The Shackleton carrier myth reminds me of a day in the lateish 60s when flying as a pair in T17s with a Naval pilot, Wedge Thorpe (who had coincidentally attended the same school as me a few years before my time there) in the lead we were exercising with the RN up off the North of Scotland, and Wedge decided it would be fun to refresh his carrier approach technique. He called me into long trail and set up a circuit, but as he started a descent the carrier guys started to get upset and there were several calls from them of "You are not, repeat NOT, to land". Seems light years ago now.