Question About WW2 Carrier Landings

[BSquared18]

Hi,

New to this forum, so not sure where to post this thread, so put it here.

In conjunction with developing a virtual Yorktown class (Midway) carrier for X-Plane users, I'm putting together a handbook that includes some tips on making carrier landings in a tail-dragger prop job.

I pretty well understand the theory, but one point puzzles me. In a couple different places, I've read pilots from the period say that they push the stick forward just before pulling it back to make a three-point landing. For example, Ed "Mofac" Cathcart says, "I chopped the throttle lever to idle and pumped the stick forward for a second and then pulled it back into my stomach for a perfect trap on the wire."

I'm not sure what the purpose is of pushing the stick forward for an instant. To stabilize the plane? To bring the nose down so the pilot can see the deck better? Or something else?

Thanks for any info. By the way, if you know of any good Internet sources that discuss this topic, I'd love to hear about them.

Bill

 

[Night Fighter Nut]

Welcome to the forum. For those instances or quotes you have, you may want to note the type of plane they were flying. It may be that one type of plane landed better using this method as opposed to another. For example: I know that the Hell Cat's engine didn't stick straight forward but was angled downward by 13 degrees. This quick drop of the nose may be a way to negate the ground effect before landing. Ground effect is like a pillow of air under the wings and can make a plane become airborne before reaching takeoff speed and can cause an inexperienced pilot to stall. On land, the ground effect would be gradual to a plane that was landing as the airfield is level with the ground. At sea is a different problem; ground effect would happen suddenly as the plane crossed the fantail of the carrier. Dipping the nose may cause that pillow of air under the wings to suddenly dissapate and let the plane drop down quickly and catch the restraining wire.

 

[BSquared18]

Thanks for the information. I hadn't thought about sudden ground effect when the plane crosses the fantail. Not sure if that happens with the virtual X-Planes I've been using. Will watch and see.

Bill