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Hurricane wings are readily removable.
The lifts on the Courageous class are at either end of the hangar, and are I believe equal to the width of the hangar, at least at the lift well, so there's no pole in the way.
Oh, I didn't mean to suggest they'd pop off the wings to get around the hangar. That bird is undergoing in-depth maintenance so wings are removed to make space. There are two lifts, perhaps one doesn't have the pole. Here's the other one, looks like the poles are less troublesome here.I'll take your word for it, though it looks like two of them are 'between poles' ... I can imagine turning / rotating the plane to get around the poles but it looks a bit tricky.
As built Argus had two lifts, but according to Friedman the after lift was fixed in place in 1918. Hobbs lists her with a single lift in 1939, 30ft long & 36ft wide. That was at the forward end of the hangar.Oh, I didn't mean to suggest they'd pop off the wings to get around the hangar. That bird is undergoing in-depth maintenance so wings are removed to make space. There are two lifts, perhaps one doesn't have the pole. Here's the other one, looks like the poles are less troublesome here.
THE FLEET AIR ARM ON BOARD THE BRITISH CARRIER HMS ARGUS. 15, 16, AND 17 AUGUST 1943, ON BOARD HMS ARGUS OFF LAMLASH. CELEBRATING HER SILVER JUBILEE, 25 YEARS CONTINUOUS SERVICE, THE ARGUS IS NOW BEING USED TO TRAIN FLEET AIR ARM PILOTS ON THE ART OF
Silhouette of planes going up by lift to the flight deck from inside the hangar on board HMS ARGUS.www.iwm.org.uk
Looks tricky to place it just right.
View attachment 708638
I wonder if the posts are removable? When I was working for a small airline in the mid 1980's, we rented hangar space from a FBO that had a hangar with 3 large Fabric roll up doors with 2 center posts, you would roll the door up, then remove the center posts by pulling down a spring loaded pin mounted on the upper end of the post. You did this by pulling on a cable attached to the pin. The lower section had 2 pins that fit into sockets in the hangar floor. The aluminum posts were 18' to 20' tall. And it took 2 of us to remove/replace them safely. I will try and find a picture that explains it better.I was referring to these two.
View attachment 708643
It's such an interesting image, you can almost smell the oil and the petrol ...
3 spots of paint on the lift surface. Job done.Oh, I didn't mean to suggest they'd pop off the wings to get around the hangar. That bird is undergoing in-depth maintenance so wings are removed to make space. There are two lifts, perhaps one doesn't have the pole. Here's the other one, looks like the poles are less troublesome here.
THE FLEET AIR ARM ON BOARD THE BRITISH CARRIER HMS ARGUS. 15, 16, AND 17 AUGUST 1943, ON BOARD HMS ARGUS OFF LAMLASH. CELEBRATING HER SILVER JUBILEE, 25 YEARS CONTINUOUS SERVICE, THE ARGUS IS NOW BEING USED TO TRAIN FLEET AIR ARM PILOTS ON THE ART OF
Silhouette of planes going up by lift to the flight deck from inside the hangar on board HMS ARGUS.www.iwm.org.uk
Looks tricky to place it just right.
View attachment 708638
To quote the man himself,
"In my book the Sea Hornet ranks second to none for harmony of control, performance characteristics and, perhaps most important, in inspiring confidence in its pilot. For sheer exhilarating flying enjoyment, no aircraft has ever made a deeper impression on me".
Without argument, the Spitfire/Seafire configuration was probably the most beautiful fighter ever to emerge from a drawing board. Its elliptical wing and long, slim fuselage were visually most delightful, and its flight characteristics equalled its aerodynamic beauty.
The Seafire had such delightful upright flying qualities that, knowing it had an inverted fuel and oil system, I decided to try inverted 'figure-8s'. They were as easy as pie, even when hanging by the complicated, but comfortable, British pilot restraint harness.
Spins were like a training aircraft, with instant recovery as soon as the controls were released. Even if I couldn't find the trim tab controls handily, which I couldn't, I didn't need them. The stability about all three axes of the aircraft was low enough to be a fighter pilots dream and high enough to fly hands-off in mildly turbulent air, it was a great combination, acrobatics were a pleasure, the aircraft responded right after the thought came to the pilots mind, seemingly without effort.
I was surprised to hear myself laughing as if I were crazy.
I have never enjoyed a flight in a fighter as much before or since, or felt so comfortable in an aeroplane at any flight attitude. It was clear to see how so few exhausted, hastily trained, Battle of Britain pilots were able to fight off Hitler's hordes for so long, and so successfully, with it.
The Lend-Lease Royal Navy Wildcats, Hellcats and Corsair fighters were only workhorses. The Seafire III was a dashing stallion!
They never seem to mention Italian aircraft in these comparisons… a just as likely opponent in the MTO.
Sea Hurricane or Martlet vs. Re.2001 or earlier fighters like the Macchi C.200?
Good points. Had the fast T-lift carriers HMS Courageous and Glorious been available into 1941 the RN would have had two ships ideally made for a sizeable force of Sea Hurricanes. Granted, unfolded Hurricanes take up a lot of space. Here's HMS Argus below - her hangar was 48–68 feet (14.6–20.7 m) wide.
View attachment 708630
Maybe the Courageous class layout makes staggered stowage easier? Here's HMS Indomitable's 62 ft wide hangar with non-folding Seafires. I can't find any info online for the width of the hangar of the Courageous class.
View attachment 708631.
The Luftwaffe thought so, too, in the Battle of Britain. They found out differently.Wildcat would eat a Hurricane for breakfast
while only holding about 40% more fuel (if they had protected tanks) in a bigger, heavier, higher drag airplane.Wildcat, depending on the variant, had more than twice the range of a Bf 109E..