HA1203 HM Avenger AS. MKIV RN Berly the Peril

Grumman Avenger A.S. Mk. IV

"Beryl the Peril"

XB374, Royal Navy FAA, HMS Bulwark, Suez, 1957

HA1203

Scale 1:72

Wingspan: 9 inches

From The HM website:

General Background
The Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm used the Grumman Avenger AS Mk. 4 as a stopgap measure while another more modern aircraft was being developed for anti-submarine warfare. In 1953 o ne hundred Avenger were acquired from the US and converted to meet British specifications . It came equipped with an AN/APS-4 radar pod fitted to the underside of the starboard wing . Some were assigned to HMS Bulwark with Carrier Codes B or O applied in black or white on the fin until in 1955 “ Fairey Gannets ” replaced them. The last Avenger was retired from British service in 1962.
The Aircraft
In 1953 the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm lacked a suitable anti-submarine aircraft so it acquired 100 Grumman Avenger AS Mk.IV. Throughout the 1956 – 1957 Suez Crisis these aircraft with AN/APS-4 radar were used as submarine hunter-killers. They were equipped with a wide variety of weapons from rockets to torpedoes and bombs. Yellow and black stripes were applied as a means of recognition and this aircraft was named “Beryl the Peril”. Beryl was a 1953 comic strip version of a female “Dennis the Menace”.
HMS Bulwark was the 6th vessel to bare this name and was affectionately nicknamed ‘The Rusty B’, that was a word play from her motto ’Under Thy Wings I Will (T)rust’. She was also known as ‘The Painted Lady’, referring to her numerous coats of paint!