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If I remember right the Hornet had about an 800 foot flight deck. From seeing film of the take off I am guessing the first B25 had about 500 feet to work with. If you recall, one of the later takeoffs was done even though the pilot forgot to lower flaps. That was exciting. As far as Spits are concerned, I imagine a takeoff from land(depending on wind) could be managed in perhaps 900 ft if AC is lightly loaded. Off a carrier with WOD that would be much shorter. If I remember right the Malta Spits had to takeoff with exterior tanks because they were 450 miles out. Taking off from a jeep carrier in a P47 must have been problematical as the Jug was a notorious ground love lover. I was involved in building a limited service hotel that was 55 ft high, 200 ft long and 65 ft wide. I think that is the approximate size of the flight deck on CV1 the Langely. I used to stand on the roof and imagine landing an AC on that hotel roof. Whew!
The ferrying of assembled single engine fighters was best done with aircraft carriers. No need of unload facilities and aircrafts ready very soon after ground landing. It was one of the duty of CVEs as soon as they became available.
During the invasion of Marianas, two CVEs (loaded with 37 P-47D each) launched the Army fighters for their own defence, and they later landed on their intended destination (Saipan).
Freebird,
the P-47 take off was a catapult one. At that stage the fighters for Pacific theater had catapult gear.
The Malta relief was done without catapults. Carriers involved were Argus, Ark Royal, Furious and at least once Victorious (Hurricanes till 1941), and Eagle, Furious and Wasp in 1942 with Spitfires.
USS Wasp repeated the mission twice in 1942, delivering 46 Spit the first time and 47 the second (+ 17 from HMS Eagle) in april-may 1942.
Ranger was not used in the Mediterranean, but made some trips from US to Africa.
Max
Langley was converted to a seaplane tender in 1937 with the fwd ~40% of the flight deck removed. The 32 P-40's she was carrying when sunk were parked there and on the old hangar deck, to be offloaded by crane had she reached Java.Did you mean 200 yards? The Langley was 542 feet long according to Haze Gray. I think the lead Spits P-40's must have had only about 250 - 300 feet or so, if the escort's deck is only 500 feet long.
Whereas I think all the Malta fly off's were non catapult. Per "Aircraft to Malta" by Roger Nailer in "Warship 2000" there were 28 such carrier sorties including 2 by Wasp. They flew off a total of 353 Hurricanes and 384 Spitfires (among non-carrier planes, as well as 17 Albacores and 8 Swordfish to operate from Malta), of which 334, 367, 11 and 7 arrived safely. Ark Royal was sunk by U-81 while returning to Gibraltar after the 'Perpetual' fly off in Nov. 1941. So the Malta ferry/fly off ops were by far the biggest.
Joe
I don't know how much deck run was available on Wasp off Malta but with only ca. 47 Spitfires (all) on deck, v ca. 70 P-40's carried by Ranger (again all on deck) and Wasp the larger ship it was probably at least as much as the 425' quoted in 325th FG's case flying off Ranger. Photo's of Ranger carrying the 57th FG in July '42 shows a lane was kept clear on the stbd side of the flight deck, not all the P-40's scrunched up aft, while photo's of Spitfires taking off from Wasp show the width of the deck basically free; that's probably how more planes were fit on deck in the Ranger's case but I doubt the Spitfires were given much if at all less takeoff run.The Wasp was still a fairly long deck (740'), so it leaves some room. I think most of the Malta fly-offs were only about 30 - 40 aircraft. ... Do you think they could have fit 15 - 20 Spits in the hanger and then another 10 - 15 on deck? ...That might still leave 350 - 400 deck for take off. Was the minimum take off for the Hurri or Spit less than the Wildcat (Martlet) because of the lower take off weight? (6,400lb Spit V - 8,100 lb Wildcat)
The capacity of Japanese carriers was slightly less but comparable to US capacity.
Yorktown class A/C capacity: 90
Lexington 90
Ranger 86
Wasp 84
Kaga/Akagi 90
Shokaku/Zuikaku 84
Soryu/Hiryu 72
Junyo 53
Ryujo 37
Zuiho 30
Taiyo 27
Hosho 21
Freebird, the aircraft capacity of the Japanese carriers you quoted, is of the design specs from the mid 1930's. The actual capacity of the carriers in 1942 (with larger sized aircraft as compared to the mid 30's) at Midway were:
Kaga: 72, Soryu: 57, Hiryu: 59, Akagi: 63. Light Carriers were : Zuiho: 18, Ryujo: 30, Junyo: 33.
Freebird said:Syscom where did you get your figures from?
I used HazeGray, almost all of the figures listed were from 1939-1940, not mid 30's.
World Aircraft Carriers List: Japanese Aircraft Carriers
Both of the Shokaku class are listed as 84 aircraft (max), both completed in 1941.
Both Kaga Akagi had an initial capacity of 60, with 90 or 91 aircraft max after reconstruction, Kaga's reconstruction completed in 1935, Akagi's in the Sept of '38.
Soryu Hiryu are listed as 71 73 aircraft max, with Soryu first in commision beginning 1938, Hiryu completed summer 1939.
Zuiho Shoho are listed as carrying 30 aircraft, with Zuiho in service Dec 1940, Shoho Jan '42.
So all of the stats are 1938 or later, except for the Kaga. The Nakajima "Kate" B5N1 was in service on Japanese carriers starting 1937-1938, while before the "Val" D3A (47' wingspan, 33.5' length) they used the B4Y1 (50' x 33') and the Aichi D1A (37' x 30.5') but the D1A was a biplane, I don't think it had folding wings.