GB490408A - Improvements in or relating to apparatus for aeroplane launching - Google Patents

Abstract

490,408. Launching aircraft. COURTNEY, F. T. Aug. 31, 1937, No. 23841. Convention date, Aug. 31, 1936. [Class 4] An aircraft launching-device includes a car for supporting the aircraft, means for accelerating the car up to the take-off speed of the aircraft and an aircraft support pivoted about a substantially vertical axis on the car. In one form, an aeroplane or seaplane 15 is mounted on a truck 13 which is hauled up a ramp onto a track or runway 11. The truck 13 may be provided with propelling means either mounted thereon or on a truck 18 adapted to be coupled to the truck 13. The truck 18 may be propelled by variable-pitch airscrews 20 driven from aero-engines 19 and controlled, e.g. by detachable electric connections by the pilot. The cradle 14 may be tilted about an axis 22 so that the aircraft is held nose-down until the instant of taking-off. The tilting may be effected by operation of the aircraft controls, or by toggle mechanism 23 operated by an electric motor 24 controlled from the pilot's cockpit or automatically by a bellows device 51 operated automatically by air flow through a Venturi tube 52. The aircraft may be locked to the cradle by means adapted to be released when the aircraft is tilted to the correct attitude for take-off. These means may comprise a toggle, actuated by tension in an anchored cord. The toggle may be tripped by electromagnetic means operated by the pilot and connected with a spring-actuated toggle connected to a hook engaging the step in a flying boat hull. The cradle is mounted on a turntable such that the aircraft may be turned into the direction of the relative wind either manually or automatically. Means may be provided for tilting the turntable laterally about a ball joint. Braking means 56 under control of the pilot may be provided on the truck 13.