Why did the RN need 4 and the RAF only 3
 

..runways that is. In WW2 a typical admiralty airfield design consisting of four runways but an RAF one would only have three...


Anyone know why???

'cos aircraft carriers seldom operated with a crosswind so pilots didn't need to be so proficient at crosswind operations (by the way, some RN airfields only had 2 runways eg Chedworth)

Perhaps the thinking was that whilst at sea the pilot would only take off/land into wind so when he had to fly to a land base his ability to deal with crosswinds - being out of practice - might be poor so causing accidents...