Summary: Royal Navy trials on land of arrester gear to restrain aircraft when landing on aircraft carriers, England, probably summer 1918.
Description: Title: ‘Deck rigged for landing. Ropes and directing flags in position’. Pan over wooden-panelled deck with round area marked in white paint and bounded on either side by small wooden posts with ropes running between them, with hangars or large buildings in the background. Title: ‘Landing ropes with ballast bags: bags being placed in position’; the landing rope (or arrester rope) and sandbags being positioned. Title: ‘Method of supporting ropes: Sandow hooked over a small wooden peg, with bag holding it taut’. Title: ‘Landing ropes being whitened’. Two men paint the rope. Title: ‘Height of ropes from deck shown by two-foot measure’; man kneels with measure. Wide shot; Sopwith Pup being started on the area of decking and accelerating out of shot. The Pup makes a number of passes over the decking. Title: ‘Landing on deck. Front view’. Title: ‘Landing on deck. Side view’; a good smooth shot panning right-to-left as the Pup lands. Title: ‘Deck landing. Machine bumps on side of deck, chassis bracing wire pulls through and left wheel buckles, ropes are caught, however, and prevent machine from overturning’. Title: ‘View of rear of machine after landing, showing how the ropes and bags work’; Pup runs across shot with rope and bags trailing behind. Title: ‘Bags trailing behind machine after landing’; views of tail of the aircraft with bags and ropes. The arrester hook is demonstrated (aircraft serial N9497). Title: ‘Side view of hook gripping landing ropes’. Title: ‘General view of machine after landing, showing propeller guard and hook having caught ropes with bags trailing behind, bag supporting gear in background’. Slow pan left-to-right showing the configuration of the aircraft and the test rig and deck behind.
