Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!bbn.com!nic!nuhub!mintaka!bloom-beacon!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!think.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!umich!sharkey!indetech!pacbell!pacbell.com!att!cbnews!cbnews!military From: news@hoss.unl.edu (Network News Administer) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Message-ID: <1990Nov21.214430.17254@cbnews.att.com> Date: 21 Nov 90 21:44:30 GMT Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 28 Approved: military@att.att.com From: Network News Administer Newsgroups: sci.military Path: hoss.unl.edu!chem001 >From: chem001@hoss.unl.edu (Jonathan Skean) Subject: Re: Left-handed carriers Message-ID: <1990Nov20.065309.4277@hoss.unl.edu> Sender: news@hoss.unl.edu (Network News Administer) Organization: University of Nebraska, Computing Resource Center References: <1990Nov15.013451.1767@cbnews.att.com> <1990Nov16.051921.21655@cbnews.att.com> Date: Tue, 20 Nov 90 06:53:09 GMT >And why starboard islands? From what I have read, the torque of the >screws in standard warship powerplants makes it easier to turn right >than left, and you usually want the island on the inside of the turn. I'm not sure why islands were located to starboard in the first place, but a benefit to USN aircraft was related to *aircraft* torque, not ship's torque. The fabulously overpowered prop fighters which joined the fleet mostly too late for WWII generated so much torque in the waveoff mode of operation that loosing control from applying too much power was a distinct hazzard. The flight controls didn't have nearly enough authority to keep the fighter from being rolled hard left by the power of the right-turning prop. When a pilot overpowered an F8F Bearcat or the like, if he didn't reduce throttle real soon, he would spiral out of control upside down and into the ocean. On US carriers, it was nice for the ship and crew that this flight path was to the left of the aircraft's original flightpath. I wonder what it was like for high powered foreign airplanes which have left-hand rotating props which cause them to roll right under power?