![]() A wooden and canvas island was fitted and the ship would steam with the wind fine on the port bow.” “However,” writes Howat,”the pilots reported that a small structure on the starboard would help them judge their height. Unfortunately his idea was rejected at first and the first full-deck aircraft carrier, HMS Argus, was built in 1918 with a flush deck because wind tunnel tests showed that a structure on the deck caused serious turbulence around the landing area. So Williamson’s design had the island on the starboard side. ![]() It made sense therefore for an aircraft on approach to circle in from the left, and on touchdown, if it failed to arrest, to fly off to the left. Pilots have to correct for this particularly on take-off and landing. The torque effect makes the body of the plane twist to port. Most engines, then and now, rotate the propeller clockwise from the pilot’s perspective. In his detailed design, he chose to place the island on the starboard side because single-engine piston engined aircraft naturally swing to the left** (port). Williamson the Flying Officer on the Royal Navy’s seaplane carrier, HMS Ark Royal, while serving in the Gallipoli campaign. (Photo: US Navy, Public Domain via Wikimedia)Īccording to Chris Howat’s article,’ The development of Naval Aviation Part 3 – 1917-1918‘ in Edition 58 of Scuttlebutt: the idea of an aircraft carrier with an island and a form of arrester gear was first proposed in 1915 by H.A. Ford (CVN-78), the US Navy’s latest carrier, into place. ![]() Have we got this on the right side?” Shipbuilders lower the island for USS Gerald R. The WW2 Japanese carriers Hiryu and Akagi, sunk at the Battle of Midway*, had their islands on the port side. Have you ever noticed that all aircraft carriers have their island on the starboard side? Do you think there might be a reason for that? I didn’t know that I didn’t know it… until I read it! It’s one of those ‘unknown unknowns’ as Donald Rumsfeld would say. I came across this little ‘factoid’ in the National Museum of the Royal Navy’s in-house magazine, Scuttlebutt, which was a fascinating publication until they stopped publishing it! ![]()
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