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BNPS.co.uk (01202) 558833. <br />
Pic: ClaydonAuctioneers/BNPS<br />
<br />
Pictured: There are also photos from a Royal visit as King George VI travelled across in the Arethusa en route to Normandy in June 1944.<br />
<br />
Remarkable photos revealing the perilous nature of landing biplanes on aircraft carriers at the start of World War Two have come to light.<br />
<br />
They were taken by Commodore Edwin Whittle who served on board the HMS Courageous, a cruiser which was converted into an aircraft carrier to launch attacks from sea.<br />
<br />
One dramatic sequence of images shows the unfortunate moment a Fairey Swordfish crashed during take-off and plummeted into the sea. Its wreckage was then lifted out of the water with a crane.<br />
<br />
British aircraft launched off the 735ft long vessel to seek and destroy German U-Boats in home waters before it was torpedoed and sunk in September 1939, killing over 500 of the crew.

BNPS.co.uk (01202) 558833.
Pic: ClaydonAuctioneers/BNPS

Pictured: There are also photos from a Royal visit as King George VI travelled across in the Arethusa en route to Normandy in June 1944.

Remarkable photos revealing the perilous nature of landing biplanes on aircraft carriers at the start of World War Two have come to light.

They were taken by Commodore Edwin Whittle who served on board the HMS Courageous, a cruiser which was converted into an aircraft carrier to launch attacks from sea.

One dramatic sequence of images shows the unfortunate moment a Fairey Swordfish crashed during take-off and plummeted into the sea. Its wreckage was then lifted out of the water with a crane.

British aircraft launched off the 735ft long vessel to seek and destroy German U-Boats in home waters before it was torpedoed and sunk in September 1939, killing over 500 of the crew.