Lets see… Grumman aircraft’s main factory (and airfield for final test & send-out) was located on Long Island… just east of New York City, so there would be a lot of fighters available for an “operational test-flight” or two before shipping out.

Chance-Vought had its Corsair factory in Stratford, Connecticut, so there is another “hot spot” for fighter concentrations.

Brewster built its Corsairs (secondary production site) in Warrington, Pennsylvania (just a few miles north of Philadelphia and west of Trenton, New Jersey).

Curtis was building P-40s in Buffalo, New York (western end of the state).

Bell also built P-39s & P-63s in Buffalo.

Republic made P-47s in Farmingdale, New York.

P-51s and P-38s being shipped to Britain were flown to the east coast seaports (mainly in the Northeast) to be loaded aboard ship… or flown through Newfoundland, so there are more planes & pilots added in.

Delay aircraft deliveries for even two months to staff patrol squadrons, and use them to give new pilots and veterans ending recuperation periods some “seasoning”, and there are lots of fighters and pilots available.

Add in all the Army and Navy airfields along the coast, and very soon there would be standing fighter patrols, long-range “light bomber” spotting patrols, and radar blimp pickets that would make Britain’s defences in the BOB look meager.

The USSR certainly did NOT copy Concorde!

If you look at the programs, you see this:

In the late 1950s and early 1960s the US, USSR, UK, and France were all looking into the possibility of a SST (SuperSonic Transport), and doing preliminary basic supersonic research into shapes, materials, and design.

From ~1960 on, France and the UK decided to combine their efforts, and the US decided to wait until the European and Soviet efforts flew (or not) to decide whether to spend the funds to develop a better one or not.

In the USSR, the official start of the Soviet first generation SST (SST-1) [designated as TU-144] was Resolution of Council of Ministers of the USSR, 1963 and Decree of the same year, giving TUPOLEV DB the task to design and build an SST.

In the UK/France, on November 29, 1962, an agreement was signed in London by Julian Amery, Minister of Supply, and Geoffroy de Courcel, the French Ambassador to Britain, by which the two governments undertook to finance the development and building of a supersonic airliner. Everything would be shared – costs, work, and proceeds of sales.

The Tu-144 was first flown on Dec. 31, 1968, about two months before the competing Concorde prototype took to the air.

So the two projects were fully parallel throughout their development, and there was nothing to “copy” as portions of research were accomplished at virtually the same pace… sometimes Tupelov gaining results first, and sometimes the Anglo-French team moving ahead.

The fact that both aircraft looked nearly identical is simply the result of the laws of physics being identical on both sides of the Iron Curtain, and of both teams finding that: identical physics + equal materials tech + equal design understanding = very similar concepts of ideal solution.

True… the list X07 has is an old one, my current info shows Albion & Bulwark retained their BH5 (not BH3) catapults until their conversion to Commando Carriers.

I’ll edit my earlier post on this.

Actually, it appears that info is from a totally different thread, from a while back. So I can’t edit it… oops.

Hydraulic catapults
RN
(BH=Mitchell-Brown)
Type Run Length Capacity Classes
BH-3 20,000lb Colossus
BH-5 28,000lb@60kt Majestic, Albion, Bulwark, Centaur

Steam Catapults
RN
(BS=Mitchell-Brown), (MS=MacTaggart-Scott)
Type Run Length Capacity Classes
MS C-3 ? ft ? ft 30,000lb@? kt Minas Gerais
BS4 103ft 160ft 40,000lb@78kt/30,000lb@110kt Mod Colossus, Mod Majestic, Centaur 1958, Hermes
BS4A 145ft 200ft 50,000lb@97kt Mod Hermes (port)*
BS4 151-175ft 50,000lb@94kt Ark Royal(1960) Victorious [this is possibly the same as the BS4A]
BS5 151ft 220ft 50,000lb@91kt/33,000lb@150kt Eagle 1964, Ark Royal 1970
BS5A 199ft 268ft 50,000lb@105kt Eagle 1964, Ark Royal 1970
BS6 250ft 320ft 70,000lb@100kt CVA01

*some sources claim a 199’ length for 25 de Mayo (Mod Colossus)

British aircraft manufacturers mergers (alphabetical, and in brief):

Airbus (International)
1970 Consortium of France’s Aerospatiale and Deutsche Airbus form Airbus, CASA of Spain join shortly afterwards
1979 British Aerospace joined Airbus Industrie
2001 Airbus becomes single fully integrated company owned by EADS and BAE Systems
2006 BAE Systems announces plan to sell all Airbus shares and withdraw

