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46-514: The Vought OS2U Kingfisher is an American catapult-launched observation floatplane . It was a compact mid-wing monoplane , with a large central float and small stabilizing floats. Performance was modest because of its low-powered engine . The OS2U could also operate on fixed, wheeled, taildragger landing gear. The OS2U was the main shipboard observation seaplane used by the United States Navy during World War II , and 1,519 of

92-471: A CATOBAR (Catapult Assisted Take Off But Arrested Recovery) configuration. U.S. Navy tactical aircraft use catapults to launch with a heavier warload than would otherwise be possible. Larger planes, such as the E-2 Hawkeye and S-3 Viking , require a catapult shot, since their thrust-to-weight ratio is too low for a conventional rolling takeoff on a carrier deck. Types previously or still operated by

138-582: A compressed-air catapult system and mounted it on the Santee Dock in Annapolis, Maryland . The first attempt nearly killed Lieutenant Ellyson when the plane left the ramp with its nose pointing upward and it caught a crosswind, pushing the plane into the water. Ellyson was able to escape from the wreckage unhurt. On 12 November 1912, Lt. Ellyson made history as the Navy's first successful catapult launch, from

184-399: A heavy load. STOVL carriers are less expensive and generally smaller in size compared to CATOBAR carriers. The British Queen Elizabeth -class aircraft carriers were built to use STOVL aircraft due to the expected cost of an electromagnetic catapult; they do not have the means to generate steam for a conventional catapult. Chuuk Lagoon Too Many Requests If you report this error to

230-454: A pair) on a flexible Scarff ring mount. The aircraft could also carry two 100 lb (45 kg) bombs or two 325 lb (147 kg) depth charges . Additionally, the " Kingfisher ", as it was designated, served as a trainer in both its floatplane and landplane configurations. The first 54 Kingfishers were delivered to the U.S. Navy beginning in August 1940, and 6 had been assigned to

276-621: A result, they must take off with a reduced load of fuel and armaments. All other navies with aircraft carriers operate short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft, such as the B variant of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II , the BAE Sea Harrier , and the AV-8B Harrier II . These aircraft can take off vertically with a light load, or use a ski jump to assist a rolling takeoff with

322-474: A spring-operated catapult to launch his successful flying models and his failed Aerodrome of 1903. Likewise the Wright Brothers beginning in 1904 used a weight and derrick styled catapult to assist their early aircraft with a takeoff in a limited distance. On 31 July 1912, Theodore Gordon Ellyson became the first person to be launched from a U.S. Navy catapult system. The Navy had been perfecting

368-513: A stationary coal barge. On 5 November 1915, Lieutenant Commander Henry C. Mustin made the first catapult launch from a ship underway. 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

414-502: 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

460-611: 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

506-413: 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

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552-681: Is credited with sinking any enemy submarines; however, they were successful in rescuing sailors from ships sunk by enemy torpedoes. The Coast Guard operated Kingfishers until October 1944. Australia received 18 Kingfishers from a batch of aircraft ordered by the Dutch East Indies that was diverted to Australia in 1942. They were initially used as training aircraft for pilots destined for flying boats , but in 1943 they were used to equip No. 107 Squadron RAAF , which carried out convoy escort duties until disbanded in October 1945. One Kingfisher

598-563: The Heinkel Flugzeugwerke to launch mail-planes. These ships served the route between Germany and the United States. The aircraft, carrying mail–bags, would be launched as a mail tender while the ship was still many hundreds of miles from its destination, thus speeding mail delivery by about a day. Initially, Heinkel He 12 aircraft were used before they were replaced by Junkers Ju 46 , which were in turn replaced by

644-615: The Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) with the construction of the Gerald R. Ford -class aircraft carriers, and a similar system has also been developed for the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy 's Type 003 aircraft carrier . 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

690-484: The Naval Aircraft Factory . The Kingfisher was widely used as a shipboard, catapult-launched scout plane on U.S. Navy battleships , heavy cruisers , and light cruisers during World War II and played a major role in support of shore bombardments and air-sea rescue. Two examples showing the plane's rescue capabilities include the recovery of World War I ace Eddie Rickenbacker and his crew from

