H.M.S. SLINGER c. June 1945 after her engine repairs and in her new role as an aircraft ferry carrier ³

An Avenger is the first aircraft to operate from the ship during arrester gear trials. it is watched with great interest as both catwalks can be seen to be packed with officers and men observing the trials as the aircraft is about to land. ¹

The arrester wire has snapped! There is no barrier rigged and the Avenger pilot attempts to recover flying speed as she goes over the bow in the hopes of making another approach. Unable to recover the aircraft ditches off the starboard bow. ¹

As the ditched Avenger is overtaken by the ship it is discovered that the end of the broken arrester wire has whipped across the deck striking Able Seaman Jack Hill, an Oerlikon Gunner, who suffered serious head injuries and an almost severed ear. ¹

October 28th 1944 an Avenger from 778 service trials Unit at RNAS Arbroath comes a cropper - the aircraft was testing the ship’s flight deck equipment making arrested landings and catapult assisted take offs. On its final landing it experienced tail hook trouble and ended up in the barrier. ¹

Deck landing training, the Irish Sea, November 1944: A Seafire crash on deck, the prop is tangled in the barrier while the arrester wire is still hooked onto the tail hook. ¹

Seafire N129 of 768 Squadron hangs over the side after a deck crash on November 26th 1944

C. November 1944 SLINGER, accompanied by her plane guard, turns into wind in preparation for launching a Sea Hurricane.

The members of the flight deck handling party c. November 1944

Corsair 7P of 1845 squadron coming in to make a shaky landing - date not known. ¹

Corsair 7P of 1845 squadron having made a poor landing approach has missed

all the wires and is caught by the barrier -1 - date not known.. ¹

Corsair 7P of 1845 squadron having made a poor landing approach has missed all the wires and is caught by the barrier -2 - date not known. ¹

January 3rd 1945 Corsairs of 1845 squadron make a practice attacking run on the ship as part of the ship and squadrons work up before sailing for the Pacific. ¹

Members of the Stores Dept. taken on Christmas Day 1944 on the Clyde. ²

Members of the Stores Dept. taken on Christmas Day 1944 on the Clyde, ²

Thanks to the following individuals for supplying the images; the symbols identify which images belong to which donor, images with no symbol are from the Royal Navy Research Archive collection:
1 From the collection of Mr. John Lawson former Coder who served on SLINGER
2 Images taken from the photo album of the late Reg Hunt, Stores Assistant. Reg served in HMS SLINGER 29 August 1943 to 8 November 1945.
3 Kindly supplied by Mr. David Yates, part of a collection of materials that belonged to his grandfather Able Seaman Herbert Wilkinson who Served on HMS SLINGER September 1944 to December1945.
4 Kindly supplied by Mr. Mike Roshier; Mike kindly loaned two rolls of film negatives shot by his father Alan John Roshier while serving on HMS SLINGER in the ship's photographic department 1945.
5 Kindly supplied by Mrs. Maureen Corfield, daughter of Arine Edward Badham of MONAB 8.
6 Thanks to Mr. E.M. 'Mac' McCarthy a former Writer who served with HMS NABCATCHER. MONAB 8. and took passage to Hong Kong on SLINGER.
7 Kindly supplied by Mr. Cyril Davies who served as an Able Seaman, D/JX651199, on SLINGER in 1945.