Catapult. A mechanism for assisting the take-off of an aeroplane by giving an initial acceleration in addition to the normal thrust from the aero engine.
TBF Avenger ready for catapult launch.Grumman TBF Avenger aboard the USS Yorktown (CV-10), circa late 1943.A famous Avenger pilot was former American President George H. W.
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We had problems with snatching so installed some catapult elastic at the tug end. We then used a fine braid tent guide line and by adding a piece of silicon fuel tubing about 2 ft.
They knew that less horsepower was necessary to fly an airplane after it was once in the air than was necessary to get it into the air at the start, and they therefore rigged up a catapult which projected their airplane forward on a rolling carriage ...
In the period between 1894 and 1896, several large model aircraft that Langley called "Aerodromes" were launched by a catapult device from atop a houseboat on the Potomac River near Washington, D.C.
Catapult launches cause this illusion. The inversion illusion is caused when a climbing aircraft levels off. The pilot believes that he is falling over backwards.
In 1896 his steam-driven areoplane was launched by catapult over the Potomac River. It flew for 90 seconds and covered a distance of 42,000 feet (12,802 m). It was the first recorded flight by an uncrewed engine-equipped aircraft.
 See also: Flight, Power, Pilot, Aircraft, Direct
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