736-479: The Pearl Harbor –based Battle Force before the end of the same year. Many of the following 158 OS2U-2s were attached to flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola , Florida, but 53 were assigned to equip the newly established Inshore Patrol Squadrons, based at Naval Air Station Jacksonville , Florida. In 1942, nine more Inshore Patrol Squadrons were established, all exclusively equipped with OS2N-1s built by

782-599: The Second World War (before the advent of the escort carrier ) conventional fighter aircraft (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. Aviation pioneer and Smithsonian Secretary Samuel Langley used

828-626: The Vought V-85G . German airline Lufthansa subsequently used dedicated catapult ships SS  Westfalen , MS  Schwabenland , Ostmark and Friesenland to launch larger Dornier Do J Wal (whale), Dornier Do 18 and Dornier Do 26 flying boats on the South Atlantic airmail service from Stuttgart, Germany to Natal, Brazil. On route proving flights in 1933, and a scheduled service beginning in February 1934, Wals flew

874-516: The factory ship FF Balaena , which had been equipped with an ex-navy aircraft catapult. The Chinese, Indian, and Russian navies operate conventional aircraft from " short take-off but arrested landing " (STOBAR) aircraft carriers. Instead of a catapult, they use a ski jump to assist aircraft in taking off with a positive rate of climb. Carrier aircraft such as the J-15 , Mig-29K , and Su-33 rely on their own engines to accelerate to flight speed. As

920-521: The fighter catapult ships of the Royal Navy, then armed merchantmen known as CAM ships from "catapult armed merchantmen". These were used for convoy escort duties to drive off enemy reconnaissance bombers. CAM ships carried a Hawker Sea Hurricane 1A , dubbed a "Hurricat" or "Catafighter", and the pilot bailed out unless he could fly to land. While imprisoned in Colditz Castle during

966-470: The British, U.S. and French navies include: 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

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1012-639: The OS2U-3 aircraft built by the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . The OS2U first flew on 1 March 1938. In the late 1930s, Vought engineer Rex Beisel was tasked with designing an observation monoplane aircraft for the U.S. Navy suitable for many tasks, including directing battleship fire. In replacing the standard biplane observation aircraft with a more modern monoplane design, Beisel incorporated innovations making it

1058-683: The Pacific in November 1942 and Lieutenant John A. Burns' unique use of the aircraft on 30 April 1944 to taxi airmen rescued from Truk Lagoon to the submarine Tang , which was serving rescue duty near the atoll. In all, Burns rescued ten survivors on two trips and was awarded the Navy Cross for his efforts. The United States Coast Guard received 76 OS2U-3 Kingfishers starting in 1942 and employed them in anti-submarine warfare, reconnaissance, and search and rescue roles. No Coast Guard Kingfisher

1104-431: The Royal Navy was developing a new catapult system for their fleet of carriers. Commander C. C. Mitchell , RNV , recommended a steam-based system using a slotted cylinder as an effective and efficient means to launch the next generation of naval aircraft. Trials on HMS  Perseus , flown by pilots such as Eric "Winkle" Brown , from 1950 showed its effectiveness. Navies introduced steam catapults, capable of launching

1150-529: The Super Étendards but only to catch and recover the Vought F-8 Crusader 's bridles. 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

1196-509: 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 Cold War , and all U.S. Navy carriers commissioned since then have not had the ramps. The last U.S. carrier commissioned with a bridle catcher was USS Carl Vinson ; starting with USS Theodore Roosevelt the ramps were omitted. During Refueling and Complex Overhaul refits in

1242-906: The aircraft were built. It served on battleships and cruisers of the U.S. Navy, with the United States Marine Corps in Marine Scouting Squadron Three (VMS-3), with the United States Coast Guard at coastal air stations; at sea with the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy ; with the Soviet Navy ; and with the Royal Australian Air Force . The Naval Aircraft Factory OS2N was the designation of

1288-510: 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

1334-573: The dangers posed by using pressurized steam. On gas-turbine powered ships, an electromagnetic catapult would eliminate the need for a separate steam boiler for generating catapult steam. The U.S. Navy's Gerald R. Ford -class aircraft carriers and PLA Navy's Type 003 aircraft carrier included electromagnetic catapults in their design. From 1929, the German Norddeutscher Lloyd -liners SS  Bremen and Europa were fitted with compressed air-driven catapults designed by

