I Sank The Bismarck Page 29

  Sampson, Commander Charles

  San Casimiro

  Sanderling, HMS (Abbotsinch)

  Sardinia

  Tirso dam operation

  Scapa Flow

  Scharnhorst

  attack on Glorious and sinking of

  impact of

  search of by Ark Royal

  sinking of convoys by

  wiping out of 825 Squadron in attempted attack on

  Shaw, Lt Commander Terence ('Shaggy')

  Sheffield, HMS

  accidental firing on by Swordfish

  firing on by Bismarck

  Shepherd, Mr

  Sink the Bismarck! (film)

  Skuas

  SM.79s

  Somerville, Rear Admiral 'Slim'

  in charge of Eastern fleet

  commander of Renown

  exoneration of

  Italian fleet attack and inquiry

  popularity and respect for

  stickler for training/practice

  Somerville, Mark (nephew)

  Southampton, HMS

  Southern Rhodesian Mounted Police

  Spanish Civil War

  Spitfires

  Squadron 759

  Squadron 810

  Squadron 818

  Squadron 820

  Squadron 825

  wiping out of in attack on German warships

  Stewart-Moore, Lt Commander

  Strasbourg

  Stringer, Commander Pat

  Stukas (Junkers 87)

  Suffolk, HMS

  Sutton, 'Lucky'

  Swanton, Sub-Lieutenant

  Swayne, Lieutenant

  Swordfish

  Taranto harbour

  attack on Italian fleet at

  Taylour, Lieutenant

  Thompson, 'Bagshot'

  Tillard, Lt Commander Arthur

  Tillard, Lt Commander Rupert

  Tirpitz

  Tirso dam operation

  Tivey, 'Tan'

  Tovey, Admiral John

  Traill, Commander Henry

  Trento

  Trincomalee

  TSR aircraft course (Torpedo Spotter and Reconnaissance)

  U-boat attacks

  'Val'

  Valiant, HMS

  Victorious

  launching of Swordfish strike on Bismarck

  Wakama

  Wake-Walker, Admiral

  Walker, Sub-Lieutenant

  warheads

  Warspite

  Watt, Sub-Lieutenant

  Wellham, Lieutenant John

  Williamson, Lt Commander

  Wilmot, Chief Petty Officer

  Woodward, Midshipman

  Worthy Down

  Wryneck

  Yamamoto, Admiral

  Zero fighter

  Zulu, HMS

  In our final prank at Greenwich before we went to our various squadrons, we hoisted this field gun onto the protective brick tower in the dead of night.

  This portrait was taken when I was eighty-five years old while we were filming the wreck of the Ark Royal.

  The Black Hand Gang poses for its last picture. From left to right: Eric Margetts, Robert Lawson, me, Buster May and Glan Evans.

  My Swordfish after the crash in Scotland. The lower wing is further back down the track, and it seems to have taken the top off a decent fir tree.

  HMS Argus was one of the ugliest carriers afloat, but she managed to survive the war. Her deck lifts were an odd shape and, even with their wings folded, the Swordfish were a tight fit.

  I was happier on the Ark Royal, which still had a squadron of Skuas on board. It was this aircraft that had made me think of flying Swordfish.

  This photo is of my first deck landing, which I did a few days after joining the Ark. There were plenty of spectators wanting to see me make a mess of it.

  The flight deck of the Ark could be a noisy and dangerous place. Here, two squadrons of Swordfish are ranged up, their engines starting as they prepare for take-off.

  This Swordfish has an 18in torpedo mounted underneath it. This was an exercise – if it had been a real mission an observer and air gunner would have been in the rear cockpit.

  Aircraft could be catapulted off the front of the flight deck, and here a Skua and a Swordfish are ready to be launched. Another Swordfish waits in the queue.

  A Fulmar, its tail hook down, makes a hash of landing. The unmistakable figure of Pat Stringer is running for safety.

  The ready rooms under the bridge were always a hive of activity. During the hunt for the German cruiser Scharnhorst we slept in here for several days.

  The Ark Royal was known as a lucky ship and these three photos show why. She narrowly avoided being hit while in the Norwegian Sea, and was a constant target in the Mediterranean, with near misses being frequent, and sometimes very close.

  Rear Admiral 'Slim' Somerville was in charge of the Ark and Force H, and I later served under him in the Indian Ocean. Force H operated in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.

  The Scharnhorst was hunted by us for weeks in the Atlantic, but she always evaded us, and managed to sink many British merchant ships.

  The war in the Mediterranean started with an attack on the French fleet at Oran, in an attempt to stop their warships being taken over by Germany.

  The most outstanding operation of 1940 was the attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto by Swordfish flying off HMS Illustrious. This picture (right) shows the warships smoking and leaking fuel after the attack.

  HMS Hood was the pride of the British fleet, and was famous throughout the world. She took part in the attack at Oran, but it was her destruction in the Denmark Strait that affected me most.

  When Hitler inspected the Bismarck in April 1941, she was thought to be the most powerful warship afloat. Her mission, with her sister ship Prinz Eugen, was to create mayhem among the allied convoys in the Atlantic.

  This photo was taken from Prinz Eugen at the start of the operation.

  Bismarck, now alone, was photographed from a Swordfish as she steamed for the safety of the French port of St-Nazaire and the protection of the German air force.

  Bismarck silhouetted by the blast from her main guns on a night exercise. Outnumbered and out of control, this firepower would not prevent her destruction.

  Desperate German sailors struggle to save themselves from the ice-cold Atlantic and the choking fuel oil from Bismarck's ruptured tanks. This photo, taken from the Dorsetshire, shows some of the few survivors. Many were left to drown.

  My next carrier was HMS Formidable, a newer class of ship than the Ark, and just back from a major refit in the US. I sailed into the Indian Ocean on her to take on the Japanese. I was now flying a more modern version of the Swordfish, the Albacore (right), but it was still a biplane.

  This portrait was taken when I went to take command of a unit at Cowdray Park in Sussex in 1943. It was here that I married, and finished my life in the services.

  I was very pleased to attend a reception, hosted by the First Sea Lord Sir Jonathan Band, to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the formation of the naval air force. I have always felt that our contribution in the war was never given the recognition it deserved.

  Another photo of me taken with a group of former colleagues when we filmed the wreck of the Ark Royal, a memorable experience and an opportunity to recall all those great characters who fought with us but who are now no longer alive.