AirCo
1912 Aircraft Manufacturing Co established by George Holt Thomas
1914 Captain Geoffrey de Havilland joins as chief designer
1920 Airco sold to BSA, de Havilland starts own company

Armstrong, Whitworth
1897 Sir W.G. Armstrong, Whitworth & Co Ltd founded in Newcastle upon Tyne
1919 Armstrong Whitworth buys Siddeley Deasy of Coventry
1935 Company sold to Hawker Siddeley Aircraft Co
1961 Merged with the Gloster Aircraft Co Ltd within the Hawker Siddeley group

Avro
1910 A.V.Roe & Company Limited
1963 Avro becomes part of Hawker Siddeley Aviation

BAC (British Aircraft Corporation)
1960 Company formed by merger of English Electric, Bristol and Vickers after government states TSR.2 will only be bought from merged group. Hunting Aircraft “join” (purchased)
1977 Merged into British Aerospace

British Aircraft Manufacturing Co
1933 The British Klemm Aeroplane Co Ltd formed in February
1935 Company name changed to British Aircraft Manufacturing Co Ltd
1938 Company brought out by General Aircraft Ltd

Bristol
1910 The British and Colonial Aeroplane Company Ltd formed (BCAC)
1920 BCAC liquidated, assets transferred to The Bristol Aeroplane Company Ltd
1960 Bristol Aircraft Ltd become part of British Aircraft Corporation

Blackburn
1914 Blackburn Aeroplane and Motor Co Ltd
1949 Blackburn merge with General Aircraft Ltd
1963 Blackburn is taken over by Hawker Siddeley Group

Boulton Paul
1915 Boulton & Paul form aircraft department
1934 Boulton & Paul sell aircraft division. Division becomes Boulton Paul Aircraft Ltd
1961 Boulton Paul merge with Dowty Group to form Dowty Boulton Paul Ltd and then Dowty Aerospace

BAE (British Aerospace)
1977 Government forces BAC, Hawker Siddeley and Scottish Aviation into British Aerospace
1999 British Aerospace merge with part of GEC to form BAE Systems
de Havilland
1908 Geoffrey de Havilland builds two aircraft before joining Balloon Factory (later Royal Aircraft Factory) in 1910
1920 Company founded
1959 de Havilland company becomes a division of Hawker Siddeley Aviation

English Electric
1918 English Electric Company Ltd formed from amalgamation of Dick Kerr, Pheonix Dynamo, Coventry Ordnance Works Ltd
1938 Aircraft work restarts (suspended 1926) with Hampden aircraft order for RAF expansion programme
1958 Aircraft division separated from parent company as English Electric Aviation Ltd
1960 English Electric becomes part of British Aircraft Corporation

Fairey
1916 Fairey Aviation Co Ltd
1960 Aircraft Activities taken over by Westland Aircraft

Folland Aircraft
1936 Formed at Hamble in 1936 as British Marine Aircraft Ltd. (associated with British Aircraft Manufacturing Co.Ltd)
1937 Company formed by renaming British Marine Aircraft Ltd.
1959 Company taken over by Hawker Siddeley Aviation

General Aircraft
1934 Company formed to take over assets of Monospar Wing Co
1949 Merger with Blackburn Aeroplane and Motor Co

Gloster
1917 H.H.Martyn and Co set up aircraft company The Gloucestershire Aircraft Company Limited
1926 Gloucestershire Aircraft Company renamed Gloster Aircraft Company
1934 Hawker Aircraft Ltd take-over Gloster
1961 Gloster merged with Armstrong Whitworth to form Whitworth Gloster Aircraft Company
1963 Gloster name disappears with formation of Avro Whitworth Division

Handley Page
1909 Handley Page Limited formed
1948 Miles Aircraft Limited is bought and named Handley Page (Reading) Limited
1970 Handley Page Limited closes

Hawker Aircraft
1920 H.G. Hawker Engineering Co. Ltd formed (formerly Sopwith)
1933 Name changed to Hawker Aircraft Ltd
1935 Becomes owned by Hawker Siddeley Aircraft Ltd
1960 Hawker name replaced by Hawker Siddeley

