[Music] the Fleet Air Arm the world's most mobile fighting force a force with the ability to move with the utmost speed to any part of the world this mobility rests in the first instance with the means of transport the aircraft carrier but a German girl is much more than that the modern aircraft carrier is a floating computer-controlled city with a population of some 3,000 inhabitants and about 50 aircraft yet its cost is only half that of an equivalent shore base these gigantic floating airfields are capable of carrying out and dealing with every aspect of war in the air and at sea tactical strikes against a ground-based enemy close support for our troops no matter where air-to-air combat using guided missiles defense and attack against hostile submarines the buccaneers limiters gannets and vixens of today so much to the faith and courage of the far-seeing Flyers of yesterday men who struggle against official opposition and lack of funds paved the way for a fighting force which is now accepted as an integral part of the Navy committed to a world road at the time though their early experiments often resulted in disaster and sometimes tragic luck [Music] defense of this model floating highly mobile airfield is all-important much is at stake in terms of lives equipment and money over the horizon guided missile ships supply medium range and here craft defense [Music] closer at hand tickets perform a similar task as well as seeking and destroying submarines the destroyers and frigates implies our own helicopters assisted by anti-submarine Wessex helicopters from the carrier itself early warning radar pictures are transmitted back to the task force by the guests [Music] on board eagle there is growing activity our ground forces are in difficulties assistance has been called for to destroy a viaduct a vital link in the enemy supply line a demolition job is planned well the pattern of weather that we've been experiencing during the last few days the fine weather is now starting to break up as the anticyclone moves away to the east and we are now being experiencing a moist southerly air stream [Music] the trick position at launch will be to 7-0 kilo kilo 58 4 3 4 5 speed 15 book on weight as for the last recovery are on the board chicken fuel state are calculated for BMC and they will be directed into the joiner after fueling the black males will continue on high low profile and the Philipose will come straight back for recovery are any questions just a guy harrison dave thompson new to this particular carrier it's the first operational sorting they are the pilot and observer of Buccaneer number 106 cosine 0 to 2 I think Oh Anna [Music] after on a heading of three six there and the climb moving out into normal battle formation the diesel run reverse on our operational frequency with the tankers at 25,000 feet and the formation for Ronnie Boeing will be the briefings are almost finished and very soon the air crews will be grabbing a quick cup of coffee before takeoff someone who hasn't time for coffee right now is the flying controller known to the Navy as leptin and commander fly or little s a compass platform fly co i like 30 knots for the next launch at 1730 are you've ever softly two readings day yeah one point eight to port and one point eight one seven one point eight two and one point eight one well let's go them okay every man aircraft [Music] gaion Dave like every member of the strike force are specialists intensive training experience and physical fitness all go to make up a small but select group of fighting men Buccaneers of the jet age as tested and dynamic as a sophisticated machines they fly men to whom the old adage of joining the Navy and seeing the world still holds a certain magic a month ago patrolling in the Indian Ocean a week ago relaxing in Hong Kong and now back to business standby to start up all aircraft [Music] one of the most fascinating aircraft in service the helicopter performs many different ropes in this case the plane guard watches over the aircraft being launched and there are those whose duties are to protect the carrier from submarine attack rather unattractive in appearance is the camp but I'll throw open your the airborne eyes of the feet looks aren't everything [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] adding their twin voices to be already ear-splitting genentech are receiving the carrier's shield against possible air attack the tomatoes are the flying filling station by topping them up in flight they enable the Buccaneers to strike the enemy hundreds of miles away the strike leader now Texas - the catapult and his aircraft is lined up ready for takeoff the Buccaneer I've got the upwards of 3/4 of a million pounds is one of the most complex and advanced weapon systems in active service the responsibility resting on the shoulders of the pilot is immense the next to go is 106 it's a tense moment for guy Harris because he's faced for the phosphate of being catapulted into the air at a speed of 145 knots over 170 miles an hour the carrier distilled its own fresh water from the sea this is essential because apart from other uses each time the steam catapult launches an aircraft 300 gallons of fresh water are used up enough to go with 17,000 tots of rum [Applause] Kalka and