Launching Aircraft At Sea

Launching Aircraft At Sea. Eyes In The Sky. , Ready to Fly , The crane lowered the plane onto the cradle on top of the launching car. Two safety pins and a tension ring held the car steady on the track., Next, the Ship steamed into the wind. The wind over the deck provided additional lift for the plane. Operations timed the launch for when the Ship was in the trough of a wave. The catapult was turned over the water about 30 degrees., The pilot revved the engine (open throttle) and the pins on the launching car were released., A Gunner's Mate fired the Catapult Gun (8-inch artillery shell)., The launching car, attached to an ungalvanized wire rope, and the plane zoomed down the track reaching 65-70 mph. Two hydraulic buffers in the track stopped the launching car and the pilot took off., Two 68-foot long Type P (Gun Powder) Mark 6 catapults were on the fantail. They are missing but the two large turntables remain. They were located about 2/3 of the way from the track's launching end to assure safe launchings across the deck if needed., Crew Memories , "After about three months I got transferred to the starboard catapult. This turned out to be a big mistake. The catapult work was dirty, greasy and sometimes you had to eat lunch without even having time to wash the grease off your hands as a plane had to be launched. Sometimes by the time the plane was launched chow was over and we didn't get any. My position was the rear pin man during launching. The plane sat on this little cart at the rear of the catapult. There were two pins that came up from the catapult into the cart to hold it. Due to the noise from the plane the launching officer would signal with his thumbs up for pins up or thumbs down for pins down to release the cart. My job was to signal when the pins went down so the plane could be launched." , Cecil Jaudin Baker, Fire Controlman 3/C, (caption) Breech and firing mechanism of catapult guns Mk, 9 and 10