The British invented the steam catapult, but it was the United States that carried forward the steam catapult, and it was precisely because of the steam catapult that the United States was able to catapult more than 30 tons of Tomcat fighters into the air, which is inseparable from the catapult, and at the same time, because of the steam catapult, it was able to catapult carrier-based aircraft similar to E-2 for carrier-based early warning.

Otherwise, the all-round performance of the American aircraft carrier will simply not be able to achieve it.

However, for small countries, it is different, like the United Kingdom, because of the continuous weakening of national strength, it is impossible to maintain conventional aircraft carriers, and also because some despicable politicians in the country think about suicide all day long about their own navy, so Britain only has 20,000 tons of aircraft carriers left to resurrect the soul, and it is also unable to operate such things as steam catapults.

The invincible class can change the back of the blocking cable to land, however, the front of the glide jump takeoff, that must not be changed, if the Tomcat carrier-based aircraft can not achieve a glide jump takeoff, it is still not possible to operate the Tomcat.

Can it take off in a glide jump?

In fact, this is not too dangerous, the glide jump take-off, the UK was the first to enter the practical state, but in fact, the idea of gliding and taking off has long been there.

In a 1952 report of the National Aviation Advisory Committee of the United States, it was mentioned that aircraft carriers should be equipped with glide decks to improve the take-off performance of carrier-based aircraft.

This is probably the earliest idea, but this is only an assumption, and they believe that the carrier-based aircraft will fall to a height of about 9 feet below the flight deck after takeoff before climbing. The use of the sliding deck can make up for the altitude loss caused by the carrier-based aircraft falling high after taking off on the aircraft carrier.

Thus, in 1974, a British naval officer proposed in his graduation thesis the idea of a "Sea Harrier" aircraft taking off from a sliding deck.

It was precisely because of this graduation thesis that the British military was eye-catching, and it was decided to carry out an experiment on the Sea Harrier aircraft to take off in a glide jump.

Later, the U.S. Navy also had this idea, and later in 1979 a lot of theoretical research was carried out. After the theoretical research was no problem, they set up a special slip deck at the test base on the Pantex River to carry out the test work of various carrier-based aircraft. The entire skid deck is 112.1 feet long and 8.58 feet high, made of metal and capable of being retrofitted, adjusting angles to 3, 6, and 9 degrees.

Using this modified base, the U.S. Navy conducted more than 200 glide jump takeoffs of fixed-wing carrier-based aircraft, including 112 tests of the T-2C trainer, 28 tests of the F-14 Tomcat and 91 tests of the F/A-18 fighter.

According to the data obtained through multiple tests, the skid deck can greatly reduce the length of the flight deck. For example, the take-off distance of the F/A-18 carrier-based aircraft can be reduced by about 50%.

But later, the U.S. Navy also found some disadvantages, especially on the U.S. supercarrier, the disadvantage brought by the jumping deck is also quite obvious, a lot of area is wasted, and the deck is inconvenient to operate, so the United States still continues to use the catapult take-off method.

That said, the Tomcat had no problem taking off in a glide jump, and it was easier to take off because of the variable sweep wings that were deployed.

Now, Nathan's plane has been towed to the take-off position, the rear flame shield has been deployed, and the Tomcat fighter's glide jump take-off is about to begin.

"The aircraft carrier has increased its speed to the maximum." Woodward said.

When Nathan landed just now, the aircraft carrier was sailing at maximum speed, and when the landing was completed, the aircraft carrier began to slow down, and now, the aircraft carrier increased its speed again, and soon soared to a high speed of 28.5 knots.

At the end of the 167-meter take-off line, Nathan has already aligned the take-off line, and the deck wind on the aircraft carrier has also increased with the speed of the aircraft carrier, because this is the first test, so the Tomcat fighter, the fuel tank is less than 2 tons.

However, the empty weight of the Tomcat fighter has reached 2 tons, which is a terrible number, plus 2 tons of fuel, the weight of the Tomcat fighter has exceeded 20 tons, and the two engines in the tail provide less than 20 tons of total thrust, and its thrust-to-weight ratio is still less than 1.

"The aircraft carrier has accelerated to the maximum and can conduct take-off experiments."

"Take off!"

Although it was not a catapult take-off, on the deck, the commander still made that skillful move, the two TF41 engines in the tail spewed out a blazing flame, the afterburner had been turned on, and the flames could even be seen flying backwards along the flame shield with the naked eye, and then, Nathan released the brakes.

The Tomcat roared and began to rush forward.

The speed, getting faster and faster, the scenery on both sides was rapidly receding, and soon, the runway began to rise, and at the end of the runway, the Tomcat fighter jet left the deck with a relaxed attitude.

"It worked!" Everyone present was extremely excited, Nathan's movements were so perfect, there was no mud and water, it was simply completed at once.

There is no fluttering fairy like catapult taking off, Nathan's mind has always been very clear, and at this time, he does not have the cheers of those people on the aircraft carrier.

Nathan already had a premonition of something.

Wrong.

This is unloaded, with a total weight of only 20 tons, and even so, when flying off the deck of the aircraft carrier, it barely reached the point where it left the deck without losing height.

So, what if the Tomcat is fully loaded? Hang up the immortal bird, full of fuel, increase to the maximum weight of 33 tons, can you fly from this aircraft carrier?

No, definitely not.

If the Tomcat fighter has always been half fueled and half ammunition to take off, then what is the use? It can't exert its combat effectiveness at all!

According to Nathan's assumption, the front and rear are separated, and the take-off area has to be shortened, and it is said that 100 meters is enough, and the Su-33 and J-15 of later generations can almost take off smoothly at more than 100 meters, and the Tomcat fighter is said to have a descent speed about 15 knots lower than them.

What's going on?

It seems that it is still the drag of the engine! Look at the J-15 of later generations, the engine used, the thrust has reached 13.5 tons, but what about your own? It's less than 10 tons.

This question must be made clear to peers.

It was still early in the day, so when Nathan took off, almost as before, he made three turns around the aircraft carrier and landed again in style.

The second time, and the first, were almost the same perfection.

"Your Excellency, don't rejoice too soon." Nathan looked at the people coming down and began to pour cold water on them: "I think our plane can't take off with full fuel and bombs." ”

Suddenly, everyone was confused: "Why?" ”