There are major flaws in your assumptions.
That would require a very major change in Britain’s economic situation at the end of WW2 for a start.
You have the RN deciding in 1952 that the Centaur class is nearing obsolescence, and need to be replaced post-haste. The problem is that 1952 was before they were even completed (historically), and all aircraft under design in 1952 were perfectly capable of operating off these 4 ships.
Yes, by 1958 or so they were recognized to be too small, but that is too late for your scheme.
What would work is to take off from the historic time-line in 1950, rather than 1945 (as your scheme requires in order to start construction of the 4th Audacious-class ship, and continue with the third past its historic 23%).
There are still only 2 Audacious-class ships remaining, Eagle (ex-Audacious) & Ark Royal (ex-Irrisistible), and the RN sees the need for improvement.
The change comes when it is decided to NOT modernize any of the existing fleet carriers (so no 8-year fixing-up of Victorious), and to not re-design Hermes with the deck-edge elevator, but to build new ships instead.
Two “CV-1952” class ships are laid down in 1953-54. They will complete around 1958-59 (perfect timing to fill the slots of Victorious & Hermes in the historic RN). They will be fitted with a full 7° angle, and with 3 steam catapults (corresponding to the historic BS-4/4A, one on the angle and two on the bow).
Two “CV-1952 Batch II” are laid down in 1956-57, to replace the 3 ships of the Centaur class in 1961-62. These will be fitted with an enlarged flight deck (more deck parking), and with only 2, but more powerful, catapults (corresponding to the historic BS-5/5A). This will give the RN 6 large carriers, and the Centaurs will all 3 be converted to “Commando Carriers”.
Then, in around 1964-67, the 2 “CV-1952 Batch I” would be brought up to the new “Batch III” standard, and the 2 “CV-1952 Batch II” ships would follow in 1968-70. All 4 would be fitted with even more powerful arresting gear and 2 catapults (call them a BS-5B, halfway between the BS-5A on the waist of the historic Phantomized Ark Royal and the BS-6 of CVA-01) and water-cooled JBDs, to operate either Phantoms or a naval BAC-583.
This allows a budget-conscious UK to choose to retire Eagle & Ark Royal around 1970 without replacement.
The Audacious class would make bad Commando Carriers, with their large crew requirements and maintenance-intensive propulsion systems.
The Centaurs would be well adequate, and if Hermes is completed in the late 1950s as the prototype of the concept, then the RN would have 4 large carriers and 4 commando carriers… not a bad fleet for the 1960s-mid 1980s.
Here are my design variants for the 3 CV1952 versions:
Doesn’t really look bad at all… the nose-gear collapsed, a little nose damage (mainly to the plexiglass… might get an aluminum-covered nose) and an engine to replace.
It seems the hydraulics went while taxying, and with no brakes it went off the tarmac, through a fence, and down a slight embankment.
The aircraft, which was being used to drop fire retardant on two wildfires in northern Colorado, experienced hydraulic problems and the pilot had difficulty stopping the plane, Segin said.
“It was a rolling crash,” he said. “It rolled through a fence and came to stop on a highway. The crew is fine.”
The cause of the crash is under investigation, he said.
An airport firefighting crew quickly extinguished a small fire in the engine, Segin said.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_15384952
The pilot reported a “hydraulic failure” onboard, Forbes said. He attempted to apply the brakes on the bomber, but to no avail. The left engine on the plane caught fire, she said, but was quickly put out.
The P2 Neptune air tanker at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport Saturday that crashed Saturday afternoon was moved off of 120th St. back through the hole in the fence into the tanker area.
For a video of the tanker being moved, go to http://www.dailycamera.com.
Cliff Grassmick / June 27, 2010
http://www.dailycamera.com/broomfield-news/ci_15382320
And i thought T-35 lightning2 was the replacement 😮
There are NO plans for a 2-seat version of the F-35… nor of the F-22!
Especially not a “T” version!
What is a Kawasaki T-1?
There is no such plane.
There was a Fuji T-1… it was a Japanese-designed & built 2-seat trainer based on the F-86 Sabre.
First flight was in January 1958. It was retired in March 2006. 2 prototypes, 4 pre-production aircraft, 40 T-1As, and 20 T-1Bs were built, for a total of 66 aircraft.
There IS a Kawasaki T-4… it is a subsonic intermediate jet trainer aircraft, which replaced the T-1s and T-33s with the JASDF.
The first XT-4 prototype flew on July 29, 1985. The first production aircraft was delivered in 1988.
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