Section D.7: Why do USAF aircraft have tailhooks?
Tailhooks on USAF aircraft do NOT indicate a carrier-landing capability! The purpose of these tailhooks is to help stop the aircraft in the event of brake failure, or some similar accident leading to a runway overrun. Just past the end of many military runways, you’ll find an arrester cable strung across the field. The cable (unlike those on aircraft carriers) isn’t attached to anything firm; instead, each end is linked to a long chain, which just drags on the ground. The idea is to slow the aircraft down in a reasonable distance; the tailhooks on Air Force fighters are smaller and weaker than the superficially similar hooks on Navy planes. The inevitable next question, “Does this mean Air Force planes could land on a carrier in an emergency?”, has been discussed at great length. It has been conclusively established that, no, an Air Force fighter could never land on a carrier because, first, its landing gear is likely to break in the much heavier touchdown required for carrier landings