1380-409: The deck of a warship or merchant ship , but most catapults share a similar sliding track concept. Different means have been used to propel the catapult, such as weight and derrick , gunpowder , flywheel , compressed air , hydraulic , steam power , and solid fuel rocket boosters. The United States Navy is developing the use of a linear motor -based electromagnetic catapult system called

1426-412: The first production type to be assembled with spot welding , a process Vought and the Naval Aircraft Factory jointly developed to create a smooth fuselage that resisted buckling and generated less drag. Beisel also introduced high-lift devices and spoilers . In a unique arrangement, deflector plate flaps and drooping ailerons were located on the trailing edge of the wing to increase the camber of

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1472-469: The flying boats. From September 1934, Lufthansa had a support ship at each end of the trans-ocean stage, providing radio navigation signals and catapult launchings after carrying aircraft out to sea overnight. From April 1935 the Wals were launched directly offshore, and flew the entire distance across the ocean. This was possible as the flying boats could carry more fuel when they did not have to take off from

1518-404: The hangar deck that fired athwartships , but they were unpopular because of their short run, low clearance of the hangar decks, inability to add the ship's forward speed to the aircraft's airspeed for takeoff, and lower clearance from the water (conditions which afforded pilots far less margin for error in the first moments of flight). They were mostly used for experimental purposes, and their use

1564-408: The heavier jet fighters , in the mid-1950s. Powder -driven catapults were also contemplated, and would have been powerful enough, but would also have introduced far greater stresses on the airframes and might have been unsuitable for long use. 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

1610-541: The introduction of the Curtiss SC Seahawk , the first examples reaching the U.S. Navy in October 1944. At least eight Kingfishers survive in collections of historic aircraft around the world. Data from Jane's Fighting aircraft of World War II General characteristics Performance Armament Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists Aircraft catapult The catapult used on aircraft carriers consists of

1656-463: The late 1990s–early 2000s, the bridle catchers were removed from the first three Nimitz -class aircraft carriers. USS Enterprise was the last U.S. Navy operational carrier with the ramps still attached before her inactivation in 2012. 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

1702-582: 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. Linear induction motors have been experimented with before, such as Westinghouse's Electropult system in 1945. However, at the beginning of the 21st century, navies again started experimenting with catapults powered by linear induction motors and electromagnets . Electromagnetic catapult would be more energy efficient on nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and would alleviate some of

1748-541: 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. Nations that have retained large aircraft carriers, i.e., the United States Navy and the French Navy , are still using

1794-677: The same launch systems as in US Navy. 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

1840-512: The trans-ocean stage of the route, between Bathurst , the Gambia in West Africa and Fernando de Noronha , an island group off South America. At first, there was a refueling stop in mid-ocean. The flying boat would land on the open sea, be winched aboard by a crane, refueled, and then launched by catapult back into the air. However, landing on the big ocean swells tended to damage the hull of

1886-460: 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"). Following World War II,

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1932-559: The water under their own power, and cut the time it took for mail to get from Germany to Brazil from four days down to three. 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

1978-472: The wing and thus create additional lift. Beisel's first prototype flew in 1938, powered by an air-cooled, 450 hp (340 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-985-4 Wasp Junior radial engine. For combat missions, the pilot had a 0.30 in (7.62 mm) Browning M1919 machine gun , the receiver mounted low in the right front cockpit, firing between the engine cylinder heads, while the radio operator/gunner manned another 0.30 in (7.62 mm) machine gun (or

2024-435: Was entirely discontinued during the latter half of the war. 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

2070-888: Was used aboard both cruisers and battleships . By 1929, the German ocean liners SS Bremen and Europa had been fitted with compressed-air catapults designed by the Heinkel aviation firm of Rostock, with further work with catapult air mail across the South Atlantic Ocean , being undertaken during the first half of the 1930s, with Dornier Wal twin-engined flying boats. Up to and during World War II , most catapults on aircraft carriers were hydraulic. United States Navy catapults on surface warships, however, were operated with explosive charges similar to those used for 130-millimeter (5-inch) guns. Some carriers were completed before and during World War II with catapults on

2116-728: Was used in support of the Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition in 1947–48. Throughout its U.S. Navy service, the OS2U and even its predecessor, the Curtiss SOC Seagull , served much longer than planned, as the planned successor, the Curtiss SO3C Seamew , suffered from an insufficiently powerful engine which was a complete failure. The OS2U was only slowly replaced in the latter stages of World War II with

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