Aircraft catapult
An aircraft catapult is a device used to allow aircraft to take off in a limited distance, typically from the deck of a vessel. They can also be installed on land-based runways, although this is rarely done. They are usually used on
In the form used on aircraft carriers the catapult consists of a track, or slot, built into the flight deck, below which is a large piston or shuttle that is attached through the track to the nose gear of the aircraft, or in some cases a wire rope, called a catapult bridle, is attached to the aircraft and the catapult shuttle. Other forms have been used historically, such as mounting a launching cart holding a seaplane on a long girder-built structure mounted on the deck of a warship or merchant vessel, but most catapults share a similar sliding track concept.
Different means have been used to propel the catapult, such as
Historically it was most common for seaplanes to be catapulted, allowing them to land on the water near the vessel and be hoisted on board, although in WWII (before the advent of the escort carrier) conventional fighter planes (notably the Hawker Hurricane) would sometimes be catapulted from "catapult-equipped merchant" (CAM) vessels to drive off enemy aircraft, forcing the pilot to either divert to a land based airstrip, or to jump out by parachute or ditch in the water near the convoy and wait for rescue.
History
First recorded flight using a catapult
On 31 July 1912,
Application timeline
Feature | First seen | First demonstrated on | First commissioned carrier | Entry into service | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Naval catapult | 1915 | USS North Carolina | USS Langley – compressed air USS Lexington – fly wheel HMS Courageous – hydraulic |
1922 1927 1934 |
Lt. Cmdr. Henry Mustin made the first successful launch on November 5, 1915, |
Steam catapult | 1950 | HMS Perseus | USS Hancock | 1954 | added to Hancock during her 1953 SCB-27C refit. |
EMALS | 2010 | Lakehurst Maxfield Field | USS Gerald R. Ford | 2017 |
Interwar and World War II
The US Navy experimented with other power sources and models, including catapults that utilized gunpowder and flywheel variations. On 14 December 1924, a Martin MO-1 observation plane flown by Lt. L. C. Hayden was launched from USS Langley using a catapult powered by gunpowder. Following this launch, this method was used aboard both cruisers and battleships.[4]
By 1929, the German ocean liners
Up to and during
Many naval vessels apart from aircraft carriers carried float planes, seaplanes or amphibians for reconnaissance and spotting. They were catapult-launched and landed on the sea alongside for recovery by crane. Additionally, the concept of submarine aircraft carriers was developed by multiple nations during the interwar period, and through until WW2 and beyond, wherein a submarine would launch a small number of floatplanes for offensive operations or artillery spotting, to be recovered by the submarine once the aircraft has landed. The first launch off a Royal Navy battlecruiser was from HMAS Australia on 8 March 1918. Subsequently, many Royal Navy ships carried a catapult and from one to four aircraft; battleships or battlecruisers like HMS Prince of Wales carried four aircraft and HMS Rodney carried two, while smaller warships like the cruiser HMNZS Leander carried one. The aircraft carried were the Fairey Seafox or Supermarine Walrus. Some like HMS Nelson did not use a catapult, and the aircraft was lowered onto the sea for takeoff. Some had their aircraft and catapult removed during World War II e.g. HMS Duke of York, or before (HMS Ramillies).
During World War II a number of ships were fitted with rocket-driven catapults, first the
While imprisoned in Colditz Castle during the war, British prisoners of war planned an escape attempt using a falling bathtub full of heavy rocks and stones as the motive power for a catapult to be used for launching the Colditz Cock glider from the roof of the castle.
