Loki I assure you that Nugget 93 (1976-80) was completely English (not TM), and that I thoroughly enjoyed the love-hate relationship with ‘my’ personal Sea Vixen. The aircraft was ‘given’ to me by the outgoing (and last RN base commander) because he considered that I may have had some semblance of experience in naval operations – a false assumption for a RAF pilot even with USN associations.
The arrestor wire trials were a mixture of testing the pullout characteristics of bottom wire on net barriers and developing new arresting devices, rotary hydraulic, chain, etc. The spray system (SPRAG) was one of the more interesting which produced fountains of water from many yards of pipe across the airfield, but if the pipes/holes were mis tuned, the cable would pullout asymmetrically swinging the aircraft toward the runway edge. The ‘completely knackered sound’ was probably the result of the boffins mis calculating the retarding ‘g’ – resulting in a harsh stop, even worse if the hook engaged a ‘temporary cable support’ in error – spring steel ramp bolted to the runway.
The Sea Vixen was also used to check HMS Bedford’s steam boiler every 6mths. My first launch required a ‘Naval’ briefing and attendance of a Deck Launch Officer, who turned out to be an engineer who pulled a lever when you saluted – giving you a ride of your life. The subsequent landing was complicated by the airfield being contaminated by extensive wild life which normally resided beneath the catapult structure and had made a hasty exit during the first launch! In addition, the SATCO banned tail-dragging aerodynamic braking (keeping the brakes cool) as it ruined his runway centre line lighting.