regeneration [Applause] now airborne they're in constant contact with control onboard the carrier whose first job on every operation is to guide them to their refueling rendezvous zero to leader from alpha your tankers are on the centerline at 15 miles my gadget gives me angels 25 now just left box and line range 10 you know tankers are in Mayport orbit page the same now left 10 range 7 left 15 2 now range 5 understand contact range for understand visual the tank is a jointer yes the tankers are joined that is the rendezvous has been made but the physical link is yet to come a link which will result in some of the 1,300 gallons of fuel carried by each of the Scimitar z' being transferred to the strike aircraft whilst both are traveling at a speed of somewhere around 300 miles an hour tanks topped up the buccaneers stick up speed and press on this part of the operation incidentally may become less necessary in the future with the new long-range rolls-royce spey engine fitted to the mark 2 Buccaneer as the strike aircraft head for their target the helicopters are keeping a watchful eye open for hostile submarines with their dippin Sona [Music] [Music] [Music] keeping an eye open upstairs are the victims on combat air patrol who split into two pairs no cap at 5,000 feet and high cap at 40,000 to guard against air attack at any altitude [Applause] 150 miles to go and the Buccaneers are dropping down for a low-level run in 15 minutes and there will be over the target 15 of the most critical minutes of the whole operation [Applause] ten feet above the sea they prepare to slip in undetected over the coast and under the enemy radar you [Applause] wellin from the coast the four aircraft grab altitude before starting their bombing run the tension mounts of the target is sighted now the human element of the operation gives way almost entirely to the computer-controlled bombing system [Applause] it's all systems go as the strike leader commences is running you a weapon like job completed the idea now to show a king pair of heels and hot-footed for home a home shouted in the vastness of the ocean in the comparative tranquility of the carrier a welcome home is being prepared as recovery stations are men the vixens joined the circuit as the carrier swings into wind and picks up speed ready to receive the returning aircraft you [Music] Dec landings they sometimes look pretty clumsy but when you're arrests of oak has to catch a while within a 50 foot stretch of deck at 150 miles an hour daintiness is the least of your worries [Applause] zero to leader from alpha I'm holding you now at fifty miles your heading is good for mother ever stand by for present weather the weather has deteriorated sad base is down to two hundred feet visibility is one mile and your recovery will be Charlie Charlie are forever Charlie Charlie alpha and carry a controlled approach the Buccaneers will have to be talked down onto the deck a tricky and highly skilled operation the pilot flies blind to within 200 feet of the sea then looks up from his instruments for the final line up with the angled flight deck guy and Dave sweat it out as they let down into the clouds just coming through the gate now zero to two heading to zero zero still good slow descent better hold 2,000 feet and advise TURN RIGHT heading at two or four five two or four five your new heading morning Roger I understand holding 2,000 feet further right now heading up to seven zero final approach two seven zero the new heading just 11 miles to go ten miles to go now circuit speed vital actions advisory for greens not concrete Roger understand up for greens eight miles to go heading two seven zero still good call me now Channel five or booger four zero two two you're loud and clear six miles confirm for greens Roger maintain heading two seven zero do not acknowledge further instructions and prepare to lose height events your slow descent now at five miles turn left 30 degrees at 8 to 6 8 400 feet and three months final check of your throat speed you past 1,000 awesome I'll 200 feet look up to the side final control on listing out a - to your high bring it on coming up to the Roger hold it there keep it coming you're going high again I still got high bow tie bow tie zero to two overshoots and goes round again for another approach after the other two Buccaneers have been talked down there's a sigh of relief as number 106 catches a wire at the second attempt just again it's to land and all the fixed-wing aircraft will be home and dry [Music] you so the mission is over the strike successful a success made possible by using carrier-borne aircraft but technical development never standstill in a few years ship-borne tactical and strategic missiles will be the Royal Navy's main strike and defense weapon this move into the missile age has in fact already begun many of her Majesty's ships at sea today are equipped with these latest weapon systems more ships with even more advanced missiles are to follow but for some years yet our ground forces and the Royal Navy will still be able to rely on the Fleet Air Arm equipped with Buccaneers and soon the 2,000 mile an hour phantom for speedy and powerful assistance whenever and wherever required [Music] [Music] Portsmouth's in october and this is the aircraft carrier