An Aircraft Carrier Without A Deck? | The Remarkable Brodie Landing System
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.ย. 2022
- Today we're taking a look at the remarkable Brodie Launch System. This device could be used on land or aboard ships, and it was designed to provide accessibility for light aircraft in extremely remote locations during WW2.
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Sources:
Flight Magazine, December 1913.
Flying Magazine, October 1985.
Brodie System Book #6, Department of Defence (~1946)
Video footage courtesy of the National Archives (much love to them) - catalog.archives.gov/ - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
Part 2 of the P-40 video will be out next :)
F.A.Q Section
Q: Do you take aircraft requests?
A: I have a list of aircraft I plan to cover, but feel free to add to it with suggestions:)
Q: Why do you use imperial measurements for some videos, and metric for others?
A: I do this based on country of manufacture. Imperial measurements for Britain and the U.S, metric for the rest of the world, but I include text in my videos that convert it for both.
Q: Will you include video footage in your videos, or just photos?
A: Video footage is very expensive to licence, if I can find footage in the public domain I will try to use it, but a lot of it is hoarded by licencing studies (British Pathe, Periscope films etc). In the future I may be able to afford clips :)
Q: Why do you sometimes feature images/screenshots from flight simulators?
A: Sometimes there are not a lot of photos available for certain aircraft, so I substitute this with digital images that are as accurate as possible.
Feel free to leave you questions below - I may not be able to answer all of them, but I will keep my eyes open :)
What engine sound do you use in your video intros?....im assuming a rolls royce merlin?
When are you gonna make the Saunders Roe Queen Episode?
Since your covering interesting naval aviation could you do a video on the resupply ships used for the American airships like uss Akron? It's fascinating to see a ship designed for airship resupply at sea
Thanks again my friend....Are you feeling better now ?....Shoe🇺🇸
The Airship aircraft carriers were navy operated.
Ah yes, the Grasshoppers... The tiny aircraft that were deemed almost harmless by the enemy, yet returned fire with artillery barrages when shot at.
It's been said that one of the deadliest weapons of the war was the radio.
One modified Grasshopper was equipped with 6 M1 Bazooka rocket launchers. Normally Germany didn't fire at scouts, but Rosie the Rocketeer, as you can imagine, was quite different.
At one point in Europe, an American and a German spotter plane found themselves in the same airspace. The Americans engaged the enemy with handguns, because of course they did.
One German was hit and the plane forced to land. The American plane landed next them, took the Germans prisoner, and provided medical care.
German U-boats learned to hate them...Civil Air Patrol ran patrols using this type of aircraft off the Atlantic coast..one or two were fitted with bombs in an ambitious plan to attack UBoats directly instead of calling in patrol ships.
@@avi8aviate i actually got to see rosie in a museum, it was awesome
The amount of footage recorded of what is a fairly obscure piece of history is impressive. Very much enjoyed the video.
One of the things they frequently do when developing new aircraft - is to film the hell out of it. Also, the United States Navy films _every single landing_ aboard a carrier.
In both cases it's desired to have a video record of anything that might have gone wrong.
Before Reality TV ... The Discovery Channel had a series called _Wings_ which consisted primarily of just such test footage. One such recording was of an F-4 Phantom II having a problem that caused the pilot to eject - and a subsequent loss of the aircraft - all recorded for later analysis and future Cable TV Shows.
.
The U.S did a great job at recording EVERYTHING and then looking after said records. Wish other countries back then did the same..
@@RexsHangar Yes.
Of course ... one thing about that ... is that the US wasn't bombed to hell - followed by ground combat. So ... since the others were - we really are lucky if they find anything at all.
Then - you have things like in Japan - where they went around and intentionally destroyed as much of their records as they could - so they wouldn't be captured by the enemy (us).
Throughout History, time and again wars and natural disasters have destroyed records so that, though we might know that they existed, in that they are referred to by other surviving documents - much of it is just gone.
The Library of Alexandria had made great efforts to collect as much of the worlds knowledge as they could - but then it was destroyed and much of that lost.
Carthage had been around for hundreds of years - but then - _Carthago delenda est_ took care of that ...
Rome fell to the barbarians, Byzantium to the Muslims and much of what came from Islam has been destroyed - with Iraq being the victim of it's own looters and ISIS in recent times.
There is always an ongoing race between the accumulation of knowledge and it's destruction.
Yes - today we have much greater means of storing and disseminating knowledge but then we also have Nuclear Weapons ... which such as Putin are threatening the use of. If he loses in Ukraine ...
One other thing now that is a problem - is that much of the data being backed up - has been done so on media that is becoming increasingly more difficult to access - as the devices which could read it become obsolete - and then rarer and rarer.
