SoD Stitch
Banned
I remember my professor actually teaching us about the catapult launch forces. For those who do not know, the airplane is attached to the shuttle with a known tensile strength length of stock metal. At the end of the shuttles run, the airplane momentum carries it past the shuttle c0ck. With a huge "bang", the metal connection is actually broken, or snapped in half. I know. I actually examined one as part of my engineering curriculum.
As I recall, there are all different sizes of the "hold-back" bolt, depending on the launch weight of the a/c.
And, actually, the bolt just holds the a/c back from the impetus of the catapult shuttle trying to launch the a/c; as soon as the "pull" from the catapult shuttle exceeds the design strength of the hold-back bolt, it snaps and releases the a/c for launch.