Victoria's leaving on the Foreign Service leg of her Commission which is going out east before she gets there though she has to be an efficient carrier and that takes work from practice the young men Manning the flight deck have heard of Hong Kong and Singapore from the geography books but they've no real idea what they're like [Music] before they get the chance of seeing them they have a lot of hard work and practice to make the shift into an efficient fighting units of the feet furthermore they're going to see as a team for the first time and the hard work starts before she is out of sight of land [Music] she's off to the Mediterranean for this practice and after her squadrons have flown on she makes her first stop at Gibraltar it's only a short stop for self maintenance in order to iron out in it snags they found on the passage out [Music] jet aircraft and modern radar need a bit of name but a few of the men off duty get a run ashore and for some of them it's their first time abroad there she is and everyone on board is working flat-out because very soon they're off to sea again for intensive flying exercises nearing Malta the captain Air Mediterranean comes on board to arrange for these exercises and so the helicopters splash or declare that on their own as yet the ship's company is any just beginning to learn the complicated business of operating high-speed aircraft from the restricted deck of a carrier the pilots have done all this before but the flight deck parties have got it all to learn to keep ships operating for long periods away from bases all stores are now taken on board at sea this is their first replenishment from the store ship [Music] [Applause] after they go to Malta this is the base of the Mediterranean fleet and has been since the time of notes she'll be going in and out of Malta off on exercises [Music] here she meets the ark royal who is an old hand and will provide a bit of competition in the complex business of operating modern address even on a midst in November morning the way to see Vesuvius is from the Bay of Naples this is a visit to show the flag one of the important peacetime duties of the Navy and a pleasant change from the serious job of working up to fighting efficiency [Music] you [Music] the victorious is now joined by the ark royal and Hermes supplying exercises carried out under the command of flag officer aircraft carriers after that the victorious is off on a hurry out of the Mediterranean and into the Atlantic for Cape Town from now on the routine is four days flying and one day's maintenance night and day for 30 days straight escort is the frigate Blackpool [Music] the only break is at 4 o'clock in the afternoon when flying stops says the people who work down below more than half the ship's company get a chance of some fresh air and some exercise on the flight date he is getting into the tropics now and though it's February it's pretty hot below decks a day or two later King Neptune comes on board to welcome those who have never crossed the line into its southern domain these ceremonies are an age-old custom of the sea carried out by every ship crossing the equator where the merchantman or warship [Music] [Music] a couple of weeks on and the new subjects of King Neptune are nearing Cape Town and here is that famous landmark Table Mountain [Music] a most stately thing said Drake who saw it on his voyage around the world and the fair escape we saw at the whole circumference of the earth [Music] the ship that brought out a new Queens color to be presented to the South American and South Atlantic station and is raised a bit of a problem normally a color can only be presented on British soil but South Africa was now Republic and the flight deck of the victorious was the nearest sovereign territory [Music] this is the first time a Queen's color had been presented on board ship and special dispensation had to be obtained from Her Majesty in order to do so [Music] you after the ceremony the victorious repaid a little of Cape Town's hospitality by setting the ship open to visitors before starting out on the long haul around Africa and up to eight and this is it [Music] following naval customs the ship salutes the flag of the local commander-in-chief [Music] in the past Aiden was a coding station on the way to India today it is an important base covering the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean it is one of the hotter places of the world there is no rainfall and all water has to be distilled or imported all right for camels but not so good for sailors as supply ship east of Suez is never far away she appears over the horizon every few days to replenish with food equipment and stalls for what is virtually a floating town of 2,000 people [Music] they couldn't carry on flying without a supply ship you see every time the carrier can't approach an aircraft one of these stops is expended it falls into the sea and cannot be recovered normally the ship produces her own oxygen for high-altitude flying but with all the training going on night and day she needs an additional supply and here is four cylinders coming onboard [Music] for this evolution All Hands are required and some have better jobs than others supply ship casts off and a carrier resumes her normal routine