We might be familiar with catapault launching of fighter aircraft from aircraft carriers but what about launching WW2 bombers from the ground using a catapault?
Archeologists have uncovered the first aircraft catapult at the original site of the WW2 Harwell Airfield in Oxfordshire UK. The idea was to launch bomber aircraft from shorter runways and with heavier fuel loads.
A turntable directed the aircraft to the correct runway and a pneumatic ram powered by high pressure air launched it in to the air. Well, that was the idea, but mechanical problems meant that no aircraft was actually launched, and the project was abandoned. However the technology led to the development of Catapult Armed Merchant (CAM) ships, which launched Hawker Hurricanes at sea via rocket-propelled catapults.
More details can be found here - https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-67052782
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