Flies from a rolling ship

Flies From Rolling Ship Calgary Airman Playing Leading Part in Operations

By LOUIS V. HUNTER Canadian Press Staff Writer

AT A BRITISH NAVAL BASE, May 12.—Flying from a rolling aircraft carrier, speeding at 30 knots and pitching to the swell, is flying at its trickiest. And advent of the Seafire, naval version of the great Spitfire, hasn't simplified it any.

It has taken the fleet air arm 26 years to reach the perfection it has attained. Training founded on deck-flying experiments the navy began in 1917 is one of the principal reasons for the fleet air arm's efficiency in flying operations.

CALGARY AIRMAN

These air-borne seamen, fellows like Lieut. William Martyn of Calgary, who commands the Seafire force aboard the Indomitable, fly from a steel runway perched some 70 feet above the encircling sea.

A man who plays a leading part in all fleet air arm operations is the flight deck officer. He controls by visual signals the synchronized departures and landings of aircraft. After he gives the take-off sign, the aircraft tears along the deck, passes the island superstructure without much space to spare, rises and turns away. One after another the others follow. The flying operations are controlled by the commander of flying, who, from the charthouse, signals his instructions to the flight deck officer.

Difficult as is the take-off from the flight deck, which, compared to the runway on an airdrome, has an incredibly small area, the landing of these carrier-borne aircraft requires even greater skill and accuracy of piloting.

LAND MACHINES

Imagine a British aircraft carrier of 23,000 tons speeding forward at 30 knots. Aircraft are flying around awaiting the sign to make their approach and come aboard. The signal is passed and the landing machine manouevres, loses height, and then approaches directly astern of the carrier.

As the pilot does so, the floating airdrome may rise and fall some 20 feet as the ship pitches to the swell. No pilot can allow for this changing height of the deck as he flies in, and he is guided entirely by the flight deck officer, who, by the movement of two signalling "bats," directs the airman with amazing precision. By means of those signals the flier is told, second by second, to hold, reduce or increase his speed, height and angle of approach.

As the aircraft sweeps over the stern and touches down, arrester wires spread across the deck engage with a hook beneath the tail and bring it to a standstill. Instantly the deck party frees the aircraft and it is rushed forward to clear the deck for the others which follow fast on its tail. Then, when the entire force has landed, they return to the hangar below as quickly as they emerged.

Canadian Press feature by Louis V. Hunter, datelined 12 May (1943, Windsor Star). Martyn is named only in the paragraph about the Seafire force aboard the Indomitable; the rest describes carrier flying generally. The headline is a main line plus a three-line deck. The byline and the two sub-headings (CALGARY AIRMAN, LAND MACHINES) are kept as separate entries. Spellings "manouevres" and "charthouse" are as printed. Hard to read in the print: Paragraph 3: "26 years" is in heavy type and slightly smudged; read as 26.