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