Britain at War – August 2019

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From the Editor...

Deputy Editor

John Ash

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Gemma Gray

Art Editor

Matt Fuller

EDITORIAL

Editor: Nigel Price

Deputy Editor: John Ash

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HELLO and welcome to the August issue – it’s hard to believe how fast the year is zooming by! We’ve a lot of special

features for you again this month, with perhaps the most eye-catching being Joshua Casper’s Reputations article that

examines the service career of Lord Louis Mountbatten. We also look at the legend of the Lancaster, and Felix Rowe asks:

“Was it the best bomber of World War Two?” I’m sure the latter feature will divide opinion and, as always, we welcome

your views on the subject – we’ll publish a selection in the Fieldpost letters page.

You may have noticed that this month’s Weapons of War section proiles HMS Ark Royal – a famous wartime aircraft

carrier that had a relatively short but distinguished time in the front line. She was lost in action, and so it wasn’t an

option to preserve her as a tribute to those who served in the Royal Navy and Fleet Air Arm. But it’s a diferent case for

another warship from a later era, the former HMS Hermes. She was the last of the Centaur-class and served in the Royal

Navy for 25 years, being perhaps best known as the lagship for the Falklands Conlict of 1982. She was sold to India in the mid-1980s, serving

for two decades with her new owners.

It seems plans to preserve her appear have come to nought and she is reportedly heading to the scrapyard. What a crying shame, and a missed

opportunity – the carrier would have drawn huge numbers of visitors if she’d been preserved at her former home, now the Portsmouth Historic

Dockyard, or Plymouth. This loating museum concept works very well in the USA, with carriers such as the USS Intrepid (New York), USS

Midway (San Diego) and the USS Hornet in San Francisco to name but three being major attractions to their respective areas. It could have

worked in a similar way here; I think it’s a mistake not to have brought the mighty warrior home, let's hope a last minute bid to save her succeeds.

Nigel Price, Editor