go to Yellow Airplanes home baseF-18 Hornet Sits on the Catapults on the USS Kitty Hawk Aircraft Carrier.

The Kitty Hawk by ET2 Darren Drake
The F-18 Hornet sits on the catapults of the USS Kitty Hawk

This is an f18 sitting on the cats, short for catapults, of the USS Kitty Hawk. When the signal is given the catapult is fired launching the jets, like this f18 into the air. Read more about catapults below

Click here to see pictures of he kitty hawk back in 1977  Click here to go to the Yellow Airplane Home Base

F-18 Hornet on the Catapults

Of The USS Kitty Hawk, CV63
9-7-2000

 

an f18 hornet sits on the catapults of the uss kitty hawk

Click picture for a much larger view a must see picture

The ships catapults, like the ship, are steam powered

Photo from ET2 Darren Drake
 stationed aboard the USS Kitty Hawk

 

Click here for a fantastic video of an F-14 Tomcat breaking the sound barrier next to the USS Kitty Hawk, 

by Darren Drake


Catapult Operation

The F-18 Hornet is a tremendous all weather, light attack bomber and fighter. The actual designation is the F/A-18 because it is a multi-role aircraft giving the military greater versatility.
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The f18 shown in this picture is sitting on the catapults ready for launch. The catapults are steam powered, using lots of fresh water from the ships desalinization plants. If the water level is low, the catapults have priority and the drinking fountains and showers are shut off. The ships toilets use salt water, for your information.  If a sailor is thirsty, he mush hit the soda machines. Sodas to a sailor are like cigarettes to a prisoner, they're like gold, or like water to a man in the desert.
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The catapults fire a steam propelled piston to launch the aircraft. The airplanes are held down to the deck with chains that are coupled with what is called a break link. If it is a cold cat, a catapult firing that doesn't have enough strength to properly accelerate the airplane, the break link will not break and the plane just sits there.  Each type of airplane has a break link unique to its airplane type. This is because some airplanes weigh more than others and the catapult settings must be different for each type of jet. 

 

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F-18 Hornet 1/48 Die Cast
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Pre Built Die Cast Model

1/48 scale model features the markings of "Chippy Ho" from VFA 195 (other markings available). 
About 14 inches long.

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