Second tour: 27th January, to 5th May, 1952
Ship's Officers
Captain Colquhoun, DSO, later, T.A.K. Maunsell,
14th Carrier Air Group Commander: Lieutenant Commander (P) F.A. Swanton, DSC , later, I.F. Pearson.
No.804 Squadron CO: Lieutenant Commander (P) J.S. Bailey, OBE
No.812 Squadron CO: Lieutenant Commander (P) J.M. Culbertson.
On
1st February, Glory completed taking over from Sydney, in Hong Kong, and
sailed for Sasebo, arriving on the 5th. The aircrew had been lectured on
aircraft recognition, escape and evasion, and had been issued with new
dinghy packs and Mae West's during the passage. The carrier sailed for
the coast on the 6th February, beginning her first patrol of the tour.
A standing TARCAP would be mounted over the friendly Islands off the coast,
the most important being Chodo, and Paengyong-do, and almost daily
roving strike operations would be on the lookout for hostile intentions
from the Communist forces. The whole coastal area had been fortified during
the winter, by the emplacement of coastal batteries, and this included
the entrance to Chinnampo. Operations started on the 7th, with area familiarization,
and the snow made selecting targets, and map-reading, difficult. The enemy
had cleared the coast of civilians, in an attempt to prevent the UN infiltrating
the area, but this partially rebounded, with all signs of life being regarded
as enemy troops, and dealt with accordingly. Junks, railways, and vehicles,
as well as the ox-carts, were attacked when sighted, and in planned sorties.
The carrier and escort refuelled on the 11th, and flying resumed the next day, with Fireflies mounting AR sorties. Lieutenant Knight was forced to land, when hit by small arms fire in the engine, his Firefly almost reaching the landing strip at Paengyong-do, before belly landing on a mud-flat, and being retrieved by the ship's helicopter later in the day. On the 13th, Lieutenant Overton, was forced to ditch, after his Fury suffered engine failure, and was picked up by an RoK auxiliary minesweeper. Late flying on the 14th, was caused by rough seas, fog, and poor visibility. Glory proceeded to Sasebo after the day's flying, arriving on the 15th, where she received two new Furies from Unicorn, which had arrived on the 17th.
Glory's second patrol began on the 24th, when she relieved Bairoko on the East coast, and the weather was good, apart from some snow storms, which reduced visibility for a few periods. Flying started on the 25th, with the Furies attacking Sogang-ni, West of Chinnampo. Small-arms fire was encountered, but there were no casualties. Thick cloud, led to a carrier controlled approach, on return to the carrier, and all made good approaches, considering their lack of experience with this form of homing, and that visibility was less than half a mile.
On 1st March, low cloud delayed the start of flying, and Lieutenant Commander Bailey, tried out the new Sea Fury drop-tank cameras, with success. On returning from a TARCAP, Lieutenant Fraser, was forced to ditch, due to loss of oil pressure, and was retrieved, in the record time, of one and a half minutes, from ditching to deck. On 4th March, leaking pipes rendered the catapult unserviceable, and shortage of RATOG, reduced the first detail to two CAP, and two TARCAP aircraft, the catapult was fixed, and normal flying resumed thereafter. Glory turned over to Bairoko, and proceeded to Kure on 4th March. During this patrol, the 5,000th deck landing of the commission was recorded, and eight pilots celebrated their 100 operational sorties in the Korean theatre. Six days were spent at Kure, doing rest and replenishment.
On
12th March, Glory sailed for her third patrol, and operations followed
the usual lines, and met with greater success, due to good targets being
reported by Leopard, and greater activity by the enemy. TARCAP and CAP
sorties were flown regularly, and on 17th March, extreme visibility was
matched by light winds, and a full offensive was launched, in response
to a report of an impending attack on Sok-to. The record for the greatest
number of sorties in one day, was recovered with the excellent, 105 of
normal duration, 65 by 804 Squadron, and 40 by 812 Squadron. One additional
Firefly had been launched, but was forced to return, with a rough running
engine. The previous best, had been Sidney's, 89. The weather began
to deteriorate on the 18th, while replenishment was underway, and continued
to worsen until the end of the patrol, steadily reducing flying, and on
the last day, no flying was possible, and Glory left the area, succeeded
by Bairoko. She arrived at Sasebo at 1700 on 23rd March, and stayed until
31st March. The Sea Furies were modified to carry 500lb bombs during this
period, and the 804 Squadron pilots went to Iwakuni for bombing practice.
