The Fleet Air Arm 1930-39 A British Naval Aviation Wank

Ark Royal's deck edge lift only served her upper hanger and was removed when she was rebuilt. Hermes was the only other RN carrier with a deck edge lift, which she still has.
To be fair, the new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers have deck edge lifts; granted they don't belong to the RN yet.


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Here's a pic of Hermes' deck edge lift.

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With only about 20ft of freeboard, it would have been very wet.
 
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perfectgeneral

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Hermes' aft lift was essentially at the deck edge, just before the round down.

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I don't think a catobar carrier can pull off having a lift as far aft as the below. Aircraft landing would be hitting the lift pretty hard otherwise. More importantly any aircraft that landed short would smash straight into the hanger.

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How about:
Deck_end_lift.jpg


The round down is pretty useless. Waste of deck park. How did the aft Hermes lift cope with landings?
Best spot for landing is 25% from aft. Less vertical change in the deck due to wave action, more margin for error.
 
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The round down is pretty useless. Waste of deck park. How did the aft Hermes lift cope with landings?
Hermes never operated anything heavier than a Swordfish, and usually only a dozen, so landings would have been pretty sedate. Good thing too, considering how daintily built she is aft. If the round down is flattened out but otherwise left as was, parking four or five Avengers far aft would have been a dangerous affair.

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How about:
View attachment 321580

The round down is pretty useless. Waste of deck park. How did the aft Hermes lift cope with landings?
Best spot for landing is 25% from aft. Less vertical change in the deck due to wave action, more margin for error.

About where the first Helicopter is on the photo.

The picture below shows the pilots view of the deck on a catobar carrier. See how far inboard the wires are and which is the preferred wire to hook on to.

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This pic shows how far aft and explosed to the weather Hermes' lift was. Even with the round down removed I'd say you can't put the lift further aft. There's simply not enough ship structure left below the round down for a lift well.

As for arrestor wires, they're obviously forward of the aft lift, so that's the major impact zone. I wonder if the aft lift could have taken a fully loaded Tarpon landing on its decking.

HMS_Hermes_%2895%29_at_Honululu_c1924.jpg
 
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