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Most notable was the inability of the CAM ship to recover the aircraft, and as a result launches out of reach of land were one way flights that required the pilot to bail out or ditch in the sea when the aircraft's fuel was exhausted. While every effort was made to pick up the pilot, operational
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The single catapult consisted of an eighty-five-foot rail, along which a trolley carrying a
Hurricane (later Hurricats were used for this) would be propelled by a battery of three-inch rockets over a distance of sixty feet. Using thirty-degree wing flaps, a pilot could make a successful takeoff
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factors such as the convoy being under U-boat attack could mean that a ship may not be detached to pick up the pilot. On the convoys to Russia the low sea temperatures meant that the pilot had a low potential survival rate unless picked up very soon after landing in the sea.
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veterans. The alterations included catapult fixing points and the addition of a naval radio. The MSFU was formed at Speke on 5 May 1941 and provided detachments to the CAM ships, each vessel being equipped with one Sea
Hurricane plus an
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during World War II. The role of the MSFU was to provide pilots, crews, support personnel and aircraft to operate from 35 merchant ships outfitted with a catapult on the bow, referred to as
Catapult Aircraft Merchant ships
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was formed at Speke on 5 May to man the CAM ship detachments, each vessel having an RAF pilot and groundcrew.
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Breuer, W. B. (2000) Secret
Weapons of World War II. Castle Books, New Jersey. pp. 86–87.
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CAM fighters were credited with seven kills and their presence was rumoured to discourage the
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Eventually CAM ships were replaced beginning in 1943 with the introduction into service of
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operational aircraft unit based at RAF Speke, in south
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110:The Hurricats: The Fighters That Could Not Return
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