[John Rogers]

I can remember watching flight ops from the 011 level when I was on the Big E and during the Vietnam war there were continuous take offs on the bow cats and recovery in the angle deck. About the only time no planes would be lined up on cats 1 or 2 would be when a Vigilante or an A3 would be coming in. Those planes were really big and there was a possibility of a landing plane hitting the tail of a cat-shot.

Lining up and hitting the angle portion of the flight deck is nearly as easy as coming straight in like one of the old carriers. Notice how far aft (towards to rear) the island on the USS Ford is sitting?!
John