Aircraft on catapults

[Rheged]

Some diorama ideas:-
Blasting a Vickers Virginia  into the air
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/r-a-f-giant-catapult-aka-raf-catapult
The Avro Manchester was stressed for catapult launching as this WIKI PAEDIA extract seems to show

Surprisingly, the Manchester was originally designed for catapult launching. At the time it was feared that airfields would not last long under bombing attack and that the runways would soon become unusable. To obviate this difficulty, for a short time it was actually a requirement for the Manchester to be capable of something called 'assisted (or "frictionless") take off', which in-effect, meant launching by land-based catapult.Of course, while launching something small like a Fairey Seafox or similar from a shipboard catapult was possible, the land-based catapult used a Cordite charge to propel the aircraft and it was found that scaling-up this charge for an aircraft the size of a Manchester would be impracticable and probably dangerous to the aircrew. In additon, it was found that a catapult capable of launching an aircraft of this size would need engineering along similar lines to that of the Forth Bridge, and so the requirement was later dropped.The legacy of this design requirement however remained in the design of the Manchester's (and resulting Lancaster's) fuselage, in the shape of the interior floor/bomb bay roof, which was designed as a strong 'backbone' around-which the rest of the aircraft was built.The airfield runway problem was of course also the reasoning behind the later Hawker Siddeley Harrier.  Peter Cooper's history of Farnborough describes the prototype's activity there as "handling including a photo of Manchester 1 protoype L7276 mounted on a low trolley which ran along a pair of tracks, each a pair of rails) separated by the main-wheel spacing. Track length of the DCTO (directionally controlled take-off) was almost a mile. Cooper says the system was developed for the Norwegian campaign. The Manchester prototype used it successfully on 1942-9-8. There is no mention of power above that of the aircraft engines and the work seems not to have been part of the RAE Catapult Section's remit. So a track, not a catapult? Parts of the track were still visible in 2005.


I have seen further references elsewhere, including a mention of a hydraulic catapult using a dozen Kestrel engines: 6 as engines and 6 modified as hydraulic pumps.  More data to follow if I ever find the book! 

[PR19_Kit]

I can recall seeing a pic of a Manchester on a catapult-like device many years back. It was a long way off the ground so it probably wasn't the DCTO device mentioned in your link, and somehow I think it was taken at RAE Bedford, dunno why that sticks in my mind.

[Later] Found this on the web, not the same pic as I could recall, and it looks like this was the DCTO thingie.

[Rheged]

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=pAIkDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT425&lpg=PT425&dq=harwell+aircraft+catapult&source=bl&ots=WYWO47lAHO&sig=o55T0xXS9OKxWmsIqyolarssoUo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj9_KXjpLjbAhWEa8AKHYSaB2YQ6AEIYTAM#v=onepage&q=harwell%20aircraft%20catapult&f=false

A bit more info on a Manchester on a catapult/with arrestor hook fitted.........possibly for use at Gibraltar.     Also useful as a numpty-boggling exercise.

[jcf]

Specification P.13/36, to which the Manchester and the H.P. 56 were designed,
had the catapult take-off requirement included from the start.

The H.P. 56 was originally to be twin-Sabre powered, this was changed to
twin- Vultures because of developmental delays at Napier, a further proposed
change to four Taurus, which was revised to four Merlin, and thus the
H.P. 57 Halifax was born.

[Snowtrooper]

Next logical step: carrier-based FAA Manchester with folding wings

[zenrat]

Gives me an idea of what to do with my Airfix Shak...

[scooter]

Gives me an idea of what to do with my Airfix Shak...

Shak on a cat? 

[zenrat]

HMS Habakkuk air wing during Operation Musketeer?

[loupgarou]

HMS Habakkuk air wing during Operation Musketeer?

Wold an Habakkuk pass through the Gibraltar straights, or would stick in the narrowest part?
I suppose Habakkuk (Habakkukkes?) would be built where it's cooler than the mediterranean.