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Birth of the Ark Royal


leon21

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Recently came across 2 portraits which were taken by the famous photographer Edward Chambre Hardman of Liverpool, I'm

trying to Identify the lady, ( think she was an actress in the 40s-50s ).

All his work is preserved by the National Trust and Liverpool Museum, he took the Iconic photo below the ( Birth of the Ark

Royal ) taken in 1950 the ship had been built over the course of 5 years at Cammell Laird Shipyard in Tranmere Birkenhead.

The ships hull had been completed and painted with a white undercoat that made the ship stand out amidst the gloom of it's

surroundings. Here's 2 more of his portraits taken in wartime.

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I think Helen might know who she is

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Do you know if she was in any films?

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The white on the arc royal is neat, almost looks like anti flash white from the V-forces... Of course it is not and should not be made to make such an assumption but the MOD had a lot of white paint back then!

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Not sure Helen, thought it might be Valerie Tudor who played Ophelia on stage at the Playhouse Liverpool. He took a lot of

photo's of Actress and Actors who performed there during the 1940s-1950s, her face does look familiar she may have been

in films?. The photo's are numbered on the back as he numbered all his work, may have to search the National Trust Archive's

were they have all his records stored.

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You may have a point there Greg, after WW2, the economy was in ruins and the currency down the toilet. The RN had more

hulls in the water and on slipways than it could possibly hope to run or even man.

This was especially true of the carrier force, we had 2 large fleet carriers ( Eagle and Ark Royal ) fitting out or on the stocks.

So everything was slowed down, some ships were given limited updates to operate the immediate postwar generation of

aircraft others were left half finished in the shipyards until it became clear what would be needed for the longer term.

the photo below shows HMSs Bulwark and Centaur laid up incomplete, and HMS Eagle fitting out in the background at

Harland and Wolf in 1948. So it's reasonable to assume that they may have used up surplus stocks of white paint to save money.

And another interesting view of the Ark Royals launching by an anonymous photographer.

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I don't want to criticise but that lady really needs to brush out her pin curls.

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