Originally Posted by
Coltishall. loved it
Ok, let me re phrase my question: over how many years have these things been dumped into the oggin and by what air arms?
Google is your friend: the original steam catapult was trialled on HMS Perseus from 1950-52. Many navies operated carriers using bridle launches up to the 1980s/1990s, but from the 1960s carriers steadily became equipped with bridle catchers which retained the bridles for 30 launches, after which they were removed from the catcher and dispatched with the launch.