The fourth patrol began on 31st March, after a stormy passage from Sasebo, and the Furies now carried 500lb bombs, instead of rockets. This method proved a great success, and the Fury turned out as an excellent dive-bomber, and at once achieved a measure of success, against well dug-in gun positions. Bombs were fused for 30 second's delay, this enabled the pilot to deliver his attack from a lower altitude, at an increase of accuracy, without risking his aircraft being damaged by the bomb blast.
Flying started on 1st April, some 50 miles South of the normal area, and the early details, had an extended flight to the coast. TARCAP and CAP sorties were run as normal, and spotting was carried out, for the Ceylon, and Chevalier. On 4th April, the Furies carried out the first CAS's of the tour, in support of the 1st Commonwealth Division. The 5th was a replenishment day, and the 6th, saw 804 Squadron's bombing get increasingly accurate, with road and rail bridges cut, in dive-bombing attacks. More CAS's flew on 7th, again, in support of the Commonwealth Division, and TARCAP aircraft continued their assaults on enemy gun positions. Sub-Lieutenant Swanson landed, wheels-up, at Paengyong-do, after experiencing engine trouble on CAP. A thick fog caused the following day's flying to be cancelled. Swanson returned the same day via Warramunga, which had picked him up from the island, the previous evening.
Glory flew CAS, for 1 US Marine Corps, on the 9th, and TARCAP carried out several bombardment spottings for Belfast, in the Chodo area , whose shooting was excellent, as usual. Glory left the operational area at the completion of the day's flying. Bairoko relieved her.
Glory left Kure at 0700 on the 17th, and headed out for her fifth patrol, after six days at Kure. She resumed flying on 18th April, and weather during the first four days, was overcast, and restricted flying due to fog. Flying on the 19th didn't start until the afternoon, and TARCAP's were mounted. The catapult broke down on the 20th, and RATOG launches were made, as the TARCAP maintained their usual assault on the enemy gun positions. The catapult was repaired by 1000 on the 21st, when the first details were launched, and the TARCAP's continued.
On the 22nd April, a Firefly detail destroyed the centre of the village of Singsongdong and the usual targets were hit, in CAP, and AR sorties. Four T-34 tanks were discovered, skillfully concealed, to the North of Chinnampo, by intelligence reports, and attacked, although inconclusive results were obtained. Lieutenant Normand, landed at Paengyong-do, and three spotting details were carried out. Captain T.A.K. Maunsell arrived on the 22nd, courtesy of the USN Carrier, On-Board Delivery Service, and assumed command the next day. Glory replenished from Green Ranger on the 23rd, and Captain Colquhoun left the ship. Two days of good weather followed, with continued operations, but the weather broke on 26th, with fog, rain, and low cloud, for the following three days, Glory's last, on this tour. Sub-Lieutenant Swanson had ditched on the 28th, and was picked up unharmed from his dinghy, after 15 minutes, by a US helicopter, which returned him to Chodo, from where, he was returned to Glory later.
Glory left the area on 29th, and headed for Sasebo, where she de-ammunitioned. On 1st May, she sailed for Hong Kong, and turned over to HMS Ocean, on the 3rd. On Glory's departure, Admiral Scott-Moncrieff reported:
"I consider HMS Glory and her Air Groups have made an outstanding contribution to the prestige of British naval aviation during her two spells in the Korean theatre, and she will certainly be missed, not least, by the Communists... I was always very happy to fly my flag in HMS Glory, whose atmosphere of efficiency and cheerfulness, combined with very hard work by all hands was a tonic, and most refreshing."
During her first two Korean tours, Glory and 14 CAG, (Carrier Air Group) steamed 59,730 miles, North of Hong Kong. 1,572 casualties were observed, and thousands of buildings and targets were hit, with 886,330 rounds of 20mm ammunition expended. 13,098, 60 lb rockets launched, 3,114, 500lb and 126, 1,000lb bombs were dropped
Lieutenant R.J. Overton, 15 March 1952
Go To
Third tour: 8th November, 1952 to 19th May, 1953
H.M.S. Glory
Web Site Home Page
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