Just read 'First Light' by Geoff Wellum. He describes taking 39 Spitfires to Malta in HMS Glorious. They took off without the help of a catapult and carrying 90 gallon drop tanks. Someone came up with the idea of putting the flaps down, placing 25 degree wooden wedges in place and then selecting the flaps back up to obtain 25 degrees of flap. (Flaps down then back up again after take-off) I looked up HMS Glorious in Jane's 1945 and found that the flight deck measured just 540 feet in length and had a bump in the middle. Quite an experience one imagines. None of the RAF pilots had ever flown from (or even been aboard) a carrier before but they all made it into the air safely, although one was lost en-route. Absolute nutters those 1940 vintage fighter pilots were...
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Through difficulties to the cinema