PILOTING A SHIP-PLANE ONTO AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER [Main]


View at www.iwm.org.uk
  • Year: 1926
  • Runtime: 22 mins
  • Description: The aircraft takes off from the flight deck, after which deck officers check the wind's speed relative to the ship. Most of the film shows the pilot's point of view. He overflies the carrier once, looking for the signal flag, flown aft and to port, indicating that he is clear to land. He approaches again, judging speed relative to the escort destroyer which is behind and to starboard of the carrier. The approach is shown, straight and level, from the pilot's viewpoint down almost to the moment of landing, which is seen from the deck. The flight deck is too narrow to cope with drift, and sideslip must therefore be avoided. Again the pilot's viewpoint on the approach, drifting away to starboard and correcting too much to port, resulting in the plane sideslipping over the carrier without landing. A diagram shows the ideal path of the aircraft. Back to the pilot's viewpoint, gently correcting drift to either side in order to bring the plane in on a straight, gentle descent. To undershoot, or come in too low, puts the plane into the turbulent air in the ship's wake, as shown by the diagram. The sighting line for an undershoot is the ship's hull rather than the rear of the flight deck. This is seen from the pilot's viewpoint, he comes too low, encounters turbulence and breaks away to starboard. Overshoot is caused, as the diagram shows, by diving too steeply at the end of the approach and travelling too fast to land. The sighting line for overshoot is the front of the flight deck. The pilot's viewpoint for this shows the plane clearly too high going straight over the flight deck. Both faults can be corrected early on in the approach. From the pilot's viewpoint it is shown that even with the ship throwing out a lot of smoke it is possible to make a perfect landing. This is shown from the pilot's viewpoint all the way down to landing. The pilot keeps the engine running to avoid being blown off the deck and to provide power for taxiing toward the deck lift.
    Training film on the correct method of landing a Blackburn Dart torpedo bomber on the deck of the aircraft carrier HMS Furious, October 1926.
  • Keywords: EFG1914 / World War I / Royal Air Force / Air warfare / Royal Navy, FURIOUS (HMS), light cruiser / aircraft, British naval - combat: Blackburn Dart / training, British naval air / operations, British naval air - return / ships, British naval - aircraft carrier, fleet: Furious / Instruction
  • Provider: Imperial War Museums
  • Rights: In Copyright / Imperial War Museums
  • Production company: Royal Aircraft Establishment
  • Colour: Black & White
  • Sound: Without sound

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