Farnborough and the Fleet Air Arm: 0 - Tapa dura

A detailed, historic appraisal of the activities carried out by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Aircraft/Aerospace Establishment (RAE) at Farnborough.

This is a companion volume to Farnborough: 100 Years of British Aviation by Peter Cooper, which was published in the summer of 2006. This book, however, concentrates on the activities of the Naval Aircraft Department of the Royal Aircraft/Aerospace Establishment at Farnborough. This department was perhaps the most demonstrative of all RAE centres of research; almost all their experimental work involved aircraft undergoing some full-scale activity in their being launched or brought to rest (sometimes with extensive predictable damage). The author, a chartered engineer employed at RAE during 1936-46, has recorded the research activities of RAE as a centre of world-wide aviation expertise. This comprehensive account covers the activities of the Naval Aircraft Department, previously the Catapult Section of the RAE, together with an overview of subsequent developments in the art and practice of 'Flying Navy'. This work introduced the provision of flightdeck machinery and equipment by the RAE for operating aircraft from ships at sea. It describes in detail the engineering support given to 'Flying Navy' from the 1920s up to the disbanding of Fleet Carriers in the Royal Navy by the decommissioning of HMS ARK Royal in 1978. It covers the invention and development of ship-borne catapults, accelerators, arrester gears, safety barriers, the angled deck and visual landing aids - all British inventions, and adopted by foreign navies who currently operate fleet carriers. The book also includes details of experimental work in mechanically assisted launching of heavy bombers, flexible landing decks for undercarriageless aircraft, and arrester gear in the event of overshoot of airfields - including proposals for Concorde.