Pics of your past!

I was working around Cape Agulhas (Merchant Navy) from '62 to '64. Was HMS Albion the one they called The Grey Ghost?

 

Hi Shiney, the HMS Albion was a small carrier converted to Commando use with the 40 Commando Royal Marines and 845 and 846 Helicopter Squadrons, but was not known as the Grey Ghost.


There was only one Aircraft Carrier that I know of that was called the "Grey Ghost" and that was the US Enterprise, also called the "Big E", that sailed during WWII. She was decommissioned in 1947 but the name was given to the first nuclear powered Aircraft Carrier in 1961.

 

Hi @ARMANDII I've done a bit of searching and have extracted this info.



HMS Albion (R07), nicknamed "The Old Grey Ghost of the Borneo Coast", was a 22,000 ton Centaur-class light fleet carrier of the Royal Navy.

Albion had a sample of what she would one day become, when she embarked 42 Commando Royal Marines with all its vehicles and additional equipment to the Middle East.

Final fixed wing complement as embarked in 1959–60:

• 806 sqn. 8 Sea Hawk FGA6 Fighter-Attack
• 894 sqn. 12 Sea Venom FAW21 Night/All Weather Fighter
• 849 sqn. D flt. 4 Skyraider AEW1 Airborne Early Warning
• 815 sqn. 8 Whirlwind HAS7 Helicopter Anti-Submarine Warfare
• Ships Flight 1 Dragonfly HR5 Helicopter Search and Rescue

The next two years saw her visit the Far East, Australia, New Zealand and the south Atlantic and Indian Oceans, before she returned to Portsmouth to pay off. She was considered as a replacement for the Australian carrier HMAS Melbourne but was rejected and in January 1961 conversion begun for her to become a commando carrier. She recommissioned in 1962, training with 845 and 846 helicopter squadrons as well as 40 Commando Royal Marines before she joined the Far East Fleet.

 

This is a picture of my grandparents at the age of 77 and 75 (not bad in those days). It was taken, pre WWII, at Southsea (Portsmouth)

 

Naaah, his GrandDad is better looking.

 

And happier looking

 

Naah, I've never ever you not smiling..........even when you weren't

 

The person just running out of the left of the picture, with the blue cap on - is Me!!!! It was in a 1983 charity fun run to raise money for the local hospital baby unit. I entered 26 staff and their partners into it.

The push chair was an important part of our team as it was full of cans of beer for the team We all started out wearing cotton nappies as well but the rain was making them get very soggy (yes, I know that's their purpose ) but they kept falling down under the weight.

I came somewhere around 150th out of over a thousand runners. My team won two prizes. One was for raising the highest sponsorship - which didn't surprise us as we had over a thousand customers sponsoring us.

The other was for the fastest team! This was awarded to the highest scoring four person team. You didn't have to declare in advance which four were going to be the team so it was the first four highest finishers from the team.

I was at a charity lunch a week or so afterwards and one of the people at our table said to me "I hate you!" - but with a smile on his face. He was the chairman of the local rugby club and he said that the rugby team haven't been able to live down the fact that they were beaten into second place by a team of hairdressers. I didn't tell him that two of our team, who came first and second, were marathon runners.

 

This was taken somewhere around forty years ago.

 

And a couple of years later

 

And just for the car buffs

This was a photo shoot we did for our own publicity for our barber shop and for a trade magazine. We borrowed the car from a customer and the place we took the photo is just down the road from me on a track between the farmer's field.

 

Lovely photos shiney !

 

Was it a close cut thing, Shiney???