painting, Flight Deck, HMSC Puncher
Report a Mistake- Object Number 19710261-1097
- Event 1939-1945 Second World War
- Affiliation --
- Artist / Maker / Manufacturer Brooks, Lieutenant Frank Leonard
- Date Made --
- Category Communication artifacts
- Sub-category Art
- Department Art and Memorials
- Museum CWM
- Inscription (verso) RCNO 202 Flight Deck - PUNCHER / Water Colour 24" X 22" / Date: / 11 (verso on sticker/verso sur collant) Artist Lieut F.L. Brooks / Title Flight Deck, HMCS Puncher / Property of / Return Address The National Gallery of / Canada, Ottawa, Ontario / Insurance Value $ /
- Medium watercolour
- Support cardboard
- Materials Not applicable
- Service Component Royal Navy
- Unit HMS Puncher
- Measurements Height 53.5 cm, Width 58.8 cm
- Caption Brooks, Leonard (1911-2011)
- Additional Information Primarily a self-taught artist, Brooks enlisted in the RCNVR in 1943. An official war artist from 1944 to 1946, he painted convoy duty, the work of an aircraft carrier, and the activities of minesweepers and motor torpedo boats in Atlantic waters. He subsequently moved to Mexico to paint, teach and write.
- Caption Flight Deck, HMS Puncher
- Additional Information Members of the bridge crew on HMS Puncher's island (lower left) watch as a flight of Fairey Barracuda torpedo bombers is readied for takeoff. The massive, awkward-looking Barracuda, originally designed for large aircraft carriers, required rocket assistance and the use of Puncher's single catapult to successfully take off from the ship's relatively short flight deck. The carrier is sailing into the wind to help aircraft get airborne, while an escort vessel (upper right) trails the ship in case aircrew need to be rescued from the sea following a crash.