Ship Modelers Database
Image: Public domain (Australian War Memorial record states copyright status is "clear") · commons.wikimedia.org
HMS Illustrious (1939)
Scrapped
HMS Illustrious was the lead ship of the Illustrious-class armoured fleet aircraft carriers, the Royal Navy's first carriers with a fully armoured flight deck and hangar. She is best remembered for leading the Fleet Air Arm's night attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto in November 1940, a strike that crippled much of the Regia Marina's battleship force.
Kits of this ship
+ Add a kit| HMS Illustrious | Airfix | 1:350 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued | |
| HMS Illustrious British Aircraft Carrier | Heller | 1:400 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued | |
No image | HMS Illustrious British Aircraft Carrier Ship | Airfix | 1:350 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued |
| HMS Illustrious Aircraft Carrier Waterline | Aoshima | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available | |
No image | Illustrious-Class Aircraft Carrier | Aoshima | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued |
| British Aircraft Carrier Illustrious | Aoshima | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available | |
No image | Royal Navy Aircraft Carrier HMS Illustrious Attack on Benghazi | Aoshima | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Discontinued |
| 1:350 HMS Illustrious Aircraft Carrier Model Kit | 3D-Wild | 1:350 | Resin | Available |
Plans
No plan sets listed for this ship yet. Know of museum, archive or publisher drawings? Add them so the next builder can find them.
Links go to the publisher's or museum's own page. Ship Modelers Database lists plan sets; it doesn't host or display the drawings.
Build logs
+ Link a build logNo build logs linked yet.
Resources
+ Submit a resourceHistory & specifications
- Wikipedia: HMS Illustrious (87)Website
Overview of construction, commissioning, and service history of the ship, useful for basic specs and timeline.
- Wikipedia: Illustrious-class aircraft carrierWebsite
Class-level design and concept details including armour scheme and armament, useful for modelers wanting accuracy on the class's distinguishing features.
Museums & archives
- RMG: Aircraft carrier HMS 'Illustrious' waterline modelMuseum
National Maritime Museum object record for a 1:192 waterline model of Illustrious, including dimensions and a detailed service history useful for diorama/model reference.
Photos
- Wikimedia Commons: HMS Illustrious (AWM 302415).jpgPhoto
Australian War Memorial wartime photograph of Illustrious's flight deck showing armament and aircraft handling details, useful reference for deck layout.
History
Specifications
Built by Vickers-Armstrongs at Barrow-in-Furness, she was laid down on 27 April 1937, launched on 5 April 1939, and commissioned on 25 May 1940. She displaced about 23,000 tons standard (up to 28,661 tons full load), measured roughly 744-753 feet in length with a 95-foot beam, and her armoured hangar design reduced her aircraft capacity compared to unarmoured contemporaries, carrying around 33-57 aircraft depending on configuration and period of the war.
Service history
After working up, Illustrious deployed to the Mediterranean in August 1940, where her Swordfish torpedo bombers raided Benghazi and then devastated the Italian fleet at Taranto in November 1940. In January 1941 she was severely damaged by German Stuka dive bombers during Operation Excess, surviving repeated attacks while under repair at Malta before sailing on to the United States for extensive reconstruction at Norfolk Navy Yard. She later served in the Indian Ocean and Pacific theatres, supporting the Madagascar landings, operations against Japanese bases, and enduring kamikaze attacks before being reduced to training duties post-war.
Notable facts
Naval historian J. D. Brown credited the soundness of her armoured hangar with saving the ship during the Malta Blitz, since no unarmoured carrier could have withstood comparable punishment. Nicknamed "Lusty" by her crew, she was decommissioned in 1954 and broken up at Faslane in 1956.