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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 1216.PDF
FLIGHT. 29 June 1950 i AZ " Slip flight used the lower flying-off deck, about 60ft of tapering runway in the bows. ..." A Flycatcher (Jaguar engine) gets away. DECK-LANDING LONG AGO Memories of 1930, When R.A.F. Ground-crews Assisted the Fleet Air Arm By S/L H. R. BUNN, M.B.E., A.R.Ae.S. : Illustrated with "Flight" Photographs I SUPPOSE the Naval pilots who now hurl Vampiresand other jet fighters on to and off aircraft carriersaccept arrester cables .and hooks, flight-deck batsmen and Naval mechanics. as "part of the order of things as ordained by their Lordships of the Admiralty. In the early thirties, however, when the R.A.F. was privileged (if that is the word) to.provide all the servicing crews and a per- centage of the pilots for what was then known as Fleet Air Arm, landing-on was more of an individual effort, and in view of the record-breaking striking-down methods in- vogue at the time was (if I dare say it) more skilfuL- In 1930, when I was one of those fortunates permitted to leave the comfort and peace of an R.A.F. Station for the hurly-burly and hammocks of a life on the heaving main (which, assuredly, was not the only thing to heave), H.M.S. Courageous staged the first British arrester-gear trials with a Fairey Flycatcher, then the standard Naval fighter. The pilot was a Lieut. G. L. Brinton, R.N., who lost his life the next year whilst training with the Schneider Trophy team, for which he was the only Naval pilot ever to be selected. The Flycatcher was equipped with a crude arrester hook and attachment, the hook appearing as if hammered from the solid by some ship's blacksmith who was not particularly good at his job. Although most of the many spectators were openly sceptical, the landings were successful, if a little hectic. As the hook was solid, the deck handling party had to dash out after each landing to haul the aircraft aft, with airscrew turning to act as emergency brake, until the cable could be kicked clear of the hook. The crudeness of the arrangements probably blinded us to the possibilities of the system, but I think that both pilots and airmen were glad to continue with the less mechanical but more exciting real deck-landing method. Perhaps in the minds of fKe pHots was the thought that going over the side would result in a ridiculous arrester-wire suspension 'twixt wind and water, and a somewhat ignominious -hauling to the deck from a precariously pendulus aircraft. This would compare unfavourably with normal "ditch- ing," which certainly meant a wetting, but also resulted in a rapid pick-up by the attendant destroyer's boat's crew within minutes, and a skinful of rum "to keep the cold out" before returning to the carrier. The fighter flights (each of six aircraft, and all Fly- catchers) were hangared forward and so used the forward lift. Competition was keen between flights for the record in striking-down, which was, if memory serves, 4 min 20 sec for the striking-down and stowage, without benefit of folding wings, of six aircraft individually. This included the time taken for the six-down and five-up journeys of the lift. As the aircraft actually touched down just aft of " the lift-well, to finish the landing run dead on the up- coming lift (theoretically, at least), passengers on the up journey always advisedly faced aft as near to the outboard edge of the lift as possible—and they often had to step lively to avoid decapitation or some lesser mutilation. The lift was alongside the " island," with the consequence that an aircraft swinging to starboard was certain to nose into it; providing it finished up clear of the lift-well, this embarrassed no one but the pilot. The 'Catchers approached in close line-ahead, so that if one made a dud run and had to make another circuit, the next was in position to touch down. The Flycatcher was flapped, but was not encumbered with any refinements such as wheel brakes, and any tendency to over-run wast usually prevented by the Naval deck-handling party, thep largest members of which would seize the tailplane in largeflf and sinewy hands and hang on. Many was the tailplane
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