Strange Dreams | May 15, 2012
Fed up with lack of momentum on the Space Programme? Disillusioned with the reality of the 21st Century compared to what we were promised? Want to know how to build the USS Enterprise?
Nip over to Strange Undisciplined Dreams of Great Things to find out about the ambitious project to build the first starship – and how to help!
And get over to Retropolis for the best in retrofuture
Dieselpunks.org | April 19, 2012
Welcome to Knights of the Air, a weekly series on Dieselpunks spotlighting the aces and pioneering aerial technology of World War I.
From the moment the flying machine showed signs of military usefulness, navies of the world sought ways to employ airplanes at sea. In a 1910 experiment, American pilot Eugene Ely took off in a Curtiss biplane down a sloping ramp built above the foredeck of the cruiser USS Birmingham. The plane dipped so low that the tips of its propeller splintered against the water, yet Ely managed a safe landing ashore. Several months later, he set down successfully on the anchored battleship USS Pennsylvania, which had been outfitted with a level landing platform.
During the War, England’s Navy pioneered the launching of planes at sea to bomb and scout the enemy – although with limited success. After its mission, a land plane launched from a ship had to choose between heading for shore or ditching near the ship. Seaplanes could be recovered in calm seas, but the ships that carried them steamed so slowly that, after stopping to hoist the planes from the water, they could not catch up with the fleet.
To solve that problem, the British converted a partially built light cruiser, HMS Furious, into a seaplane carrier. With a top speed of 31.5 knots, the Furious was fast enough to overtake other ships after retrieval.
Taking off from the forward deck of the Furious as it steamed into the wind was safe enough. Landing, on the other hand, appeared to be so risky that it was not even part of the Admiralty’s plans for the ship. Then Squadron Commander EH Dunning, the ship’s senior pilot, persuaded his superiors to let him try a landing; he would have to fly slowly alongside the ship, then sideslip deftly in front of the bridge and onto the deck.
In August 1917, Dunning demonstrated that such a landing was possible, although extremely hazardous. A landing deck equipped with rudimentary arresting gear was built onto the stern of the Furious the following winter, but trial landings on it were largely unsuccessful.
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