Some CVF related news
here.
Changing the topic for a moment, I have been fortunate to receive as a present the book
Wings On My Sleeve by Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown RN (Rtd), the World War Two naval aviator who became an outstanding test pilot, flying more different types of aircraft than anyone else (including P1127 - which later became Harrier), and he would have been the first man to fly supersonic had it not been for budget cuts. He also contributed to the development of post war naval aviation on both sides of the Atlantic.
I first saw this book (the original 1961 edition) at College as a 16 year old, and thought "what an amazing bloke!". This latest edition covers the original topics in greater detail, as the passage of time and the end of the Cold War allow for more information. It also includes details of the last decade of his time in uniform, particularly development work relating to CVA 01.
I have only looked through the book briefly thus far, although I obviously will read it word for word soon. Several aspects of his comments regarding CVA 01 intrigue me. He mentions that CVA 01 was designed to be future proof, and would have been able to deal with aircraft up to 70 000 pounds (a little over 30 tons or 31 tonnes). Would this have mean that in the 80s/90s the Phantom could have been succeeded by the F14 Tomcat, or would a navalised Tornado F3 type bodge have been attempted?
He also says that CVA 01 was to have an almost parallel deck, reducing the angle of the landing area to under three degrees in order to make better use of the deck by not having an area of deck on the port quarter that is cut off during landing operations. Does this sort of approach have any relevance to CVF?
Interestingly, he states that the aircraft capacity was intended to be two thirds in the hangar, and two thirds on deck, in other words it was intended that an extra third could be embarked in an emergency. Was the two thirds in the hangar concept (which implies that a third will be on deck) used during the design of the
Invincible Class CVS? Will it be used for CVF?
I am pleased to note that Captain Brown is acting as a consultant for CVF.
I suspect that when I read the book properly I may well have more comments and questions.