steaming across the Indian Ocean south of salon and down the Malacca Straits to Singapore now she is really out east the tugs look different the shore is different the smell is new it's steaming hot and Portsmouth is thirteen thousand miles away the victorious is now a unit of the Far Eastern fleet and for six months you'll be under the orders of the commander-in-chief and Singapore [Music] HMS terror the naval base this is where the companies with ships on the station and get a change from their cramped quarters afloat if they prove that it's hotter than any English summer you know they can spread themselves and relax for a while and a sort of country club but not for long while the victorious is exercising in the South China Sea the Belfast lying the flag of the second and Kevon Far East comes alongside so that the Admiral can have a look at the latest addition to his feet as a complete change from the bright lights of Singapore the ship spent the weekend at an island where you can't spend any money hilarity omen is an island off the coast of Malaya where ships go to leave the simple life for a day or two between jobs by this time the Victoria 1640 1,000 miles in 117 days at sea [Music] [Music] [Music] she was in the middle of flying exercises on the way up to the delights of Hong Kong when a signal was received which read proceed to the Persian Gulf with all dispatch she needed fuel to get there and her own oiler was on ahead to another was diverted to fuel her there was trouble at Kuwait and now the victorious was off on her main purpose the protection of British interests abroad [Music] with the Cassandra in company she was offered full speed across the Indian Ocean again to the Persian Gulf [Music] they thought even was warm but in the Gulf the sea was so hot that even the water didn't cool you up she was standing by for 21 stifling days and in between flying sorties the matter people played deck hockey it may not look it but the carrier was providing distance cover for the operations and within minutes she could have been flying off the tack aircraft all the time of course constant watch was being kept by radar to see what was happening over Kuwait one of the troubles in this part of the world is the fan which is blown off the desert out to sea and coats everything in sight this meant that the squadron personnel were busy all the time keeping their jets clean after three weeks of heat and send another carrier relieved the victorious and she's seen 3,000 miles south to mom better as she steamed out of the Gulf the temperatures of CN air dropped 12 degrees in half an hour when you've been seven weeks out of sight of land cool breezes and a green countryside are a very pleasant relief [Music] these options were put up for the visit of the Queen they are the gateway to East Africa this was the dry weather seat so as many of the ships companies could be spared went up country on Safari [Music] the twelve days rest period is over and the parties which had been up country and back on board with yarns of Kilimanjaro Nairobi and the Szabo Game Reserve now back to the Far East is flying duties all the way there goes a strong [Music] Clifford pier and Singapore roads by this time victorious had been away just again and steamed eighty thousand miles the equivalent of three times around the world every visitor to Singapore and to look around the famous Tiger Balm gun [Music] on this visit there was a chance to give the landing parties and training ashore after Hong Kong at last or are they yes they've made it no diversion at this time [Music] look at this famous port now 100 years ago it was just a bare rocky island with no houses not a tree and just a few fishermen that was last century now under the British it's one of the busiest ports in the world with a population of millions [Music] the ship's company founded a wonderful shopping center with everything jutti free a large part of the local population are born in their lives and died in the sentence though they do their shopping ashore the Chinese are a frugal people and use every yard of soil by tell its farming [Music] across the harbour from Hong Kong is the mainland but when you see this sign it's as well to obey it for on the other side is Communist China the crest of Victoria's formed by the ship's company was the farewell salute to Hong Kong [Music] their next port of call was in the Philippines the purpose of their visit is to organize final details for a cross operation exercise with the American carrier tikkun deroga [Music] whilst these American veins were landing on Victorious their squadrons were flying onto the chicken Drogo this is a demon [Music] now a skyhook [Music] and the skywriter [Music] these combined exercises are all part of the training of the forces of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization the Dec handling drills and signals and our common to all the navies of the free world a helicopter axis same guard in case of accident [Music] [Applause] [Music] Holmwood band and another diversion you will never know what will happen next they were in the middle of the Indian Ocean when suddenly the ship was ordered to Mombasa this time it was floods in Kenya a rescue job for the helicopter it had been raining for weeks and the swift-flowing