Bridle-Arrest "Horns"

Until the 1980's, aircraft carriers launched aircraft with a wire cable, or bridle, that pulled the aircraft down the catapult track. At the end of the track, the aircraft detached from the bridle as it flew off the bow. The bridle then swung down and bounced off the flight deck, so to keep it from bouncing back up and striking the aircraft, a bridle-arrest sponson was placed at the end of each catapult track, angled downward to provide a surface below the plane of the flight deck for the bridle to strike. Modern carrier catapults pull aircraft by the nose gear instead, making bridle arresting sponsons unnecessary, though the Midway still retains these "horns" as a vestige of an earlier era in carrier aviation.

San Diego, California · United States