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Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 10:22 am
by MJHerman
Sam-I-am wrote:I fail to see where it would make a difference as to which side of the ship the island is placed.
The proper placement of the smoke stack I can understand, but as long as the placement of the island is not in the middle of the flight deck is the only concern that makes sence to me.
Sorry, I was in the Army not the Navy

Actually, placement of the island does make a big difference. For some reason, pilots tend to turn left if they mess up an approach (whether at sea or otherwise). No one knows what causes the tendency to turn left, but it has been well documented.
Needless to say, a port side island could ruin a pilot's day. I believe the IJN stats showed that Akagi had twice as many landing accidents as Kaga, but I could be wrong.
Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 11:32 am
by Raverdave
MJHerman wrote:Actually, placement of the island does make a big difference. For some reason, pilots tend to turn left if they mess up an approach (whether at sea or otherwise). No one knows what causes the tendency to turn left, but it has been well documented.
Needless to say, a port side island could ruin a pilot's day. I believe the IJN stats showed that Akagi had twice as many landing accidents as Kaga, but I could be wrong.
Yup, that seems to stir a dim memory for me as well........IIRC the torque from the aircraft also plays a small part.
Zuikaku and Phoenix
Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2003 8:14 pm
by LTCMTS
Hi Mogami. Actually the "Phoenix" sisters were upgraded "Hiryus" and continued the pattern of flight deck level funnels. In fact, all the converted light carriers (Shoho, Zuiho, Chitose, Chiyoda, Ryuho, Ibuki), escort carriers and the "Hiryu" repeats of the "Unryu" class sported flight deck level funnels. The converted and redesigned USN light carriers of the "Independence" and "Saipan" classes also had flight deck level stacks, but the were vertical, rather than horizontal. Most conversions had similar responses to the disposal of power plant exhaust. Only a few conversions, such as Shinano, Junyo, Hiyo, Europa, Aquila and the USN's XCV program featured integrated island/stacks.
The Akagi and Kaga were completed w/o islands and with below flight deck funnels carried to the stern, along with additional forward flying off platforms for light aircraft, in conformance with RN carrier (ie. Furious, Argus) design as they understood it from their RN aviation advisors at the time the conversion designs were finalized (1921-22). The Lexington and Saratoga would have been similar, except that the USN had a closer relationship with the RN from 1917-1920, than the IJN, with a direct representative from DCN, Goodall, to advise on the experiments with integrated island/funnels that the RN was carrying out with "Eagle". The result is that the "Lexington/Saratoga" design has more in common with the "Hermes/Eagle/Glorious and Courageous" designs. The superfiring 8in mounts were pure USN though.
Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2003 12:46 pm
by Sam-I-am
For some reason, pilots tend to turn left if they mess up an approach (whether at sea or otherwise). No one knows what causes the tendency to turn left,
Yes,that makes cents
Thanks for the info
