Hi sea dogs, just a fly by for some info I am building a Fairey Firefly and I need to display it on a carrier base for the Flat Tops campaign. Can anyone point me in the right direction for pics/ info on Royal Navy carriers. The info I require is:
1. What were the decks made of (I'm sure I have read that, unlike the US equivilant, they were armoured)?
2. What colour were the decks?
3. What markings were on the deck?
4. What type of tie downs were used (spacings as well, if you have the info)?
5. Anything else you think I might find useful
I intend to build my Firefly in Pacific Fleet markings, if that makes a difference.
Thanks for your time
Mal

Mal, welcome to the "wet" side.

Sorry I can't answer your questions for you, but I'll bet there will be others here who can. The only one I can attempt is the first one. The larger RN carries, like Ark Royal, Victorious, Illustrious, etc, did have armored flight decks. I believe they had some kind of non skid surface, like the decks of most Britisih warships had, so it's not like you would be looking at bare metal or anything.

If I remember correctly it was called Cemtex (not an explosive!) and the colour would be WEM's MS2 from their colour-coats range. Tie-downs now are recessed ringbolts, not sure if they were the same back then though. Can't help any further I'm afraid

Oh and welcome to the best part of Armorama btw!

Hey, try this link. They may have some good info here.

Fleet Air Arm

and here is a photo of a Martlett on the deck of a RN carrier.

World War II in Color

Kenny

Hi Mal,

You found my hiding place :-)

Welcome to the salty side, I have just finished reading Task Force 57, The British Pacific Fleet. This book details all the carrier operations during '44 and '45, I will look through tonight when I get home, but what I can tell you is that Firefly's were used as ground attack aircraft by this date as Hellcats and Corsairs had taken over the roll of fleet fighter. Seafires were still used as CAP but no longer as fleet fighter due to lack of range.
Firefly's were equiped with rockets when these were available for this role.

SAMI model magazine do a set of BPF FAA decals in both 72 and 48 scale I will look at my 72 scale set and tell you the codes etc for Firefly sqd's. For anyone doing BPF FAA these sets are a must 4 sheets of codes, roundals and serials for £10.

As has all ready been mentioned the Flight decks where armoured. One ship had a Kami hit the flight deck with the bomb going through, although this caused alot of damage below deck the flight deck was back in use 2hours later. Out came the metal plate and the welders.

Hope this is of some use.
Ciao
Luciano

about the best resourse book out there right now is THE ANATOMY OF THE SHIP. H.M.S. VICTORIOUS.in all her fits, from constuction up thro modernization,great line drawings. as for camo . colours and paint jobs WARSHIP PERSPECTIVES by ALAN RAVEN. VOL ONE THRO FOUR.all youll ever want to know on the R.N. in wwii.ANAT. OF THE SHIP can be had from AMAZON.COM. the perspective books and paint and etch. from white ensign. im build ing t he HELLER ILLUSTRIOUS right now, its a bear. hope all this info helps. good luck.

Thanks a lot guys, Kenny I've book marked the links Ta
Luciano, hello mate, I've seen the decals advertised and I will probably get them, but I'm considering painting on the markings, now that will be interesting I would like to be able to tie a particular aircraft to a carrier. From the info I have there are not many (1 or2 ) profiles of pacific fleet Fireflies, niether or which give me all the necessary info. There's plenty of time though.
Thanks for your input John, I think books will have to take a back seat to the internet though, as I don't actually model ships.............maybe I should but thanks anyway, at least I can look out for bargains knowing what to get
Thanks Rodger
Graham I would probably say that about the Aircraft forum, I will be getting MS2 in my next batch of WEM paits, Ta
Mal

Hi Mal,

Some marking info for your Firefly, 1770 Sqn used Firefly's aboard HMS Indefatigable and were coded 270 - 281. The deck letter for Indefatigable was 'S' this was repeated on the tail of all aircraft to identify the parent carrier. The markings would be white for a machine in a temperate sea scheme but could have been sky, med sea gray or 'India' white a pale blue colour.

I hope this has helped and not mudded the water for you.

Ciao
Luciano

Hi Mal,

Here is a site that gives you the RN colour chips,

http://steelnavy.com/rnchips.htm

Frank

Hi Mal

I turn by back and... bang!
You just drop by Warships!

Although late: Welcome to Warships

Skipper