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The rear of the plane is nearer to the ground, while the front part of the plane is away from the ground (see image below).

Other planes are more flat.

I think it was for high AoA but these planes are carrier operated so I don't think there is much sense for that.

enter image description here
(wikimedia.org)

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    $\begingroup$ Not sure what you’re asking. Are you commenting that it dits nose high in its landing gear? $\endgroup$ Jun 22, 2019 at 14:49
  • $\begingroup$ The landing gears arent the same height which gives the plane a "taildragger posture". Why? $\endgroup$ Jun 22, 2019 at 14:50
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    $\begingroup$ I think most of what you are seeing is just perspective. I think the "flat A4" in the upper right corner may be parked on a hill or something. I'm not sure how the F4 is relevant to the A4 question though? $\endgroup$
    – Ron Beyer
    Jun 22, 2019 at 15:25
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    $\begingroup$ @RonBeyer as an example for an "non tilted" plane $\endgroup$ Jun 22, 2019 at 15:26
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    $\begingroup$ The A-4 had a mechanically-simple but effective high-lift system that relied on gravity and air pressure to automatically deploy. Not sure about the actual mechanism, but I remember reading somewhere that the high pitch angle helped the deployment. $\endgroup$
    – aerobot
    Jun 22, 2019 at 16:20

1 Answer 1

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This was pretty common on naval aircraft from that era which used the launch bridle catapult interface. It gave the aircraft a high angle of attack during launch and helped the aircraft get clear of the bridle at the end of the launch stroke. It's noticeable on a wide variety of aircraft, including the F7U-3, F4D, A-5, F9F, F8, Super Etendard, Buccaneer, F3H, just to name a few.

Even the F-4 did. The nose landing gear oleo strut could be extended to give a nose high squat for cat shots:

enter image description here
(theaviationgeekclub.com)

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