Film of the way carrier landings used to be in the RN

I remember seeing that episode.

What the excerpt doesn’t show is a comment made immediately after it concludes, to the effect that that pilot did not have a bolter for the rest of the cruise.

Unicorn

Good Old Days…

great vidéo, thanks

X

Did you notice how the Buccs seem to have a less steep glide slope than the phantoms ?

Awesome video…

Phantoms + Buccaneers on a single carrier is almost too good to be true. It’s a shame Britain axed their big carriers really.

Nic

Re: Film of the way carrier landings used to be in the RN

Came across this today on Avweb and don’t think its been shown on here before. It looks like a 5 minute section from the BBC ‘Sailor’ series from the 70’s and shows just how marginal landings looked on the old Ark Royal – Phantoms and Buccs doing their qualifying landings. Unsurprisingly lots of bolters. Scroll about halfway down the page to find the vid.. Its certainly a period piece but fascinating.

Have you seen the (USA) PBS special entitled, “Carrier”? In one episode it has a twenty minute sequence called “pitching deck.” It shows the problems of getting aboard a Nimitz Class carrier in heavy seas. It is on You Tube, URL;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gGMI8d3vLs ___ Part #1 of 4

I have been on several 55,000 ton plus cruise ships and I did not know a big ship like a super carrier could move that way! The rolling as well as the pitching of the deck is amazing.

I found the “Wessex”? 180′ turn interesting 🙂 and the jolly good attitude of the Brits intriguing 🙂

But what I found most interesting was the one Buck pilot, from what I gathered he was a RAF pilot and this was his first time landing on a carrier? Does that mean he had no prior training in a simpler training aircraft to get him used to flying the ball?

If that is true, some gutsy, gutsy flying, and even gutsier deck personnel. Hell, my hats off to the the RN for even allowing such a thing to happen.

Looked more like a controlled freefall than an approach, really amazing how sturdy the Bucs and Rhinos were.

cheers for that link, i don’t think i’ve ever seen footage of royal navy jet carrier flying before.amazing. Nice one