Hawker Siddeley [The 1st big merger!]
1934 Company formed as Hawker Siddeley Aircraft Co Ltd on purchase by Hawker Aircraft of Gloster Aircraft, Armstrong Siddeley Development Co Ltd., Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft, and A V Roe
1955 Company renamed Hawker Siddeley Group Ltd
1959 Folland “join group” (swallowed)
1960 De Havilland and Blackburn companies “join group” (absorbed)
1963 Original company names lost with production of aircraft by Hawker Siddeley Aviation
1977 Enforced merger with BAC and Scottish Aviation to form British Aerospace

Hunting Percival
1933 Percival Aircraft Co founded
1936 Company restructured as Percival Aircraft Ltd and moves to Luton
1944 Company becomes part of Hunting Group
1954 Name changed to Hunting Percival Aircraft
1957 Company renamed Hunting Aircraft
1960 Controlling interest purchased by British Aircraft Corporation

Miles
1933 Phillips & Powis create Phillips & Powis Aircraft Ltd after F G Miles visits their airfield. Aircraft produced with Miles name
1943 Name changed to Miles Aircraft
1947 Company enters receivership. Handley Page take over assets

Saunders-Roe
1910 Cowes boatbuilding firm S.E. Saunders becomes involved in building aircraft
1928 Controlling interest in S.E. Saunders acquired by A.V. Roe and John Lord
1929 Company name changed to Saunders-Roe Limited, usually abbreviated to Saro
1959 Saro taken over by Westland

Scottish Aviation
1933 Company formed to operate a flying school
1938 Factory opens to begin overhaul, modification and subcontract work
1977 Nationalised and became part of British Aerospace

Short Brothers
1908 Short Brothers Ltd founded
1943 Company acquired by government and renamed Short Brothers & Harland Ltd
1989 Government sells interests in Shorts to Bombardier

Sopwith Aviation
1912 T.O.M.Sopwith forms Sopwith Aviation Co assisted by Fred Sigrist and Harry Hawker
1920 Company is liquidated because of large war-profit tax bill and resumes under name H.G.Hawker Engineering

Supermarine
1913 Company formed as Pemberton-Billing, Limited
1916 Company renamed The Supermarine Aviation Works Limited
1928 Company acquired by Vickers (Aviation) Ltd, becomes Supermarine Aviation Works (Vickers) Ltd
1938 Company taken over by Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd
1963 Last Supermarine aircraft built

Vickers
1867 Vickers Sons and Company incorporated in Sheffield
1897 Company renamed Vickers Sons and Maxim Limited
1908 Company submits proposal for rigid airship
1911 Company renamed Vickers Limited and aircraft works established
1960 Vickers Aircraft interests become owned by British Aircraft Corporation
1965 Vickers name dropped

Westland
1915 Westland Aircraft Works formed as division of Petters Ltd
1935 Westland Aircraft Limited formed
1959 acquires Saro
1994 Westland Aircraft bought by GKN

Read the following (a slightly biased history I got on-line, so believe at your own risk 😉 ):

Metrovick F.2
The Metrovick F.2 was one of the earliest jet engines, and the first British design to be based on an axial compressor. Based on design work by A.A. Griffith from ideas he had developed in 1926, serious development of the F.2 didn’t start until the late 1930s, by which point Frank Whittle’s designs were already running. In the end the F.2 proved to be everything Griffith promised it would be; smaller than Whittle’s designs, more powerful and considerably more fuel efficient. However in his drive for perfection he also ended up designing an engine that was far too complex, and it never entered production. Work did not go to waste, however, and eventually resulted in an engine design that was passed on to Armstrong Siddeley, the Sapphire.

Griffith published a seminal paper in 1926, An Aerodynamic Theory of Turbine Design, that for the first time clearly demonstrated that a gas turbine could be used as a practical, and even desirable, aircraft powerplant. The paper started by demonstrating that existing axial compressor designs were “flying stalled” due to their use of flat blades, and that dramatic improvements could be made by using airfoil designs instead, improvements that made a gas turbine practical. It went on to outline a complete compressor and turbine design, using the extra exhaust power to drive a second turbine that would power a propellor. In today’s terminology the design was a turboprop. In order to prove the design, Griffith and several other engineers at the Royal Aircraft Establishment built a testbed example of the compressor in 1928 known as Anne, the machinery being built for them by Fraser and Chalmers. After Anne’s successful testing they planned to follow this up with a complete engine known as Betty.

