Watched by “goofers,” Lt Cdr Burner, squadron leader of Bombing Five (VB-5) takes USS Ranger's (CV-4) barrier with his Curtiss BF2C-1 Hawk on February 28, 1935. The 50gal drop tank is flattened on the wooden deck of the Ranger, and proves its worth as the luckless commander slides to a safe though embarrassing stop.

A Vought SU-4 of BS1B engages a late wire aboard USS Ranger on August 9, 1934. The pilot, Lt Hopping, might have been just unlucky, but it is more likely that he made too fast a landing. In any event the wire parts and the SU-4 crashes into the barrier and suffers, at the very least, a shock-loaded engine. Mr Hopping may well have been similarly afflicted though otherwise uninjured, unlike his aeroplane.