WORLD WAR II: H.M.S. ARK ROYAL.

H.M.S. Ark Royal bomber pilot hat and binoculars belonging to A.H. Griffiths.. [In use 1940-41.]

H.M.S. Ark Royal bomber pilot hat and binoculars belonging to A.H. Griffiths.. [In use 1940-41.]
A British Royal Navy Seaman's hat, with white cover, dark blue tally ribbon lettered H.M.S. Ark Royal, the inside liner annotated in black ink A.H.Griffiths, and with printed Ark Royal Mess Room invitation to dinner, loosely inserted. Diameter 10 inches (250mm). Some light wear to the edges, light spotting to the top of the hat;
Together with a pair of period British Naval Binoculars, marked Barr and Stroud, in the original leather carrying case, the top flap detached.
Provenance: A.H. Griffiths, dive-bomber pilot on H.M.S.Ark Royal.

A poignant relic from HMS Ark Royal, one of the British Navy's most famous aircraft carriers, mostly based in the Mediterranean during the early part of World War II. A.H. Griffiths, was a dive-bomber pilot, who took part in the attack on the Vichy French Navy in Algiers in 1941. The Ark Royal hunted down the Bismarck, and aided in the search for the Graff Spee, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, but was torpedoed in the Med on November 14th 1941, while ferrying aircraft to Malta for its defense.