FROM MY PERSONAL COLLECTION, AS IN THE PHOTO, THIS IS NOT A BOX KIT BUT IT WAS COMPLETELY SELF-BUILT, THEREFORE UNIQUE. (WOOD BASE NOT INCLUDED). HMS Eagle was an early aircraft carrier. Of the Royal Navy. During the South American dreadnought race. As the Almirante Latorre -class. Almirante Cochrane , she was laid down before World War I. Her completion was delayed by labour troubles and the possibility that she might be repurchased by Chile for reconversion into a battleship, as well as the need for comparative trials to determine the optimum layout for aircraft carriers. And later to the China Station. Spending very little time in home waters other than for periodic refits. Eagle spent the first nine months of World War II in the Indian Ocean. Searching for German commerce raiders. During the early part of the war, the Fleet Air Arm. Was desperately short of fighters. And Eagle was equipped solely with Fairey Swordfish. She was transferred to the Mediterranean in May 1940, where she escorted convoys. In July but her aircraft failed to score any hits when they attempted to torpedo Italian cruisers during the battle. Whenever Eagle was not at sea, her aircraft were disembarked and used ashore. Her aircraft sank a German blockade runner. And disabled a German oil tanker. The German submarine U-73.