Photograph of a Hurricane fighter plane in a catapult on the deck of the MV Daghestan, Hindustan Steam Shipping Co. Ltd.

Snapshot photograph by Cyril L. White, RAF, taken on board the CAM Ship MV Daghestan, Hindustan Steam Shipping Co. Ltd., in 1941 during the Battle of the Atlantic. The image shows a Sea Hurricane fighter plane ready to be launched from a catapult on the deck of the ship. During the Second World War, merchant freighters were outfitted with "catafighters" - catapults that could launch Hurricanes from the deck of the ship, thus enabling the RAF to engage German bombers in the middle of the Atlantic. Once ths planes were launched from the catapults they could not return to the ship's deck. RAF pilots had to take their chances of either being rescued at sea or heading for the coast if within flying range.