Water-Based

Before the end of World War II, seaplanes had become the stepchildren of naval aviation. Here & there a fleet of lumbering PBYs and Martins still put out on patrol, and a few floatplanes were catapulted from cruisers. But the Navy was turning almost exclusively to landplanes when the jet age caught up with naval aviation. Then seaplanes seemed to show promise again, and the waterways that cover more than half the world once more looked like useful airfields.

This week in Manhattan, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Air John F. Floberg explained how aeronautical engineers have dug into the back drawer files and dusted off some old ideas, to start a new trend in naval aircraft. Today's high speeds, said the Secretary, mean that planes must be stronger than ever to stand the strain. The size and weight of a seaplane hull is hardly more of a drawback than the bulky landing gear of a big bomber. Jet engines have cut down the need to raise old-fashioned seaplane propellers high out of the spray. And the hydro-ski, a beefed-up version of the sportsman's waterski, has given the seaplane the biggest boost of all.

Mounted on a strut below a conventional seaplane hull, the short hydro-ski knifes to the surface and supports the plane's weight even at low speeds. Skimming along like a fast-moving aquaplane, it permits the plane to take off after a relatively short run. In landings, the hydro-ski takes up the first shock, lowers the hull gently to the water, and, as an added advantage, allows the plane to operate in rough seas.

In other experiments, the hydro-ski has been mounted beneath the fuselage of a sleek new fighter with no flotation gear at all. In takeoffs, the fighter moves out from shallow water, its ski sliding along the bottom. As soon as it picks up speed and the ski cuts to the surface, the plane can skim over deep water for its take-off run. Once in the air, the hydro-ski can be retracted. After touching down, the pilot has to taxi fast enough for his plane to stay on the surface until he is close to beach or landing ramp.

Hydro-ski aircraft, said Floberg, would be handy in many situations for which the U.S. now has no practical plane. They could be based in the protected water of forward areas before airfields are built. In some cases they might do away entirely with the necessity of building an expensive runway on land. They could also be used to protect long-range bombers, landing at sea to refuel from submarines or high-speed surface craft.

Still full of faith in its carriers, the Navy announced that the U.S.S. Antietam was in Brooklyn's Naval Shipyard for a million-dollar face-lifting.When the workmen have finished, the rear deck of the Antietam will angle to port so that landing aircraft will no longer head directly toward planes parked at the bow (see diagram).

Arresting gear--wire cables snagged by a long hook dangling from a plane's tail--will be mounted across the landing flight path, as usual. But the new, angled deck* will not need the wire barrier that once cut across the Antietam to keep a bad landing from becoming a disaster. Without that barrier, planes that missed the arresting gear were almost certain to damage others on the deck. Now, a pilot who overshoots the mark will have a chance to go around again. He can drag low across the landing area without crashing into the wings of parked planes, folded skyward to save space. On the new deck, a nylon net will be raised to stop planes that come in with damaged landing hooks.

*The U.S. Navy calls it a "canted" deck; the British, with a greater respect for the language, call it an "angled" deck.

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