USS Antietam CVA-36 First Angled Deck British operations 1953 National Archives NARA Airailimages

Watch an array of British Royal Navy jets land and take off from USS Antietam, CVA-36, during tests in May, June, and July 1953 with the first angled deck modification on an aircraft carrier.

The deHavilland Sea Vampire was a navalized variant of the Royal Air Force's Vampire. Airframe strengthening and the addition of a wishbone tailhook facilitated use of the Sea Vampire aboard aircraft carriers.

The Hawker Sea Hawk was designed as a carrier-based jet interceptor, initially armed with four 20-millimeter cannons. Armstrong Whitworth built many Sea Hawks, to free the Hawker plant for work on the sweptwing Hunter jet.

The Supermarine Attacker was a rarity among jets, resting on a pair of small tailwheels. It is said the Attacker's wing and main landing gear were taken from the design for the piston-engine Supermarine Seafang, an aircraft that did not see production. Hence, the length of the Attacker's main gear was sufficient to clear a propeller, and longer than a jet might otherwise have used. But this arrangement, with the tailwheels, put the Attacker wing at a desirable angle for lift at takeoff speeds.

USS Antietam was modified with additional sponson structure on the left side of the hull, supporting the angled deck. Painted lines denoting the approach to this angled deck showed its off-axis positioning relative to the direction of the ship.

The angled deck offers safety and efficiency over traditional straight carrier decks. Aircraft can simultaneously land and launch using the angled deck for landing and the forward straight deck for launching. The angled deck provides a clear escape path for go-arounds or bolters -- aircraft that miss catching a wire with the tailhook. Straight carrier decks relied on barrier cables or ribbon nets to stop landing aircraft that missed the wires. The dangers associated with this, especially with parked aircraft and sailors on the forward deck, increased with the speeds and weights of jet aircraft.

Angled-deck philosophy originated with the British, beginning with studies during World War II. Royal Navy Captain (later Admiral) Dennis Campbell is credited as the inventor of the angled deck as developed after the war. In 1952, the British carrier HMS Triumph as well as the USS Midway tested the concept of angled deck landings by painting an angled path on their still-straight decks. But it was up to USS Antietam to demonstrate the first actual, widened, angled deck with appropriately angled landing wires as seen in these films. The angled deck utility was embraced, and a number of World War II-vintage straight deck carriers received modified angled decks starting in the 1950s. New aircraft carriers were designed with this feature.

I'm Fred Johnsen for the Airailimages Channel. Help this video on its way by giving it a Thumbs Up. We appreciate it.