In 1929 Frank Whittle’s thesis on pure jet engines was published, and sent to Griffith for comment. After pointing out an error in Whittle’s mathematics, he went on to deride the entire concept, saying that the centrifugal compressor he used would be impractical for aircraft use due to its large frontal area, and that the use of the jet exhaust directly for power would be extremely inefficient. Whittle was distraught, but was convinced that he should patent the idea anyway. Five years later a group of investors persuaded him to start work on what would be England’s first working jet engine.

Griffith continued development of his own concepts, eventually developing an advanced compressor design using two contrarotating stages that improved efficiency. His partner, Hayne Constant, started discussions in 1937 with Manchester-based Metropolitan-Vickers, a maker of steam turbines, to produce the new machinery. Ironically Metrovick had recently merged with British Thomson-Houston, another turbine builder who was supporting Whittle’s efforts. A contract for development work was eventually given by the Air Ministry the next year, and work on Betty, also known as the B.10, started. In 1939 the team, including Metrovick engineers led by David Smith, started work on a flyable design, the F.1. Compared to the Whittle designs, the F.1 was extremely advanced, using a nine-stage compressor, annular combustion chamber, and a two-stage turbine (the second driving a propeller).

In April 1939 Whittle gave a startling demonstration of his experimental engine, the WU, running it for 20 minutes at high power. This led to a rash of contracts to build a production quality design suitable for aircraft use. Development had just started on the F.1 when Whittle started building his W.1 design, planning to install one for flight in the Gloster E.28/39 the next year. Smith decided to end development of the F.1 and move on to a pure-jet instead, starting work on the otherwise similar F.2 Freda in July 1940.

Development of the F.2 progressed rapidly, and the engine ran for the first time in November 1941. By this point there were a number of engines in development based on the Whittle concept, but the F.2 looked considerably more capable than any of them. Flyable versions, the F.2/1, received its test rating in 1942 and were flown on an Avro Lancaster test-bed on 29 June, 1943. Production quality versions were installed on the F.9/40 Gloster Meteor and flew in this form on 13 November, 1943. As expected, the engines were more powerful than the Whittle design, first delivering 1,800 lbf (8 kN) but soon scaling up to well over 2,000 lbf.
It would appear that Metrovick had a winner. Nevertheless the Air Ministry didn’t order the design into production. Although the engine was technically superior to its Power Jets counterparts, it was also incredibly complex and nowhere near as reliable. In aircraft design reliability trumps performance in almost all cases, and this was one of those cases. The Meteor would be powered by the original Whittle design, now built by Rolls-Royce as the Welland, and later the slightly improved Derwent.

No one wanted the work to go to waste, and development of the F.2 continued on a version using a ten-stage compressor for additional airflow. The new F.2/4 Beryl initially developed 3,250 lbf and was installed in the Saunders-Roe SR.A/1. Thrust had already improved to 3,850 lbf for the third prototype, and eventually settled at 4,000 lbf, making it one of the most powerful engines of the era. Development of the SR.A ended in 1947, ending development of the Beryl along with it. Nevertheless a Beryl was used by Donald Campbell in his famous 1955 Bluebird K7 hydroplane in which he set seven water speed records between 1955 and 1964. Meanwhile the F.3 was developed, adding a turbine-powered fan to the rear of the engine to improve airflow and thrust at low altitudes, producing the world’s first turbofan engine.

Metrovick eventually ended development of the F.2 in 1944. Development of the basic concept continued, however, eventually leading to the considerably larger F.9 Sapphire. However in 1947 the Air Ministry demanded that Metrovick get out of the jet engine business, and their design team was quickly snapped up by Armstrong Siddeley. Although Armstrong Siddeley already had a turbine development of their own, the ASX, they were primarily focused on turboprops and the Metrovick team was a welcome addition. The Sapphire became a successful design, besting its Rolls counterpart, the Avon, and design features of the Metrovick line were worked into Armstrong Siddeley’s own line of axial compressor turboprops.

* Depending on the sources, Metrovick either left the engine business on their own to concentrate on steam turbines, or were forced from the market by the Ministry of Supply.
Either way, Metrovick continued development of naval GTs, producing the G.6 for the RN’s County class DDGs, as well as the Italian San Goirgio (D 562/563 refitted) class Destroyers & Alpino (F 580/581) class Frigates.

As ASW ships, they were intended to always be with an air-defense ship that DID have it.

Even the T22 & T23 were only secondary AAW ships… they were to be under the operational/tactical control of a primary AAW ship… which would have that capability.

Every source I have seen for Minas Gerais mentions a MacTaggart-Scott C3 steam catapult.

Hmmmm…. a beam-riding AAM… where have I heard that concept before?