On Sun, 16 Nov 2003 15:17:32 +0100, in rec.aviation.military "Pierre-Henri
Baras" wrote:
On 16 Nov 2003 07:15:07 GMT, in rec.aviation.military Thomas W Ping wrote:

Are there aviation-related reasons why the starboard side is favored
for the island, or is it a purely naval issue? If the latter, did the
practice come about because the first pioneering carriers were
arbitrarily drawn up that way and the configuration simply stuck as a
matter of tradition, or were there more significant reasons for the
convention?

AFAIK it's mainly because landing approaches (both land & sea) include a
final left turn. If the islands were on the port side of the ship the LSO
would loose sight of the plane (blocked by the island) and the pilote would
loose sight of the deck for a second or two, and that's enough to have a
major screw-up.
Any other explanation??

Remember, the LSO was stationed behind the island, so losing sight of the
aircraft was not a problem.

Early piston aircraft had a lot of torque generated by the engine. In a wave-off
situation, the sharp increase in power would roll the aircraft slightly to port.
Combined with pulling back on the stick to gain altitude, this would result in a
climbing left turn. Having an island in the way when doing this could ruin your
whole day. Hence, the island was placed on the other side of the filght deck.