Tsubaki River and broken its banks and flooded miles of villages fields and crops [Applause] the helicopters were now out on their own only 12 hours from disembarking the squadron found itself spread along 150 miles of African coast with very few stores and unreliable communication [Applause] temporary basis that set up in the heart of the jungle and from these the helicopters carried out their tongue [Applause] the situation was this the feed for the next crops had been destroyed and unless new seed could be taken around the villages the tribesmen would starve with the local knowledge of the district commissioner the Navy reached the stricken villages [Applause] a second problem with the stranded cattle of the Medaille tribesmen as it was the Magi were cut off by the floods from their food the job therefore was to ferry the cattle across the swollen Tsubaki for the people on the other side [Applause] [Applause] and in one operation alone the helicopters lifted 140 cattle in one day to speed things up the sailors much into and that goes the chopper for yet another one [Applause] whilst this cow is admiring the view over Kenya the victorious had already reached eight it was December and the sailors were doing their Christmas shopping who days later they were at the entrance of the Suez Canal 100 miles straight through the desert to the Mediterranean the most famous bum boatman in the world Jim Irish had sent his men on board the night before to it to sell his goods to the credulous sailors [Music] [Music] this isn't the first canal to join the Mediterranean with the Red Sea the Pharaohs goes one four thousand years ago but over the centuries the deserts and so did it up and all trace of it disappears nowadays grudges like this are continuously at work keeping the channel clear [Music] but what all these fellas are thinking is will we be home for Christmas unpassed the end deck memorial out into the mediterranean and a quick looking at Malta had taken fuel for a fast trip home overland the Jets are within one hop of home they'll be there tonight on December the 18th the victorious is back into Bruges and steaming up harbor at Portsmouth [Music] those presents will come in useful for Christmas and that Sontag will look pretty good around the Christmas tree [Music] you [Music] [Music] the World's Fair at Seattle in the state of Washington the only World Fair ever to make a profit and not one British sailor was a least surprised of that since they charged fourteen bulb to get it Americans wandered around ruling and I but the crew of the Belfast had a funny feeling that we've seen it all before the details were vague after 18 months of globe-trotting but there was hardly a country exhibiting at Seattle that we haven't visited since we flew out from Britain in the March of 61 to HMS Belfast at Singapore largest and one of the oldest of the Navy's cruisers HMS Belfast was no effect ship on the Far East station doubtless none of us thought we'd get a cushy number and visualised sure runs the Pacific Islands sipping coconut wine as we watch the dusky maidens preparing our food every time the old man chopped it on board we knew that all we get over the next week or two would be backache and blisters for the Navy rarely stops training and day or night you practice firefighting or collision drill or you rescue non-existent men who fallen overboard and as you train you sometimes remember your predecessors who took the Belfast into battle in 1943 at North Cape he was the first ship to get the enemy on her radar and the first ship to fire in the action that destroyed the Scharnhorst yes and that may have been the last classic battle between heavy service ships that the world will ever see [Music] operation Tucker box took us to Australia and the largest single-span coat hanger in the world but if we thought the Sydney Harbour Bridge was enormous it paled into insignificance when compared with the generosity of Sydney's welcome the houses may have been covered more with mortgages than pink but it didn't show and the idyllic life of swimming and parties were so distracting that the zoo normally one of those places that lonely men go barely saw one of the belfast crew amphibian gives way to fully submersible in the Pacific as we rendezvous with the tactician and pass mail to her to help her task the boredom of a six-week exercise [Music] soon everyone off watch crowded the rails and ogled at communist junks and sam bands and women in black poplin houses as we arrived in Hong Kong one of the most fascinating ports in the world [Laughter] [Music] devil of a china stations minesweepers formed in escort for Princess Alexandra as she came out in the Admirals barge to the Belfast but most of us were even more anxious to see one of Hong Kong's most fabulous characters camp and Jenny Jenny been around for years now supplying side part is to paint navy vessels in exchange for the ship's waste nobody knows what she does with it but she's mysteriously rumored to own half the waterfront November the 11th and the Belfast in Hong Kong joins with millions throughout the world in remembering thousands stand in a cold rains of Whitehall but here it was 70 in the shade as Princess Alexandra pays homage to the millions who did not live to see the