Aircraft Carrier Elevators

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Geno the Viking
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Aircraft Carrier Elevators

Post by Geno the Viking »

Don't know if this has come up before.

How did the interior elevators on WWII aircraft carriers work? Were they mounted on central pedestals or were they supported on their sides? I haven't found any photos or info anywhere on this. I want the info for modeling purposes. I like to show my carriers with the elevators lowered or partially lowered.
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RNfanDan
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Re: Aircraft Carrier Elevators

Post by RNfanDan »

Geno the Viking wrote:Don't know if this has come up before.
Nice pun! :clap:

Seriously though, the elevator platforms were typically hoisted from the sides, at least in RN vessels of inter-war and WW2 era. Steel channels/columns on port and starboard elevator sides contained the load-bearing parts; in those I am familiar with, the mechanisms were hydraulically operated and the lifting was done by steel link-belts. This is based on photographs of 1930s RN carriers; I do not know if this practice was followed by other navies, but it may be a matter of hydraulic vs. electric (?), and I am not sure if steam was used at some point or another.
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aurora
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Re: Aircraft Carrier Elevators

Post by aurora »

Further to RNfanDan's post

In British carriers the placement of the aircraft lifts was of particular importance. Piercing the armoured box around the hangar would have structural implications for the entire ship.Fortunately, placing the lifts at the front and rear of the hangar space was both convenient and desirable for hangar operations. Aircraft that had landed on could be struck below via the front lift. During take-off operations aircraft could be moved via the rear lift well.

The lifts themselves were as small as practicality could allow. As built, Illustrious’ lifts were 45ft by 22ft. This was a deliberate decision. The smaller lifts offered reduced structural weakness and limited the “Achillies heel” effect of the unarmoured space.
The lifts were considerably stronger than those used in previous ships. They could carry 13,440lb in a 30-second cycle, but were upgraded during the war to carry 15,000lb.

The lifts of the Illustrious Class were also designed to continue operations despite a degree of distortion. While this added considerably to their expense, it was considered necessary to maintain the fighting efficiency of the ship after moderate damage had been sustained.Nevertheless the rapid growth in size and weight of aircraft during the 1940s was not fully anticipated. This was to have severe implications for available aircraft types all through the war.

http://www.armouredcarriers.com/design/
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aurora
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Re: Aircraft Carrier Elevators

Post by aurora »

Essex Carrier modifications post WW2

By the war's end in 1945, The hangar area design came in for many design conferences between the naval bureaus. Not only were the supporting structures to the flight deck required to carry the increased weight of landing and parked aircraft, but they were to have sufficient strength to support the storing of spare fuselages and parts (50% of each plane type aboard) under the flight deck and still provide adequate working space for the men using the area below.

One innovation in Essex was a portside deck-edge elevator in addition to two inboard elevators. The deck-edge elevator was adopted in the design after it proved successful on the Wasp. Experiments had also been made with hauling aircraft by crane up a ramp between the hangar and flight decks, but this method proved too slow. The Navy's Bureau of Ships and the Chief Engineer of A.B.C. Elevator Co. designed the engine for the side elevator. It was a standard elevator, 60 by 34 ft (18 by 10 m) in platform surface, which traveled vertically on the port side of the ship.

There would be no large hole in the flight deck when the elevator was in the "down" position, a critical factor if the elevator ever became inoperable during combat operations. Its new position made it easier to continue normal operations on deck, irrespective of the position of the elevator. The elevator also increased the effective deck space when it was in the "up" position by providing additional parking room outside the normal contours of the flight deck, and increased the effective area on the hangar deck by the absence of elevator pits. In addition, its machinery was less complex than the two inboard elevators, requiring about 20% fewer man-hours of maintenance. Ongoing improvements to the class were made, particularly with regards to the ventilation system, lighting systems, and the trash burner design and implementation.

These carriers had better armour protection than their predecessors, better facilities for handling ammunition, safer and greater fuelling capacity, and more effective damage control equipment. Yet, these ships were also designed to limit weight and the complexity of construction, for instance incorporating extensive use of flat and straight metal pieces, and of Special Treatment Steel (STS), a nickel-chrome steel alloy that provided the same protective qualities as Class B armor plate, but which was fully structural rather than deadweight.
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