An Aircraft Carrier Without A Deck? | The Remarkable Brodie Landing System

Part 2 of the P-40 video will be out next :) F.A.Q Section Q: Do you take aircraft requests? A: I have a list of aircraft I plan to cover, but feel free to add to it with suggestions:) Q: Why do you use imperial measurements for some videos, and metric for others? A: I do this based on country of manufacture. Imperial measurements for Britain and the U.S, metric for the rest of the world, but I include text in my videos that convert it for both. Q: Will you include video footage in your videos, or just photos? A: Video footage is very expensive to licence, if I can find footage in the public domain I will try to use it, but a lot of it is hoarded by licencing studies (British Pathe, Periscope films etc). In the future I may be able to afford clips :) Q: Why do you sometimes feature images/screenshots from flight simulators? A: Sometimes there are not a lot of photos available for certain aircraft, so I substitute this with digital images that are as accurate as possible. Feel free to leave you questions below - I may not be able to answer all of them, but I will keep my eyes open :)

Ah yes, the Grasshoppers... The tiny aircraft that were deemed almost harmless by the enemy, yet returned fire with artillery barrages when shot at.

The amount of footage recorded of what is a fairly obscure piece of history is impressive. Very much enjoyed the video.

So many of the 'failed' designs you can clearly see problems with from the get go. But this was a down-right ingenious idea. Had timing been different, this may well have been used much more. I'm sure Atlantic convoys would have loved these during the U-boats peak.

If this was introduced much earlier in the war it probably would have done well.

"We need a pilot to test this new system." Wyle E. Coyote receives new orders!

The number of innovative, successful solutions to unique problems developed during WWII is truly incredible. I’m going to have to put this up there with the bat bomb as one of my favorites.

I learn so much watching your channels. I'd never heard of this before now. Fascinating.

Glad to find he was awarded the Legion of Merit for his work during the war...and established a successful engineering company afterwards!

The Zeppelin/Sparrowhawk combo was a USN project. LSTs were endlessly useful.💜

Excellent video, good research but I think it was actually the french pilot Adolphe Pegoud that did the first cable hook-up in a Bleriot aeroplane. The use of artillery spotter planes during WW2 is in itself worth several videos, I spent hours with the late Joe Gordon, L-4 pilot in the ETO and the stories he could tell was absolutely amazing.

Weird aviation systems are always interesting....and ones that actually worked as intended are very interesting and all too rare. Thanks!

Reminds me of the skyhook system developed for the Harrier. Albeit, more successful...and possibly saner.

I greatly enjoyed this explanation of a fascinating technology, but did have one quibble: The US aircraft that operated from rigid airships were flown by naval pilots, not Army Air Corps. The Shenandoah, Los Angeles, Akron, and Macon were commissioned vessels of the USN. I’d also argue that, while similar systems used by the British and Germans never really worked out, these landings and takeoffs did become a safe and routine event on the scout airships.

Brodie is more well known for his other invention which also bears his name, the steering wheel knob.

"Taking a Brodie" is a time-honored American slang phrase from the early years of the last century. It means face planting yourself in concrete. Brodie was a notorious thrill seeker. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Brodie_(bridge_jumper) That makes the name of the new landing system pretty darn funny.

This is why I love this place... Great and often unique coverage rarely seen anywhere else. Can you imagine how useful this light aircraft system would have been earlier in the war during the Solomon's campaign?

If we didn't have footage I'd be inclined to call this fiction...

"Fully successful at intended use, but rendered obscure due to the incredibly fast progress of aeronautical engineering" is a respectable epitaph.

I just seen this ship (LST 325)in Ashland, KY, last weekend. They had a section speaking about this. Absolutely insane. The ship I was on (floating museum now) participated in Sicily, Salerno, and Normandy. It was getting this and more AA upgrades in the US for the invasion of Japan when the war ended. Crazy you put out this video so shortly after me seeing the display about this system.