de Havilland Sea Vampire Flexible Deck Landing

An idea tested but never taken to completion was the “flexible deck“. In the early jet age it was seen that by eliminating the landing gear for carrier borne aircraft the inflight performance/range would be improved. This led to the concept of a deck that would absorb the energy of landing, the risk of damaging propellers no longer being an issue though take off would require some sort of launching cradle. Test were carried out with a Sea Vampire, and Supermarine designed their Type 508 for rubber deck land