Re: History repeats itself
The other problem with the Seafire was difficulty in landing the aircraft partly due to the comparatively narrow track of the landing gear, which made damage during landings in heavy sea conditions more likely.
If you look at the landing gear of the US planes designed principally for carrier operations, the wheels swung outboard from the middle of the plane, meaning that the distance between the wheels when down was much wider than the Seafire, which had wheels that swung inboard towards the middle. This made the Seafire much less stable, and more prone to damage.
Also the view of the flight desk was poor when landing due to the nose-up landing attitude, where the long nose of the Seafire, with it's upright Merlin, blocked the pilot's view as the plane came in.
There were several other design features of the Spitfire that made it's marine version difficult to operate from carriers. The first really excellent British carrier based aircraft was the Hawker Sea Fury, which was too late for WWII, but proved superb in the Korean police action.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
