We should buy 50 of those B 52's the cousins have got stashed in the desert,we wudden need no dammed carriers then,one can put a bit of stick about anywhere in the world with 50 B 52's.
Prolly get then for a good price as well.

:rolleyes:

Unfortunately, all but a handful were cut up for saucepans as a part of SALT II. The remainder needed to provide enought airframes to last till 2038, the fleet retirement date. (They won't at their present usage, which is why a new bomber is now a very high priority for about 2018-2020...)

That's right Drapes. And cheaper than building 2 French-designed aircraft carriers of our own... :ok:

ORAC, hehe, making saucepans out of aircraft. And to think that 55 years ago they were doing just the opposite...?!

One has mentioned on many occasions one thinks the Concorde would have made a spiffing bomber ,no great modification needed,our new generation of nukes are so small now that the pilot could just open his window and fling the buggah out over the target.
:rolleyes:

3 pages and the answer is....


we don't know.

Well that worked in the movie "Airport 4 the Concorde" (at least I think was 4) when Kennedy opened the window and fired a flare gun.

God, what a stupid movie.:yuk:

I was once invited for a drink on HM Narrowboat Andrew when she was moored near Rugby. A plaque in the saloon said that Lt. Andrew commanded the first-ever Press Gang. The service has retained the name on the assumption that nobody would join voluntarily.

One has a excellent book on the history of the Press Gang,there's a lot of mythology associated the name Press Gang,the idea that they rushed through the street nabbing people willy nilly is just myth, what the RN needed were experienced seafarers so mosty they raided Merchant Ships,and the places merchant seamen lurked, grog shops brothels,church meetings and such, a lot of British sea farers buggad off and joined American vessels after the cousins had that rebellion of theirs,apparently the pay was much better, the cousins were ok at herding cattle shooting Indians and the like, but as sailors they was ****e, ergo Brit sailors were in great demand,so Royal Navy ships used to stop American Vessels on the high seas and pinch the chaps back,started our second scuffle with the cousins that did, the War of 1812.
:cool:

FSL

Me old man's last ship, the escort carrier HMS Chaser, with island.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...on/0301001.jpg

Rules of the air say you always turn right to avoid a collision ... sorry ;)

Torque & P Factor
 

ORAC is correct. The Island is on the right because of the propeller airplane's tendency to go left with power added. The earliest carrier, USS Langley CV1, lay all its stacks and antennas horizontal to clear the deck for flight ops. When not in flight ops, stacks & antenna were vertical. After Langley came the standard island on the right on all carriers. Only a few were built with no island at all; USS Long Island pops into my mind as one. I operated on USS Lexington CV 16 and USS BonHommeRichard CV31 before departing for Eastern.

An answer.....
 

HF antennae. Really, really annoying to find them "up" at night when they were supposed to be neatly down and out of the way....:rolleyes:

AA,

Aft facing landings were (still are?) always an option for helo ops on CVA's. As long as the wind over the deck gave a downwind component for a normal approach, we'd come to a hover ahead of the boat and let it come to us: sort of!

There is a set of documents on the US Navy History site, here which gives a reason for the island on the starboard side, under the Langley paper:

I was'nt actually talking about other air craft, I was suggesting that,
as was noted by pilots in WW2, most pilots aoutomaticaly broke left when fired on from behind. A fact used to advantage by the more astute fighter pilots.


But your comment does point out another reason for the having the bridge on the right, the rules of the road dictate that a vessel shall
give way to one crossing her track from the right hand side so the bridge
being on the right makes sense from that point of view

The aircraft having a tendency to turn to the right because of the propellor wouldn't really be valid. (Not all aircraft have clockwise props)

If they turn right when power is added (take-off) then they would turn left when power is reduced (landing).

Seeing bouys in narrow channels would make sense if you always had to pass to the left of them and giving way to ships on the right would also make sense.

I thought there would be a very good reason why all nationalities build them the same.

My experience has been that whenever I ask a 'stupid' question, there is a sensible, logical answer.

So the Russian ones are on the left then :8

damn, someone got there before me :(

I rather doubt it...my father was at Salerno on an Escort carrier; there was no wind, and the ship going flat out at 17kn was not good enough for the Seafires. Within a day or two most of the squadron was wrecked in landing accidents, no enemy action !

Why do Aircraft Carriers have the Island on the right ?
 

Obviously it had to be placed on one side or the other, any particular reason they’ve always been built on the right side ?

Only two carriers were constructed with the island on the left. Both were Japanese of WW2 vintage, the Hiryu and the Akagi. Every one before and since has been on the right.

I read somewhere that there is a natural tendency for pilots to 'veer left', so putting the island on the right gave them less to run into if they missed a wire while landing.