ark Royal markings
AlaskaRailroadguy Ark wasn’t big enough. The USN struggled with the Midways and they were bigger wasn’t till the Kitty Hawks that the F14 was usable, Midway would have not seen action into the 90’s had it not been for the introductions the FA18a,b and c.