Editing HMS Glorious (section)

=== Norwegian Campaign ===
She was recalled to the Home Fleet in April 1940 to provide air cover for British forces landing in [[Norwegian Campaign|Norway]].<ref name=b85/> Eighteen [[Gloster Gladiators]] of [[No. 263 Squadron RAF]] were flown aboard to be transferred to Norwegian airbases. Eleven [[Blackburn Skua]]s of [[803 Naval Air Squadron|803 Squadron]], plus eighteen Sea Gladiators from 802 and [[804 Naval Air Squadron|804 Squadrons]] were also embarked. ''Glorious'' and {{HMS|Ark Royal|91|2}} arrived off central Norway on 24 April where 263 Squadron was flown off and their own aircraft attacked targets in and south of [[Trondheim]] before ''Glorious'' had to return to [[Scapa Flow]] late on 27 April to refuel and embark new aircraft. ''Glorious''{{'}}s Sea Gladiators provided air cover for the two carriers. They damaged one [[Heinkel He 111]] bomber on a reconnaissance mission. Before departing she transferred four serviceable Skuas to ''Ark Royal''. She returned on 1 May, but had been unable to load many new aircraft because of poor weather. Only a dozen Swordfish of 823 Squadron, three Skuas and one [[Blackburn Roc]] managed to be flown aboard. The task force was under heavy air attack by the [[Luftwaffe]] all day and was withdrawn that evening. One [[Junkers Ju 87]] Stuka dive bomber was shot down after it dropped its bomb by the Sea Gladiators on patrol.<ref>Haarr, pp. 141, 143–154</ref>

''Glorious'' returned on 18 May with six [[Supermarine Walrus]] [[flying boat]]s of [[701 Naval Air Squadron|701 Squadron]] and 18 [[Hawker Hurricane]]s of [[No. 46 Squadron RAF]]. The latter aircraft had been loaded aboard by crane. The Walruses were quickly flown off to [[Harstad (town)|Harstad]], but the airfield in [[Skånland Municipality|Skånland]] was not yet ready for the Hurricanes and they were still aboard when ''Glorious'' returned to Scapa on 21 May. ''Glorious'' came back to the [[Narvik (town)|Narvik]] area on 26 May and the Hurricanes were quickly flown off.<ref>Haarr, pp. 261–262</ref>

[[File:HMS Glorious last picture.jpg|thumb|left|''Glorious'' photographed in May 1940 from the deck of ''Ark Royal''; the [[destroyer]] with her is {{HMS|Diana|H49|2}}]]
Even this success proved ephemeral and British forces were ordered to withdraw a few days later. The evacuation ([[Operation Alphabet]]) began in the north on the night of 3/4 June and ''Glorious'' arrived off the coast on 2 June to provide support, although she only carried nine Sea Gladiators of 802 and six Swordfish from 823 Squadrons for self-defence as it was hoped to evacuate the RAF fighters if at all possible. Ten Gladiators of 263 Squadron were flown aboard from their base at Bardufoss during the afternoon of 7 June and the Hurricanes of 46 Squadron were landed without significant problems in the early evening despite having a much higher landing speed than the biplanes. These had been flown off from land bases to keep them from being destroyed in the evacuation after the pilots discovered that a {{cvt|7|kg}} sandbag carried in the rear of the Hurricane allowed full brakes to be applied immediately on landing.<ref>Haarr, pp. 308–310</ref> This was the first time that high-performance monoplanes without [[tailhook]]s had landed on an aircraft carrier.<ref name=h61>Howland, p. 61</ref>

The commanding officer of ''Glorious'', [[Captain (Royal Navy)|Captain]] [[Guy D'Oyly-Hughes]], was a former submariner who had been [[executive officer]] of ''Courageous'' for 10 months.<ref>Haar, p. 331</ref> He was granted permission to proceed independently to Scapa Flow in the early hours of 8 June. Howland maintains the reason was to hold a [[court-martial]] of his Commander (Air), J. B. Heath, who had refused an order to carry out an attack on shore targets on the grounds that the targets were at best ill-defined and his aircraft were unsuited to the task. Heath had been left behind in Scapa to await trial.<ref name=h61/> Another rationale was that ''Glorious'' was running short of fuel. One possibility was that ''Glorious'', with her Swordfish detachment equipped with long-range fuel tanks, had been selected for [[Operation Paul]], the mining of [[Luleå]] harbor, which had to happen before Narvik was evacuated.<ref name="Paul"/><ref>https://kulturmiljonorrbotten.com/2024/03/01/operation-paul/ (in Swedish)</ref>