by aptivaboy » Thu Sep 15, 2016 2:05 pm
And, the catapults. They could toss an A-3 off of the deck but had trouble with a fully loaded F-4, oddly enough. Add in enough bombs and tanks to the Double Ugly and the cats had "issues." It's the same reason the Midways often couldn't launch fully loaded F-4s, so their strikes over Vietnam often had F-4s used more for CAP and BARCAP duties, and if they did launch with dirt moving stuff they couldn't carry as much as the F-4s operating from their bigger decked brethren. The difference was that the Midways coudl at least catapult F-4s carrying useful loads while the Essexes could not.
For more fun, the Midways could operate F-14s and did, just not regularly as their hangars couldn't handle the Tom. They'd do carquals and such off of them.
And, the catapults. They could toss an A-3 off of the deck but had trouble with a fully loaded F-4, oddly enough. Add in enough bombs and tanks to the Double Ugly and the cats had "issues." It's the same reason the Midways often couldn't launch fully loaded F-4s, so their strikes over Vietnam often had F-4s used more for CAP and BARCAP duties, and if they did launch with dirt moving stuff they couldn't carry as much as the F-4s operating from their bigger decked brethren. The difference was that the Midways coudl at least catapult F-4s carrying useful loads while the Essexes could not.
For more fun, the Midways could operate F-14s and did, just not regularly as their hangars couldn't handle the Tom. They'd do carquals and such off of them.