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Image Not Available for HMAS ALBATROSS felt pennant
HMAS ALBATROSS felt pennant
Image Not Available for HMAS ALBATROSS felt pennant

HMAS ALBATROSS felt pennant

Datemid 20th century
Object number00033904
NamePennant
MediumFelt, paint
DimensionsOverall: 255 x 590 mm, 0.04 kg
ClassificationsCommemorative artefacts
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionThis triangular blue felt souvenir pennant is screen printed with the HMAS ALBATROSS badge, white albatross and stars representing the Southern Cross, all within a rope circle surmounted by a naval crown. It represents the Royal Australian Navy's air station at Nowra, New South Wales.HistoryIn 1947, the Royal Australian Navy's own Fleet Air Arm was formed, and the Nowra airfield was chosen to be its main shore base. HMAS ALBATROSS was commissioned on 31 August 1948, with its first squadrons disembarking from the new Australian aircraft carrier HMAS SYDNEY in May 1949. Over the course of the next decades, the RAN purchased larger, faster and more capable aircraft, which led to the facilities at ALBATROSS being expanded - workshops and test facilities for jets were installed following the entry into service of the De Havilland Sea Venom in 1955, while a new control tower was built in 1958. The purchase of A-4 Skyhawks and S-2 Trackers with advanced avionics led to more facilities being installed in the late 1960s to service them. The air station was named after the RAN's first ship specifically designed to carry aircraft, HMAS ALBATROSS, built at Cockatoo Island Dockyard and commissioned in January 1929.