USS Hancock CV 19 Project Steam catapult test aircraft carrier flight operations Airailimages NARA скачать в хорошем качестве

USS Hancock CV 19 Project Steam catapult test aircraft carrier flight operations Airailimages NARA

The first use of steam catapults on an American aircraft carrier is captured in this film from USS Hancock (CVA-19) in 1954 off the coast of California. USS Hancock was a viable test ship for steam catapults mounted in her straight deck. Hancock did not receive an angled-deck modification until 1956. In a time when aircraft carrier groups employed aircraft from a host of manufacturers, this film shows Vought F7U Cutlass jet fighters, North American FJ-2 models of the Fury, resembling a folding-wing F-86, and big piston-engine North American AJ Savage bombers that also carried a J33 turbojet buried in the aft fuselage. Watch for armorers loading bombs aboard a Savage. This film also shows boxy Douglas F3D Skyknight jets mounting early Sparrow missiles. The testing of steam catapults aboard USS Hancock was called Project Steam. This followed pioneering British test efforts with steam catapults aboard HMS Perseus in 1950. Steam-powered catapults became the norm for most U.S. aircraft carriers following Hancock's successful trials. Only recently have they been superseded, aboard the new USS Gerald Ford, with electromagnetic catapults. The aircraft carrier in this footage, USS Hancock, entered World War II combat in October 1944 in the Ryukus and around Formosa, before joining the fight for the Philippines. During the fight for Okinawa, on April 7, 1945, Hancock sustained a kamikaze hit, killing 62 sailors and injuring more than 70. In addition to serving as a catapult and aircraft test bed ship in the 1950s, USS Hancock performed other duties in the Pacific, and served during the war in Southeast Asia. Decommissioned in January 1976, the former USS Hancock was scrapped at Los Angeles. I'm Fred Johnsen for the Airailimages Channel. Viewers like you make this channel possible. We appreciate you.