Carrier catapult

Hi all, I have a question regarding carriers and catapults. I have installed Yanco's WWII carriers into AICarriers. The formation shows up, no problem there, I can trap my plane every now and then. My question is: Is use of the catapult dependent on the carrier being modeled with a catapult or on the plane having the necessary section in the air.cfg, or both? The reason I ask is I cannot seem to launch my TBM (which has the launch bar info in the cfg.) using the Shift-u, shift-I, shift-space sequence.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

I forgot to say that I am running FS Gold.

 

Joe

You might have to deck-launch off of a WWII carrier. Not many catapults back then. I don't have Acceleration, so there's no catapults in my future. I would think that they have to be modeled into the carrier.

Thanks Zippy for the quick reply. Deck launch is no problem for the lighter planes (Hellcat, Wildcat, etc.) but the Avenger was a heavy beast. I am pretty sure that there were catapults on smaller carriers such as CVLs and CVEs.

 

Thanks.

First and foremost: Are you using AICarriers.exe or .NET? If you are using the .exe version I very strongly recommend you use t he .NET version insted. It uses much less of your computer's resources, and works with FSX and FSX-SE.

It's a much newer program, also. It's just overall better, although it LOOKS and acts exactly the same.

 

Second: I am pretty sure the cats have to be modeled into the boat, or you will have to get RCBO30 to be able to launch off a boat without a "built-in" cat using one. Just do a search for Rob Barendregt who is the amazing author if it, or the zip-file named rcbco-30.zip

 

Does that help a little bit?

Pat☺

Tweak,

It sure does. I used the rcbco equivalent in FS9. Worked real well on static carriers I placed here and there. Will look into it for FSX, and will look into AIcarriers.net also.

 

Thanks.

..I cannot seem to launch my TBM (which has the launch bar info in the cfg.) using the Shift-u, shift-I, shift-space sequence..

 

I've googled and see that WW2 carriers never used catapults for the simple reason that prop planes could get off easily without one, even including Doolittles big fully-fuelled/fully bombed-up B-25 bombers.

So your TBM Avenger should get off just fine without a cat, try it and let us know..:)

PS- as a matter of interest do the carriers you're using have catapult slits visible on the deck?

Scatterbrain, "In The Men of the Gambier Bay" by Edwin Holt, he writes several times of the FM-2s being catapulted off. the Gambier Bay was a Casablanca class CVE and had a composite group CV-10 of FM-2s and TBMs. It also had one catapult. As I have the Gambier Bay in AICarriers, that's why I asked the original question. I haven't checked but I don't believe my Gambier Bay has the catapult slit visible.

 

Large fleet carriers would have the length to make a running launch even with a complement of planes staged on the aft flight deck, but the Gambier Bay had a flight deck 480' X 80' and I would think that with even half of the complement staged on deck running room would may be half that.

 

Just curious.

Joe

..the Gambier Bay was a Casablanca class CVE..

 

Thanks, that explains it, CVE's were small "escort carriers" and needed a catapult to launch planes from their short crowded decks, I just read this on Wiki-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Gambier_Bay_(CVE-73)

 

And I found this pic of a model on the net that illustrates it perfectly, the Wildcat on the right is lined up with the end of the catapult slit.

If your FSX Gambier Bay has got a catapult slit visible, hit SHIFT-U to lower the launch bar on your plane (the bar might be abstracted and invisible), then taxi to the end of the slit and hit SHIFT-I to see if you lock into it.

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g64/PoorOldSpike/CMSF/CMSF001/USS-_Gambier_Bay_model_zps5tuyaef4.jpg~original

 

PS- You might be able to take off without a cat anyway if the carrier is steaming into a stiff headwind and with some down flap, so give it a try..:)

 

(PS again-And check out the Catapult launch procedure screenshots on this page here, they show jets but maybe it also works for props, note how the SHIFT-U launch bar is lowered before taxiing onto the end of the cat)-

https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?248567-How-do-you-keep-FSX-interesting/page35

Scatterbrain,

The photo you provided shows the catapult. I checked the one on Wikipedia and I can't see it on that one. I've been simming for 20 years or so and am pretty familiar with adding items to FS so I don't often read the ReadMe files closely. I downloaded my Casablanca carriers from FS Shipyards. Open reading the ReadMe files from both downloads it explicitly says trapping and catapulting are supported as they are FSX native carriers. Who would have thought that I would learn something by reading? LOL

 

Anyway I will try the 2 second launch later today and report back.

Thanks for the interest and info.

BTW that page you linked me to had tons of good info on it.

 

Joe

..The photo you provided shows the catapult. I checked the one on Wikipedia and I can't see it on that one...

 

Yes the photos on Wiki are not clear enough to show the cat, but the Data down the right of the page says- "Aviation facilities- 2 elevators and a catapult".

I found the pic of the Gambier model somewhere else and included it to show it does have a cat.

PS- there's a freeware Gambier in the File Library here at FlightSim.com that has a working cat, type CVE into the advanced File search box if ever you want to try it.

Thanks, will do.