Hellcat Mk I - NICE ! ! !

"Lynn in StLou" wrote in message
...

The question might better be "What does the official 800 Squadron history
say it was doing during the time of June 1 to June 10, 1944? What does the
official history of HMS Emperor say it was doing in that same time period.
Not the web history, but the official history in the RN archives.


We'll work on those questions next.



If you go to http://www.royalnavyresearcharchive....RT/EMPEROR.htm
, in the body it makes no mention of Emperor supporting the Normandy
landings. But if you look at the sidebar, it lists Normandy 1944 among
its battle honors.


Been there.



There seems to be similar holes in 800 squadron's history as it appears on
the web. One source mentions their support of the Tirpitz raids, but
makes no mention of them in the invasion of southern France in the body of
the history. But it lists Southern France 1944 as a battle honor.


How is that a hole?



This source, http://www.answers.com/topic/no-800-naval-air-squadron
indicates 800 Squadron was in the process of absorbing 804 Squadron in
June, 1944 before participating in the invasion of Southern France.

It is possible that 800 was busy absorbing 804 at the time of the invasion
and Emperor was present in an ASW role sans 800 Squadron.


Both squadrons were operating Hellcats at the time, the "absorbing" process
would seem to be mostly paperwork.

HMS Emperor is not listed among the participating ships of Operation NEPTUNE
in any capacity. No aircraft carriers are listed. There wouldn't seem to
be a need for them with thousands of land-based aircraft available.



One needs to get to the original sources to truly answer the question of
Emperor being at or near Normandy. As you can see, the web is not always
consistent.


Have at it.