HMS “Ben-My-Chree” – the British aircraft carrier - seaplane transport

"Ben-my-Chree" - a British steamship, that sailed in the English Channel. In 1915, it was acquired by the Royal Navy and converted into a seaplane tender. It saw active service in World War I, but was sunk by Turkish shore batteries on 11 January 1917. At the beginning of the First World War, British naval aviation was still in its experimental stage. In 1914, the large seaplane tender “Ark Royal” was already in building. As its launch was being delayed, the Admiralty decided to purchase several small commercial ships and convert them into seaplane tenders. The choice was made from the fast steamers, that operated in the English Channel between England and the Isle of Man. The first ships purchased were the “Empress”, the “Engedine” and the “Riviera”, and later three more – the “Ben-My-Chree”, the “Manxman” and the “Vindex”. On 11 January 1917, the ship was anchored off the island of Kastelorizo, off the southern coast of Turkey, when it unexpectedly came under fire from a well-camouflaged Turkish shore battery. After several hits, the aircraft in the hangar caught fire. A huge fire broke out, and the ship soon sank in shallow water.

A medium-sized, well-designed and richly detailed aircraft carrier - seaplane transport model for medium-experienced and experienced modelers. The model has a fully detailed interior of the seaplane hangar, the two types of seaplanes themselves, all the deck and hull detailing. But there are no hull frame details - apparently, the publishers of "Answer" and "Angraf" decided, that the model would still be purchased with laser-cut frame parts sets and did not include them in the publication (by the way, their store has a file with drawings of these sheets for free download, only in A3 format, and not everyone has such printers). There is a fairly large stock of colors, there are no text instructions, but the graphical one is simply a fairy tale!!!