Bomber launching catapult found.

[Ascent]

World War Two experimental catapult unearthed by archaeologists

The prototype catapult is unearthed at the former site of RAF Harwell in Oxfordshire.

www.bbc.co.uk

I remember reading that part of the reason the Lancaster was so well built is that the original Manchester was designed to be launched by catapult. Looks like they found the catapult.

 

[SaparotRob]

Cool!

 

[rochie]

beat me to it

 

[buffnut453]

That's awesome. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Wurger]

 

[nuuumannn]

That's brilliant. I like that even on the digital model the Manchester is well crafted.

 

[Gnomey]

Cool!

 

[A.G. Williams]

And here it was, for real...

 

[Wurger]

 

[Tom Graham]

World War Two experimental catapult unearthed by archaeologists

The prototype catapult is unearthed at the former site of RAF Harwell in Oxfordshire.

www.bbc.co.uk

I remember reading that part of the reason the Lancaster was so well built is that the original Manchester was designed to be launched by catapult. Looks like they found the catapult.

A less elaborate system seems to have been tried later

Britain spent a staggering amount on airfields in WW2

The Aeroplane article estimated that the AMDGW had spent £600m in the first five years of war– the total area of concrete laid in runways, perimeter tracks and aircraft dispersal points wasaround 160m square yards. Sir Archibald Sinclair had, in Parliament, compared this area with a 9,000-mile-long, 30-feet-wide road from London to Peking.

The Exchange rate in Sept. 1939 was about $4 US to the £. Compare this with the B29 or Manhattan Project and making due allowance for the smaller UK economy , it's no wonder the UK had postwar financial problems.
There is a detailed article here: https://historicengland.org.uk/rese...ewofSecondWorldWarTemporaryAirfieldsinEngland

 

[Zipper730]

That's quite a catapulting system: The catapult stroke is shorter than a modern US supercarrier and the Manchester was quite substantial in mass.