Royal Navy
Royal Navy Corsairs over Capetown
By Malcolm Laird
Nov 22, 2006, 12:13

Two photos of Royal Navy photos over Capetown from the John Morton Collection.

John Morton Collection

Harry Van Bergen reports:
The late Ron Belling's "A Portrait of Military Aviation in South Africa" (ISBN 0 947458 14 X), includes a painting of Corsair 117 (KD750). According to the explanatory caption HMS Colossus docked in Cape Town in January 1946, after a spell in the Far East. On board was the 14th Carrier Air Group, comprising 1846 Squadron (Corsairs) and 827 Squadron (Barracudas). During the two and a half month refit the Corsair IV's (Goodyear built FGD-1's) carried out exercises from their temporary base at Wingfield (outside Cape Town) prior to returning to the UK.

As regards finish, it is stated that the Corsairs were in US Glossy Sea Blue, which showed signs of wear, especially in the form of scratches on the wings. Ron Belling's opinion was that Corsair 117 had a large reproduction of the fairy tale character "Mother Goose" on its nose - rare for FAA aircraft.
=====

Nic Millman adds: The nose cartoon on KD750 is more like the sombrero-wearing, gun-toting cockerel cartoon from Warner Bros Loony Tunes than "Mother Goose"

A later photo of KD750. Note the panel sporting the aircraft's nose art has been removed. John Morton Collection

John Morton Collection

KD486 taking the wire on HMS Colossus. John Morton Collection

© Copyright 2004-2013 VenturaPublications.com and contributors.