1/700 HMS Furious 1944 (HP Models)
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by Jerry Lloyd |
1/700 HMS Furious 1944 (HP Models)
HMS Furious was built by Armstrong Whitworth at Wallsend completing in 1917 with an 18 inch gun aft and a flying off platform over a hangar forward and was converted to a flush deck carrier by 1925, my model depicts her in April 1944 at the operation tungsten raid against the Tirpitz, this historic ship had in 1917 landed a Sopwith Pup whilst underway at sea and in 1918 launched the first carrier air strike with Sopwith Camels, by 1944 HMS Furious was armed with 6 x twin 4inch AA, 4 x octuple 2pdr pom-poms, 7 x twin and 8 x single 20mms her speed had dropped to 28 knots and she was conned by the two navigation positions set into the flight deck forward whilst her island controlled her aircraft with a type 72 homing beacon on a mast above and a destroyer type search radar on a small front pole. For Tungsten the Fairey Barracudas were dive bombing using newly supplied US 1600lb armour piercing bombs and Furious launched 21 Barracudas of 830 and 831 Squadrons and then 18 Seafires of 801 and 880 Squadrons which stayed over the Home Fleet as CAP. For the next attack on Tirpitz operation mascot a temporary wooden ski jump was fitted (35 years before Hermes and Invincible took their ski jumps to sea) and her air group this time comprised 20 Hellcats of 1840 Squadron and 9 Barracudas of 830 Squadron with 3 x 880 Squadron Seafires as Fleet CAP. HMS Furious made further attacks on Tirpitz in August but by September 1944 she was showing her age so was withdrawn from service to be paid off in 1945 as a target in Scotland before being scrapped in 1948.