Ground-launched V-1s were typically propelled up an inclined launch ramp by an apparatus known as a Dampferzeuger ("steam generator").[7][8]
Steam catapult
Following World War II, the Royal Navy was developing a new catapult system for their fleet of carriers. Commander
At launch, a release bar holds the aircraft in place as steam pressure builds up, then breaks (or "releases"; older models used a pin that sheared), freeing the piston to pull the aircraft along the deck at high speed. Within about two to four seconds, aircraft velocity by the action of the catapult plus apparent wind speed (ship's speed plus or minus "natural" wind) is sufficient to allow an aircraft to fly away, even after losing one engine.[9]
Nations that have retained large aircraft carriers, i.e., the United States Navy and the
Steam catapults types
Types previously or still operated by the British, U.S. and French navies include:[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]
Type | Overall length | Stroke | Capacity | Carriers |
---|---|---|---|---|
BS 4 | 151 ft (46 m)[17] | HMS Ark Royal (2 catapults) | ||
C-11 and C-11-1 | 225 feet (69 m) | 211 feet (64 m) | 39,000 pounds (18 t) at 136 knots; 70,000 pounds (32 t) at 108 knots | SCB-27C Essex-class conversions, USS Coral Sea, bow installations on USS Midway and USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, waist installations on USS Forrestal and USS Saratoga
|
C-11-2 | 162 feet (49 m) | 150 feet (46 m) | Waist catapults on USS Midway and USS Franklin D. Roosevelt | |
C-7 | 276 feet (84 m) | 253 feet (77 m) | 40,000 pounds (18 t) at 148.5 knots; 70,000 pounds (32 t) at 116 knots | USS Ranger, USS Independence, bow installations on USS Forrestal and USS Saratoga |
C-13 | 265 feet (81 m) | 250 feet (76 m) | 78,000 pounds (35 t) at 139 knots | Kitty Hawk class, USS Midway after SCB-101.66 modernization, USS Enterprise |
C-13-1 | 325 feet (99 m) | 310 feet (94 m) | 80,000 pounds (36 t) at 140 knots | One installation on USS America and USS John F. Kennedy, all on USS Nimitz, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, USS Carl Vinson, and USS Theodore Roosevelt |
C-13-2 | 325 feet (99 m) | 306 feet (93 m) | USS Abraham Lincoln, USS George Washington, USS John C. Stennis, USS Harry S. Truman | |
C-13-3 | 261 feet (80 m) | 246 feet (75 m) | 60,000 pounds (27 t) at 140 knots | French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle |
Bridle catchers
The protruding angled ramps (Van Velm Bridle Arresters or horns) at the catapult ends on some aircraft carriers were used to catch the bridles (connectors between the catapult shuttle and aircraft fuselage) for reuse. There were small ropes that would attach the bridle to the shuttle, which continued down the angled horn to pull the bridle down and away from the aircraft to keep it from damaging the underbelly. The bridle would then be caught by nets aside the horn. Bridles have not been used on U.S. aircraft since the end of the
Like her American counterparts, the French aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle is not equipped with bridle catchers because the modern aircraft operated on board use the same launch systems as in US Navy.[18] Because of this mutual interoperability, American aircraft are also capable of being catapulted from and landing on Charles De Gaulle, and conversely, French naval aircraft can use the US Navy carriers' catapults. At the time when the Super Étendard was operated on board of the Charles de Gaulle, its bridles were used only once, as they were never recovered by bridle catchers.
The carriers Clemenceau and Foch were also equipped with bridle catchers, not for the Super Étendards but only to catch and recover the Vought F-8 Crusader's bridles.[clarification needed]
Electromagnetic catapult
The size and manpower requirements of steam catapults place limits on their capabilities. A newer approach is the electromagnetic catapult, such as Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) developed by General Atomics. Electromagnetic catapults place less stress on the aircraft and offer more control during the launch by allowing gradual and continual acceleration. Electromagnetic catapults are also expected to require significantly less maintenance through the use of solid state components.[19]
Civilian use
From 1929, the German
German airline
From 1936 to 1938, tests including the Blohm & Voss Ha 139 flying boat were conducted on the North Atlantic route to New York. Schwabenland was also used in an Antarctic expedition in 1938/39 with the main purpose of finding an area for a German whaling station, in which catapult-launched Wals surveyed a territory subsequently claimed by Germany as New Swabia. All of Lufthansa's catapult ships were taken over by the Luftwaffe in 1939 and used as seaplane tenders in World War II along with three catapult ships built for the military.
