I am going to guess that those were something to do with cat shots. Pre 70’s era naval aircraft had a different hook up for the catapult, those things were meant to catch them i believe.
Declan
That may be true, but it should be pointed out that they were still there circa 1985.
This was answered in another thread, not by me. http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=155625&highlight=aircraft+carrier
Short answer it they were used with a system that captured the launch bridles from older type aircraft to keep from tossing the things away on each launch. The '81 cruise on the Connie was the last time I saw planes that used the bridle system, A3 whales. Aside from the ancient, piston engine C1 traders these were the only planes not setup for the modern launch bar system that I saw on carriers.
IIRC the ship had the projections from the deck but not the gear to capture the bridles but I was working on different things and didn’t give it much though at the time.