Also this statement in the ref you added doesn t give enough specifics what setbacks are they talking about damage to the fuselage I m betting if this did happen One of the more unusual ideas was to save weight and cut down landing accidents by having undercarriage less aircraft They would be launched by a special catapult and would land on a flexible rubber deck Trials were even carried out with a mock deck at Farnborough using Sea Vampire aircraft After initial setbacks the concept proved practical but even so the Admiralty abandoned the idea