Skyraider interest and Sea Vampire training expose the straight-deck transition

Britain was still considering the AD-4 Skyraider seriously, showing that capable piston strike aircraft retained value during the jet transition. An image shows Eric 'Winkle' Brown landing a Sea Vampire on HMS Ocean. The Fleet Air Arm kept its twenty Sea Vampires in 700-series jet-induction, training, and trials work rather than sending them into combat, while 800-series squadrons remained the operational formations. The discussion then turns to the difficulty of operating faster-approaching jets from the long straight decks of light fleet carriers. A quoted assessment by Caspar John contrasts the new communist jet threat with the piston aircraft carried by Triumph, Theseus, Glory, and Ocean. Those piston crews could operate at night when the opposing jets could not, while still flying daylight sorties. Korea therefore made the case for better aircraft and a carrier force redesigned around jet operating demands.