peace after a few days in Hong Kong we got quite expert at bargaining I thought we got everything at rock-bottom price until some hold hands told us we paid far more than we should have done and we're ruining it for everyone else but don't let them kid you that the Navy is all sunbathing and sightseeing it's often such as when you reclaim you should see you bloody hard work but the time and motion study boys that at work all the while and mechanical aids are taking a lot of a sweat out of refuelling Andrey bitterly [Music] you might be and often are at sea for weeks on end but the ship's newspaper the radio and regular mail drops make you feel that you haven't been completely forgotten [Music] some of us even like the light and the number of Chinese cooks and stewards who were awarded long service and Good Conduct medals food but it's a career worth taking up [Music] across the Indian Ocean to Dallas alarm at the start of the rainy season the Governor General came aboard a man who was soon to be out of a job but then ganito were to become independent on the 8th of December the local football stadium was resetting for the independence ceremony and we watched the Kings African Rifles marching for the last time within an hour they would become the Tanganyika rifles as another independent country emerged from Africa [Music] we let that recur in the evening the Governor General came down to the jetty to see us off the Belfast 80,000 horsepower dug her screws in for the 5,000 mile voyage to Singapore and on to Japan we like everyone else fell in love with Japan a land of cherry blossom and kimonos of flower arrangements and gaily colored birds Japan we remember mainly for the orphans party we threw on board when a ship became a funfair and the kids at that time of their lives with the exception of one little charmer who salt all day because we wouldn't plunk a 6-inch shell in the middle of his schoolhouse there was a different sort of party in San Francisco when we had an open day and many Americans learned to their astonishment that Britain had a navy to leave to in Frisco and a chance for us to examine the Americans as amateur sociologists and ornithologist and the Marines were warned to be careful with their matches as a couple of hundred years ago they burned down the White House as a sailor you get a unique opportunity to study bridges and after a while you become quite expert at spotting black patches and trying to recognize where you are from the style of construction Vancouver's bridge for most of us since you would previously visited Canada [Music] being at sea for long periods makes you pine for two things and one of them is the smell inside of trees we hired cars and drove up to the Rockies and made a trip that really sticks in our memories when we were at sea again transferring refueling and always exercising the two ships never traveled together in the Navy without improving their tactics and training to the battle which may never come we tried out pre-wetting nozzles which would wash away nuclear contamination if we pass to an atomic cloud the training paid off one afternoon when a mayday flashed from a sea vixen some 30 miles from the Belfast radar fix the position of it sprang and the ship raced to the rescue at 32 knots [Music] Navy choppers were there before us and grabbed the pilot but are those crew rescued the observer and collected what debris was to floating those of the technicians might be able to decide what went wrong and we had a practically demonstration that our 18 months of training really paid off in an emergency [Music] in 18 months we've covered tens of thousands of miles and seeing 17 countries yet when we look back it's a funny and pleasant moment we remember in a kaleidoscope of colored memories the afternoon exercise period in the Pacific diving into the shark proofed private swimming pool over Belfast but a gastric sink Amalie when we took on the rest of the Navy and went down fighting and that glorious afternoon when the electrical division was invited to lower the whaler and thank the dada thing they went away mumbling that they'd invite us to rewire a transformer one day and see what sort of job we'd make of that now as we approach the Panama Canal we passed under the first bridge to link North and South America start of the pan-american highway which one day will link the 10,000 miles between Alaska and Chile it felt strange to be in an inland waterway after 18 months at sea stranger still to think it cost $1 a ton say 4000 pounds in private for use to get the bail fast through the Panama Canal the blue of the Pacific gave way to the gray of the North Atlantic as we cracked on for the last few days to Plymouth I cookster with over the commission ended if we've been civilian vacationers the trip would have cost three or four thousand pounds but as we came into Plymouth every single one of us would have said that this was the best moment of a line we've seen the world from the Spruce and third of Canada to the eucalyptus trees of Australia and Japan's apple blossom next time we leave British holes it might be in a destroyer an aircraft carrier or a frigate our destination might be any one of the five foreign stations and you could come and see the world with us if you want to [Music]
