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Aviation History
1935
1935 - 0383.PDF
FEBRUARY 21, T935- FLIGHT. 191 nto the sea from naval ships and the.i proved unable to take off from the rough water. Sometimes the floats were smashed by the waves, and the pilots had to be hurriedly rescued. Lifting the seaplanes on board again after a flight was also a difficult matter in rough weather. At the time of the battle of Jut land on May 31, 1916, there were two seaplane-carriers with the Fleet, H.M.S. Campania with Admiral Jellicoe at Scapa Flow, and H.M.S. Engadine with Admiral Beatty at Rosyth. The Campania did not re ceive her sailing orders until it was too late to catch up with the Grand Fleet, and she took no part in the battle. The Engadine sent up one sea plane during the battle, a Short, piloted by Flight Lieut. F. J. Rutland, with Asst. Paymaster G. S. Trewin as observer. It took twenty-eight min utes from the receipt of the order be fore they were in the air. After sending back three wireless messages, which do not seem to have reached the Lion, a petrol pipe broke on the sea plane and Rutland was forced down. He repaired the damage with rubber tubing, but was ordered to go along side the Engadine and was hoisted on board. After that the weather was judged to have become too bad for flying. By February of 1917 the practice of flying seaplanes off the deck of the Campania had been introduced, but it was only possible to take off against a strong wind. Light fighter aero planes, Sopwith " Pups," were then used for flying off decks, but they had to come down in the water beside a ship, and, though the pilot was usually rescued, the aeroplane was often lost. Catapults, driven by compressed The catapult retracted and the aircraft being lowered on to it by the crane. (Flight photograph.) air, were experimented with in 1917, and both landplanes and seaplanes were success fully launched by this means ; but the apparatus was heavy, and the experiment was abandoned in favour of the practice of flying fighters (" scouts," they were then called) off platforms on cruisers. A dramatic success brought this method into further favour On August 31, 1917, Flight Sub-Lieut. B. A. Smart flew a " Pup " off H.M.S. Yarmouth and shot down the Zeppelin L 23. He then put his " Pup " down in the sea beside H.M.S. Prince, and was himself taken on board, while the machine was lost. The next development was the equipment of H.M.S. Furious, a large light cruiser, with a flying deck on which returning aeroplanes could land. From that time onward until a few years ago the carrier with a flying deck was considered not only the standard but the sole means of supplying the Fleet with aircraft. The carrier still remains a standard component of a Fleet, but it is no longer the sole method of getting naval aircraft into the air. Aircraft carriers must needs be large and expensive. There must be many occasions on which a cruiser squadron, for instance, cannot be accompanied by a carrier, but may still have need for the services of aircraft. Moreover, a carrier may be put out of action if her flying deck is bombed, and then all the eggs would have to remain in the basket. A single cruiser patrolling the trade routes can reconnoitre far more square miles of sea in a day if she can send up an aircraft. In fact, a few years ago a move was made to resume the experiments with catapults which had been begun and abandoned in 1917. Catapults were accordingly evolved of a suitable type and a suitable weight. Both. compressed air and cordite were tried as the means of propulsion, and the latter has given the best results. It is more gradual in accelerating the catapult up to full speed, »'MiJ*ao imposes less strain on both the aircraft and the crew. It was, of course, necessary
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