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Aviation History
1946
1946 - 2179.PDF
OCTOBER 31ST, 1946 FLIGHT 475 A CARRIER "AT HOME 194&, she is thoroughly up to date, and is the first large ship to go into service with brightly painted mess decks. The normal complement of aircraft is three squadrons of twelve fighters. Nine hundred officers and men are carried, and although the ship mounts no heavy armament she is generously provided with Bofors and multiple-pom- pom high-angle guns. In command of the Theseus since January 9th, 1946, Captain T. M. Brownrigg, C.B.E., D.S.O., R.N., has a distinguished war record. From July, 1939, to June, 1942, he was Master of the Fleet to Admiral Lord Cunningham of Hynd- hope, at that time C.-in-C. Mediter- ranean. He was Admiral Cunning- ham's Deputy Chief of Staff (Plans) from July, 1942, to September, 1943, during which time he acted as Naval planner to General Eisenhower for the North African and Sicilian landings. He attended the Quebec and Casa- blanca conferences, and from October, 1943, to September, 1944, commanded the cruiser Scylla. Captain Brown- rigg was Flag Captain to Admiral Vian in Normandy, and before taking up his present appointment commanded the ^Royal Naval Air Station, Rattray. During nine months of service Theseus has been employed as a Train- ing Carrier. Her programme has embraced four distinct varieties of training apart from the initiation of the many new entries among her own ship's company. First, she has undertaken "Squad- ron Training'' which entails the embarkation of Naval squadrons for exercises at sea. Last May, for example, the ship visited Bergen, in Norway, with a squadron of Seafires, and on passage was able to carry out many useful exercises. In " Deck-Landing Training," second of the ship's recent commitments, new pilots are given instruction and practice in landing on a carrier's deck, for a year previously having been under training ashore. During training in deck flying the pupil is directed on to the deck by the D.L.C.O. (Deck Landing Control Officer). He must make eight good landings to satisfy the Commander (Flying), who then assesses his ability as "Exceptional," "Above Average," "Average," or "Failed." In the last case he may be recommended for more training ashore before attempting to requalify. One learnt aboard Theseus that the per- centage of fails is encouragingly low, although a Training Carrier has her full share of spectacular incidents. About six months ago, for example, a pilot under training com- pleted his first landing with his aircraft perched on the f\ A rating adjusts the contra-rotating airscrews of a Supermarine Seafire 46 single- seat Naval fighter (Rolls-Royce Griffon). The Seafire 46 is one of the ftiost recent types used by Naval aviation. A Fairey Firefly Mk. IV fighter-reconnaissance aircraft (Rolls-Royce Griffon) isranged on the deck of th? Theseus for display to the citizens of Liverpool. ship's funnel. He dropped into the sea and was picked up by the attendant destroyer. Another aspect of the programme carried out by Theseus has been the training of Deck Landing Control Officers for the Fleet, each pupil D.L.C.O. (or "batsman" as he is descriptively termed, because of his stock-in-trade, which resembles a pair of table tennis bats) is under the supervision of a fully qualified instruc- tor. For the training of D.L.C.O.s Seafires and Fireflies are supplied by a squadron from the Naval Air Station at Lossiemouth, in Scotland. The pilots provided have long experience in deck landing and are known aboard Theseus as "clockwork mice." Two aircraft are used during this form of training and an interval of only fifteen seconds between landings is often accomplished. As soon as it is released from the arrester wire each machine is "waved off" by a pupil. It is greatly to the credit of the in- structors aboard Theseus that on numerous occasions over two hundred landings have been made in a day. Special training is given to Captains Designate of aircraft carriers, Fighter Direction Officers, Air Engineer Officers and others who are embarked from time to time for courses and to acquire experience of conditions in a carrier at sea.
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