Fitting of RATO pods to the Whitley to assist take off. They were designed and built by RAE at Farnborough and the following is a brief description of them from the report RAE AERO 1838 dated July 43.RAE AERO 1838 dated July 43.2,2 Rocket containerA standard container has been designed by Designs Dept RAE to take 24 3 inch rockets. This container is suitable for giving rocket assistance to bombers at weights of 30,000 lb to 80,000 lb, and to the Hamilcar glider.Photographs of the loaded container installed in the Hamilcar are given in Fig. 2, It consists of a cylinder 25 inches diameter and 4 f t 3.3/4 in, long-of welded steel construction. The rockets are loaded by passing them through a spectacle plate. drilled with 24 3.1/4 in. holes at the rear end and are secured to the front- bulkhead each with a single bolt. The bulkhead consists of a circular plate to which five vertical webs are welded. These webs transfer the thrust to the top of the shell at the forward end, whence the thrust is taken on to the aircraft . An attachment point is provided on the rear of the shell at the top, and struts may be attached at the front and/or rear bulkhead to take the loads due to the (necessarily) offset rocketthrust ,he following is part of the Report's references.4 Ewans & Yates Rocket-assisted take-off tests on a Horsa.RAE Technical Note No Aero 1137(Flight)February, 19435 Hufton, Ewans Rocket-assisted take-off tests on a Stirling.And Warren BA Deptl Note FS No 113November 19416 Ewans & Warren Rocket-assisted take-off tests on a Fulmar.RAE Technical Note No Aero 1022 (Flight)August 19427 Ewans Rocket-assisted take-off tests on a Whitley towing a HorsaRAE Technical Note No Aero 1229 (Flight)July 1945The rockets were the standard 3 inch RP motors without the cruciform tail and warhead, and were fired sequentially for sustained boost rather than all at once in one big (but short) kick.Apart from the Whitley and the Hamilcar mentioned above these pods were also tried on the Horsa.There is photo evidence of RATOG rockets on three glider types Horsa, Hamilcar and Hotspur From the Hamilcar report here is the description of the method of operation.The take-off with the tug and glider is begun in the normal way.When a speed of about 70 m.p.h. has been reached the glider pilot fires the rockets; they will continue firing until a height of about 100 f t. has been reached. At 500 ft the containers may be jettisoned, and will be landed by parachute for re-use. On operational use the glider undercarriage will also be dropped by parachute,After successful trials in February 1943 RATOG had become a standard fitting available for all Seafires, however, the early Griffon-engine Seafires were not allowed to use RATOG at sea unless they were ranged forward of the first crash barrier on deck.