After World War II, Supermarine Walrus amphibian aircraft were also briefly operated by a British whaling company, United Whalers. Operating in the Antarctic, they were launched from the factory ship FF Balaena, which had been equipped with an ex-navy aircraft catapult.[26]
Alternatives to catapults
The Chinese, Indian, and Russian navies operate conventional aircraft from "
All other navies with aircraft carriers operate
See also
- Ground carriage
- Jet blast deflector
- Modern US Navy carrier operations
- Naval aviation
- Arresting gear – Cable used to rapidly decelerate an aircraft as it lands
References
- ^ The Mk 1A Sea Hurricane was a simple conversion of battle-weary Hurricanes, in the expectation that they would be lost after one flight. There was no strengthening of the undercarriage for landing, merely the attachment points for the catapult launch.
- ISBN 0-16-049208-4.
- ISBN 978-1-105-62562-6.
- ^ "Our Navy Has the Best Seaplane Catapult; New Invention of Captain Washington I. Chambers Makes It Possible to Launch Aircraft from a Warship's Deck at Sea" (PDF). query.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
- ^ a b c d "Launch and Recovery: From Flywheels to Magnets". navalaviationnews.navylive.dodlive.mil. Archived from the original on 2015-11-25. Retrieved 2015-11-24. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "The Heinkel Catapult on the S.S. BREMEN". histaviation.com. August 3, 1929. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
THE HEINKEL K2 catapult installed upon the North German Lloyd liner "Bremen," which figured prominently in the establishment of the recent trans-Atlantic mail record, is the result of two years of experimentation and development by Dr. Ernst Heinkel, its designer.
- ^ "HMS Ariguani aircraft carrier profile. Aircraft Carrier Database of the Fleet Air Arm Archive 1939-1945". www.fleetairarmarchive.net. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2016-02-15.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Werrell 1985.
- ^ Testator (2 May 2011). "Фау 1 самолёт снаряд, 2 часть". Archived from the original on 11 April 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2018 – via YouTube.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-87021-739-5.
- ISBN 978-0-89096-681-5.
- ^ "Chapter 4 STEAM CATAPULTS". navyaviation.tpub.com. Archived from the original on 2015-11-25. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-06-03. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-06-03. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "CV-Cats&SkiRamps". www.mnvdet.com. Archived from the original on 27 August 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
- .
- .
- ^ Denison, K. B. (April 1957). "A steam catapult installation". Journal of Naval Engineering. 10 (2). Retrieved 2023-05-15 – via Naval Marine Archive – The Canadian Collection.
- ^ "¤ A C A M ¤ Connexion". www.acam.asso.fr. Archived from the original on 8 August 2017. Retrieved 24 April 2018.
- ^ "History, Travel, Arts, Science, People, Places - Air & Space Magazine". airspacemag.com.
- ^ Linear Electric Machines- A Personal View ERIC R. LAITHWAITE PROCEEDINGS OF THE IEEE, VOL. 63, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 1975
- ^ "Gerald R Ford Class (CVN 78/79) – US Navy CVN 21 Future Carrier Programme - Naval Technology". naval-technology.com. Archived from the original on 2013-12-20.
- ^ Gady, Franz-Stefan (6 November 2017). "China's New Aircraft Carrier to Use Advanced Jet Launch System". The Diplomat.
- ^ "The Heinkel Catapult on the S.S. BREMEN". histaviation.com. August 3, 1929. Archived from the original on September 13, 2017. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
THE HEINKEL K2 catapult installed upon the North German Lloyd liner "Bremen," which figured prominently in the establishment of the recent trans-Atlantic mail record, is the result of two years of experimentation and development by Dr. Ernst Heinkel, its designer.
- ^ Cook, John (March 2002). "Shot from Ships: Air Mail Service on Bremen and Europa". Air Classics. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
- ^ Corporation, Bonnier (1 February 1933). "Popular Science". Bonnier Corporation. Retrieved 24 April 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ London 2003, p. 213.
- ^ "Why I Joined the Dark Side". Archived from the original on 2015-05-20.
Bibliography
- London, Peter. British Flying Boats. Stoud, UK: Sutton Publishers Ltd., 2003. ISBN 0-7509-2695-3.
- Werrell, Kenneth P. (1985), The Evolution of the Cruise Missile, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Press.