[Shrug ... ]
Entropy Never Sleeps.
.
This looks like a "Wait. Let me get a camera" kind of a device.
Agreed. Thanks to Rex and the National Archives. The footage is amazing. I even heard a guy from the Japanese Ministry sending their staff over to the US National Archives for information from centuries ago about their own homeland.
So many of the 'failed' designs you can clearly see problems with from the get go. But this was a down-right ingenious idea. Had timing been different, this may well have been used much more. I'm sure Atlantic convoys would have loved these during the U-boats peak.
"We need a pilot to test this new system." Wyle E. Coyote receives new orders!
A. C. M. E. Brody landing system.
If this was introduced much earlier in the war it probably would have done well.
No doubt that the british would have had at least two to four of these on ships per convoy with sub hunting equipment. Would have also been useful for artillery spotting in North Africa.
Yeah that was my thoughts exactly. This would have been huge for sub spotting on convoy duty and would have also been really useful in rugged terrain or contested areas. The system would have been nearly impossible to destroy compared to a more standard runway.
Might have seen use on some of the cruisers & battleships as spotters too, whether floatplanes or otherwise.
Honestly, I'm a little surprised it didn't make it's way to civilian freighters post-war. You'd think the added capability would have been considered appealing in the early days of helicopters.
It's kind of a reverse Skyhook.
@@absalomdraconis I can't see it being used at all in a civilian market. The only real advantage it has over a seaplane is the faster recovery time, which won't matter much outside of war zones. The wire itself definitely limits the capabilities of the plane far more than requiring a water or traditional runway.
The number of innovative, successful solutions to unique problems developed during WWII is truly incredible.
I’m going to have to put this up there with the bat bomb as one of my favorites.
The bomb full of bats or the radio-guided one?
@@Attaxalotl The bomb full of bats. Such an incredible invention!
@@Peter_Morris Saint Olga of Kyiv moment
The Dam Buster is a favorite of mine, although the Pigeon Guidance system is another favorite
Which one, the literal bat dispenser? Or the radar-guided one? Both are my faves.
Glad to find he was awarded the Legion of Merit for his work during the war...and established a successful engineering company afterwards!
I learn so much watching your channels. I'd never heard of this before now. Fascinating.
The Zeppelin/Sparrowhawk combo was a USN project.
LSTs were endlessly useful.💜
I just seen this ship (LST 325)in Ashland, KY, last weekend. They had a section speaking about this. Absolutely insane. The ship I was on (floating museum now) participated in Sicily, Salerno, and Normandy. It was getting this and more AA upgrades in the US for the invasion of Japan when the war ended. Crazy you put out this video so shortly after me seeing the display about this system.
Very cool. Thanks for telling us.
Once is a coincidence. Twice is enemy action. 🤷♂
Were they, as you said _upgrading_ the AA or make her into an AA Battery platform with shiploads of the bloody guns on her?
Reminds me of the skyhook system developed for the Harrier. Albeit, more successful...and possibly saner.
The skyhook was really just a continuation of the airship hook up system mentioned at the start of the video only its being used from a crane on the side of a ship.
@@alexsis1778Well yeah, but the utilization of what under normal circumstances would be vessels incapable of utilizing fixed wing aircraft being retrofitted to do so with unique systems is the point of connection. Also the skyhook was a bit more than the catch system on an airship. If you want to simplify it, it's closer to a crane that compensated for the movement of a ship.
Weird aviation systems are always interesting....and ones that actually worked as intended are very interesting and all too rare. Thanks!
"Fully successful at intended use, but rendered obscure due to the incredibly fast progress of aeronautical engineering" is a respectable epitaph.
If we didn't have footage I'd be inclined to call this fiction...
That is the wonderful thing about some of these wartime designs. Desperation to find anything that works gets lots of oddball stuff greenlit.
th-cam.com/video/o9vAWEgw6cc/w-d-xo.html
There's your verification. Straight from the Smithsonian.
This has nothing to do with the video but there's supposedly 2 replies below this comment but when I click on the thread there's nothing there. Strange.
@@FelipeJaquez
TH-cam being TH-cam. The comments may be under review or have been reported.
I knew about this from an aviation history book I found in the town library that was written in The late 1950s.
"Taking a Brodie" is a time-honored American slang phrase from the early years of the last century. It means face planting yourself in concrete. Brodie was a notorious thrill seeker. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Brodie_(bridge_jumper) That makes the name of the new landing system pretty darn funny.
Excellent video, good research but I think it was actually the french pilot Adolphe Pegoud that did the first cable hook-up in a Bleriot aeroplane. The use of artillery spotter planes during WW2 is in itself worth several videos, I spent hours with the late Joe Gordon, L-4 pilot in the ETO and the stories he could tell was absolutely amazing.
