Implacable and Indefatigable often operated about eighty-one aircraft, including Fireflies, Seafires, Barracudas, Avengers, Firebrands, and later Sea Vampires. Many were large machines, so those totals cannot be dismissed as the result of counting only small aircraft. The fully internal hangar prevented airframes from overhanging the ship's sides, while armor high in the hull forced designers to limit hangar height for stability. British practice favored keeping a protected group serviceable over squeezing in the largest possible number of spare airframes. The resulting air groups add another piece of evidence against a 23,000-ton interpretation of the class.
Chapter · 1:03:39-1:10:03
Large air groups inside low armored hangars
Operational air groups above eighty aircraft challenge simple capacity figures and expose the tradeoffs of enclosed, armored, low-height hangars.