RN N6640 Sopwith Pup HMS NewZealand.jpg

On Tue, 07 Jun 2016 00:22:54 -0400, Joseph Testagrose
wrote:

File under "Steel, balls of"...

On 07/06/2016 18:28, R2D2 wrote:
On Tue, 07 Jun 2016 00:22:54 -0400, Joseph Testagrose
wrote:

File under "Steel, balls of"...

I like the plane-guard steam launch.

On Tue, 7 Jun 2016 21:14:55 +0100, PVK wrote:

On 07/06/2016 18:28, R2D2 wrote:
On Tue, 07 Jun 2016 00:22:54 -0400, Joseph Testagrose
wrote:

File under "Steel, balls of"...

I like the plane-guard steam launch.

I wonder how buoyant those early kites were? Made mostly of wood and
fabric, except for the engine and landing gear as I recall. They
might float for a few minutes allowing the pilot to scramble out
before it sunk.

In article , Charles Lindbergh
says...

On Tue, 7 Jun 2016 21:14:55 +0100, PVK wrote:

On 07/06/2016 18:28, R2D2 wrote:
On Tue, 07 Jun 2016 00:22:54 -0400, Joseph Testagrose
wrote:

File under "Steel, balls of"...

I like the plane-guard steam launch.

I wonder how buoyant those early kites were? Made mostly of wood and
fabric, except for the engine and landing gear as I recall. They
might float for a few minutes allowing the pilot to scramble out
before it sunk.


....first things first...you could take off but couldn't land on a ship. Once
airborne, you had to land on shore...if you couldn't land on shore, you
intentionally ditched you plane at sea! They had seaplane tenders I guess to
pick up the soggy pilots...provided they didn't drown.

sheesh

The War in the Air - Naval Warfare

more at http://www.firstworldwar.com/airwar/navalwarfare.htm


....The Royal Navy wanted to equip ships with aircraft that could intercept the
Zeppelins, and thus deprive the German Navy of its greatest reconnaissance
asset. It was clear that the seaplanes, weighed down and cumbersome because of
their floats, could not provide the required performance.

With the Sopwith Pup there was finally available a plane that could climb high
enough, and fast enough, to tackle the Zeppelins. In addition it required a
very small take off run. In fact, flying into a 20 knot wind the Pup required a
meagre six metres (20 feet) to take off.

The navy revived the idea of flying wheeled aircraft off from decks. F. J.
Rutland, who had flown the reconnaissance mission at Jutland, flew the first
such takeoffs from platforms on the Manxman and Campania. The navy subsequently
fitted light cruisers with such takeoff platforms.

-----The solution was far from ideal as there was still no way to land, and the
planes had to either land on shore, or if this was too far away, to ditch into
the sea. The Pups were supplied with special airbags to keep them afloat until
the ship's crane could lift them back up on deck.

On the 21st of August, 1917 a Sopwith Pup piloted by Second Lieutenant B. A.
Smart, took off from such a ship, the HMS Yarmouth, which had been escorting a
mine-laying force in the Heligoland Bight. Climbing to 7,000 feet he attacked
the Zeppelin L23 from above, and shot it down. He subsequently ditched in the
sea and was recovered by HMS Prince.

The Royal Navy took an even more advanced approach when it changed the layout of
the HMS Furious, then under construction as a light cruiser.

They cleared the forward deck of her intended gun turret, and placed instead a
takeoff deck 70 metres long and 15 metres wide. (228 feet by 50 feet.) The deck
was connected by a hatchway and crane to a hanger which held four seaplanes and
six land planes.

The Squadron Commander on the Furious was E. H. Dunning, and he thought he had a
solution to the problem of landing. He knew that if the ship, with its top
speed 21 knots, sailed directly into a 19 knot wind, the combined speed would
match the Pup's 40 knot landing speed.

On the 2nd of August 1917 he demonstrated how this could be used to land the
craft on the takeoff deck. He flew alongside the Furious, and as he lowered his
speed he was virtually hovering in relation to the deck. He then side-slipped
over the ship. Waiting crewmen grabbed prepared ropes and literally pulled the
plane down, while Dunning cut the engine at the same time.




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