He made a mention in the video 🙂
Brodie is more well known for his other invention which also bears his name, the steering wheel knob.
Always good to learn something new. I always thought it was Harvey Suicide.
@@bradrock7731 No, he developed suicide doors.
I drive a CAT material handler all day, and I can tell you that little Brodie knob exponentially increases productivity. It's always the simple solutions that are the most elegant...
There's a _knob_ behind every steering wheel and it has a name. In my car the knob is called Joseph.........HEY, that's my name. 🤦♂
I greatly enjoyed this explanation of a fascinating technology, but did have one quibble: The US aircraft that operated from rigid airships were flown by naval pilots, not Army Air Corps. The Shenandoah, Los Angeles, Akron, and Macon were commissioned vessels of the USN.
I’d also argue that, while similar systems used by the British and Germans never really worked out, these landings and takeoffs did become a safe and routine event on the scout airships.
Part of that is because the US were doing it in the 20s while the British and Germans were mostly looking at trying to do that prior to WW1. Aircraft and the concept itself had at least another decade of development. Even still most of it was testing done with the plan being to use the rigid airship Roma as an actual mothership. But when she crashed any chance of a true american flying carrier burned with her.
@@alexsis1778 👍
Drachinifel included a brief section on this in last Sunday’s Drydock, thanks for fleshing it out a bit.
This is why I love this place... Great and often unique coverage rarely seen anywhere else. Can you imagine how useful this light aircraft system would have been earlier in the war during the Solomon's campaign?
Glad to see the Brodie getting some love. Such a novel system that (unintended pun) tends to fly under folk's radar.
I've had some fun imagining the results if the system was invented a decade prior.
In a weird coincidence I hadn't heard of this system until this week -- when it appeared not only here, but also briefly a few days ago on a massive Q&A ['The Drydock - Episode 213 (Part 2)'] over on Drachinifel's naval history channel.
Thanks for the more in depth history of this weird and wonderful system!
This is fascinating. Such a dieselpunk system. I'm amazed there were places that could take off with such a low speed even in ww2. I wonder if they could have cable Catapult assisted the takeoff if it had gone further?
With the plane being slung off to the side, using rocket assist might actually also be possible since you don't have to worry about the rocket backblast burning anything on the deck of your (presumably) cargo vessel.
@@ach3909 Except that these little planes were fabric covered, that rocket assist might well ignite the airplane it is assisting.
@@alonespirit9923 The rocket assist is for heavier aircraft obviously. these grasshoppers clearly didn't need any assistance to takeoff on their own power.
Unbelievable! I had never heard of that system, or anything close to it! I'm even more amazed that it wasn't just a prototype, but saw actual action in war operations! 😮
That was wonderful.
As a bonafide nerd, I love obscure, irrelevant, but fascinating facts.
This fits all categories.
Thank you.
Thank you for bringing this piece of history to us. I have never heard of the Brodie system before. Pretty neat idea!
very cool
Another great video👍
Now that's something I'd never even heard of before.
Just an aside - iwojima is pronounce "eeee-woah", not "eye-woah"
Iwo Jima (iou jima): In Japanese
And it’s written Iwo Jima, two words with capital letters … I mean while where are being anal.😉
Maybe this was produced for American viewers (Eye-rack, Eye-ran, Eye-talian, etc).
@@grantm6514 That's not how any sane Americans pronounce any of those words.
Interesting, reminds me of the Swedish seaplane carrying cruiser Gotland (1933 ) famous for being the one that observed Bismarck when he left port for the first mission which lead to the British following him, after they got the news from the Swedes.
I ran across these suspended runways a little while back, so glad they are getting some coverage!
Yet another hole in my aviation knowledge that has been filled! Fascinating stuff, thanks Rex!
I love these very specific solutions to very specific problems. They're often amazingly weird, but in context make a reasonable amount of sense.
Huh, I had never heard of this system at all. Thanks for bringing a niche piece of aviation history to me, Rex
And this exactly why I love WW2 aircraft history. Some of the most off the wall crazy ideas THAT WORK can be found. The genius & courage of everyone from WW2 will never be anything to scoff at. Plus don't ever underestimate to crazy ideas of a country boy. They have to find ways to make things work. Love the content Rex. Keep it up.
I had no idea this was ever a thing. Thank you so much for bringing this to our collective attentions. A fascinating and still potentially viable option even in this day and age.
Low take off and landing speed, say 40knts. Perfect recce aircraft, so why not. Cable capture?
It looks like they may have in the still images of the LST. It looks like there is an angled launch ramp?
I had no idea! Great story! Necessity is the mother of invention and MAN there was a lot of necessity in W!!.
