Unlikely Landing

Weapons of war need to be kept out of the hands of the enemy, if at all possible. On May 26, 1940, 10 Hawker Hurricane planes from Number 46 Squadron were successfully landed on the HMS Glorious in an effort to do just that…keep them out of enemy hands. These days, landing plane on a ship is an everyday occurrence. We have all hear of aircraft carriers and seen dramatic footage of planes landing on a ship’s deck with their tail hook dropped to grab onto a rope across the deck, jerking the plane to a halt before it can plunge into the sea. It is all common practice, but what if there was no long deck or tail hook? Well, in 1940, that was the case…no long decks, and no tail hook, and het these planes, that needed a long runway to stop them, needed to be kept out of enemy hands, and there wasn’t time to make the necessary changed to the craft, like a tail hook. Impossible or not, this remarkable feat did happen, and it marked the first time high-performance aircraft were landed on a carrier without the aid of arrester gear. The pilots of the Hurricanes had to navigate rough conditions and faced significant challenges, but they managed to complete their mission despite the risks involved.

The whole thing came about as the British hastily retreated from Norway during World War II. The initial plan was to destroy the 10 land-based Hurricane planes to prevent them from falling into German hands. However, deciding they were too valuable to lose, they came up with a plan to land them on the British carrier HMS Glorious and transport them back to England. As they saw it, there were two issues to overcome. The Hurricanes’ landing speed was too high for the carrier’s short deck, and they lacked arresting hooks. In the end, it was the pilots that came up the fix, by placing a 15-pound sandbag in the plane’s tail, which helped it brake harder and stop completely on the carrier. In the end, all 10 Hurricanes landed safely…and history was made.

In April 1940, HMS Glorious was recalled to the Home Fleet to provide air cover for British forces landing in Norway. Eighteen Gloster Gladiators from Number 263 Squadron RAF (Royal Air Force) were flown aboard for transfer to Norwegian airbases, along with eleven Blackburn Skuas of 803 Squadron and eighteen Sea Gladiators from 802 and 804 Squadrons. HMS Glorious and HMS Ark Royal reached central Norway on April 24th, where 263 Squadron flew off to their destination, and the carriers’ own aircraft struck targets in and south of Trondheim. Glorious returned to Scapa Flow late on April 27th to refuel and take on new aircraft, with her Sea Gladiators covering both carriers and damaging a Heinkel He 111 on reconnaissance. Before leaving, she transferred four operational Skuas to Ark Royal. She returned on May 1st, but poor weather limited her to loading only a dozen Swordfish of 823 Squadron, three Skuas, and one Blackburn Roc. That day, the task force endured heavy Luftwaffe attacks and withdrew in the evening, with a Junkers Ju 87 Stuka shot down by Sea Gladiators after it released its bomb.

On May 18th, Glorious returned with six Supermarine Walrus flying boats from 701 Squadron and 18 Hawker Hurricanes from Number 46 Squadron RAF, the latter loaded aboard by crane. The Walruses were quickly flown to Harstad, but since the Skånland airfield wasn’t ready, the Hurricanes stayed aboard until Glorious reached Scapa on May 21st. Returning to the Narvik area on May 26th, the Hurricanes were promptly flown off. Even this success proved short lived and British forces were ordered to withdraw a few days later. Operation Alphabet kicked off in the north on the night of June 3–4, with the carrier HMS Glorious arriving off the coast on June 2 to provide support. She carried only nine Sea Gladiators from 802 Squadron and six Swordfish from 823 Squadron for self-defense, as there were hopes of evacuating RAF fighters if possible. On June 7th, ten Gladiators from 263 Squadron flew aboard from Bardufoss, followed later that day by Hurricanes from 46 Squadron, which landed without major issues despite their higher landing speeds compared to biplanes. Pilots had figured out that placing a 15-pound sandbag in the rear of the Hurricane allowed them to use full brakes right after landing. This amazing feat marked the first time that high-performance monoplanes without tailhooks were able to land on an aircraft carrier, and none crashed.