Glass half full or half empty?

[uk 75]

This thread reflects my love hate relationship with many projects both built and unbuilt.

Perhaps the best example are postwar Royal Navy carriers. My rational half knows they have been expensive and not as useful as frigates or submarines. But my dominant six year old self has only to see footage of a.Royal Navy carrier at sea launching and recovering planes to get the same sensation and teary eyed look normally reserved for the 1966 World Cup or Polar Bear cubs.

View: https://youtu.be/RTvKPctTrl0?si=BgoV4RkgKbs2EGsM


Am.I alone in this or do others have similar mixed feelings.

 

[SeaslugMk2]

I’ve unsuccessfully spent time searching for a clip of film of HMS Furious recovering her Swordfish aircraft while escorting an Arctic convoy.
It’s only when you look closely you realise that the carrier is going astern, to keep the airspeed over her deck below the Swordfish’s stalling speed!

SRJ

 

[Archibald]

Despite all the shit thrown at it (for the right and wrong reasons) I learned to appreciate the F-35. Say what you want, but it is the first (and only so far) aircraft to pack VSTOL and stealth and supersonic and AMRAAM into one airframe. Not too bad a package.