Brilliant, never heard of this, thank you so much
Wow! Thanks for the priceless documentary video Rex's Hangar.
Don't think I've ever seen so much footage of this system in one place before. Nice work, very good synopsis and compilation.
I could see these being used today with ships at sea.
We have the pirates to chase, and one of these aircraft armed with guns could chase the pirates away from target ships.
Thank you.
What a brilliant idea
Another excellent video, I really enjoyed this.
Awesome! First I'd ever heard of the Brodie System, so a great little vignette. Thanks for putting it together, Rex.
Thank you for posting
Great work Sir thank you
Excellent stuff bro
Thank you for the knowledge.
That was really cool. Thank you.
A brilliant idea and excellent narration. NEver knew such a thing existed.
What an awesome price of history! Thank you for making these videos! I really enjoy them!
Brilliant video! I've never heard of this system and I appreciate how you manage to cover topics that most people do not do. Thank you.
Thanks for the video! I'd seen some other references to the system, but this is the most complete presentation I can remember.
Montgomery: "Damn that was a scary landing!"
Sailors: "Well done, you're now an instructor."
Montgomery: 😨😨😨
I find the Brodie landing system so cool! Thank you for making a video about this very smart, low cost and reliable system!
Thank you for highlighting another fascinating bit of history .
Absolutely fascinating, you learn something every day!
You are one of the best sir, always love your work.
Thanks! Very clever invention.
Thanks. Great video 😃❤️
Wow! Those pilots were skilled and very brave. Thanks for making this video, it's wonderful to learn something new.
Learned something new. Thank you.
Another very informative and well put together video.
This is good content. Really appreciate the historical footage and that it links with your narration, which is also quite good 👍.
This was the first time I ever heard of these. That is why I like this channel.
Another excellent informative video! Thanks
Educating me! Had NEVER heard of this!
Wow never heard of this and super interesting. Thankyou!
That's a rather interesting system and I'd never heard of it before. Plus I've learned a new word from you, eventuated.
This is such an ingenious design. Love it.
Thanks for the report and the work.
Greetings and a nice day, 🌾
Awesome history. Thank you for researching this
That was very interesting. I love that kind of video, great work!
I can imagine having one of these cool plane launching LST's converted into a custom floating home with a nice bushplane. Wow, the places you could go! Thanks for this video. I get smarterer every day watching obscure historical stuff like this. Congratulations on any TH-cam success.
Wow, what an incredible piece of engineering. And glad to see it was actually used at sea, although it seems like it could have been equally useful on land, I'm almost surprised it hasn't found widespread use in places were regular runways are not an option.
In those places I think they just instead got planes capable of taking off and landing in very short patches of land. Kinda like what they have up in Alaska or in Australia.
Straight forward (but crazy)
I worked at sea for over 30 years but never heard of this.
Amazing
I knew of this, but had never seen film of it before. Thank you!
Thanks Rex
Best job interview ever
Thanks for the video Rex. I never knew this thing even existed, and I've been following military aviation for decades.
3:18 The two airships designed to carry, launch, and recover their own complement of scout fighters were the USS Akron and the USS Macon, both commissioned vessels of the United States Navy. They operated a specially modified version of the Curtiss F9C Sparrowhawk that was exclusively used by the Navy. If these airships had proven themselves able to handle stormy conditions, both crashed due to inclement weather, their Sparrowhawks would have flown without conventional landing gear, tying them permanently to their motherships.
Complement.
Absolutely remarkable. Of course I’m referring to the remarkable job you do finding these fascinating and rare bits of aviation lore, and the meticulous research you do in putting them together. 👍
Thank you for an interesting moment
Spectacular stuff. It really is. Necessity is the mother of invention. Though I suppose boredom, could be the stepmother of invention. Thanks for the video.. and the work that went into researching it all!
Brilliant!
Good description. I read a brief statement about aircraft flying and landing off an LST during the Iwo Jima battle which raised lots of questions to me.
Wow! Never heard of Brodie system before. Now I know. Great video!!
Interesting! Thanks!
I just learned something new! Amazing what hidden gems are out there waiting to be discovered. A follow up on this type of launch and recovery system? Would this have been an inspiration to the recovery system of downed pilots later on in Vietnam?
Very informative
Never knew of this. So fascinating.
This was a good one!
An excellent video.
I didn't know that I needed to know that this system existed. But after you told me I feel like a special spark of knowledge has been bestowed upon my aviation obsessed brain. So thank you.
Well done, never heard of this being talked about by anyone else on TH-cam.
Thanks for raising a dead idea back to life for us. Brodie respectfully remembered.
Amazing that this actually worked
That was fascinating. Subbed and liked. :)
whoa! that's awesome!