The Basket
Senior Master Sergeant
- 3,712
- Jun 27, 2007
Someone should write a 5,000 word essay on this subject entitled 50 ways to die stupid.
Taking Off at Sea without a Carrier
- Thread starter GregP
- Start date
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They say there's an eighteen inch tall glideslope "window" over the fantail to be certain of a trap on a modern carrier. Even though the speeds are slower and the distances shorter, this looks equally dicey, especially in an L5. It's a lot more airplane than an L4 Cub. We had both at mech school. Our L5 had a particularly cantankerous Franklin engine, which I would never have wanted to operate over water. They would not be easy to egress from in the drink.
Can you imagine operating this system with any kind of a seaway going? More "fun" than a barrel of baboons. Y'all have fun now, hear?
Can you imagine operating this system with any kind of a seaway going? More "fun" than a barrel of baboons. Y'all have fun now, hear?
Escuadrilla Azul
Staff Sergeant
- 1,487
- Feb 27, 2020
That is what I thought when I saw. Pretty tricky in daylight fair weather and calm water, imagine in choppy water with fog or darkness approaching.
Frankly, don't see the need, not even for the trials. USAAF could borrow a small seaplane from USN, use an autogyro or even a primitive helo for the kind of missions a L-4 or L-5 could perform.
Not surprising it didn't last long.
The Basket
Senior Master Sergeant
- 3,712
- Jun 27, 2007
You could say any landing is dicey at sea at night in fog and bad weather.
If this had been proper developed then maybe it would have utility.
So although the case could be this poor it's certainly no more stupid than hanging a fighter from a blimp.
If this had been proper developed then maybe it would have utility.
So although the case could be this poor it's certainly no more stupid than hanging a fighter from a blimp.
Admiral Beez
Captain
The LST carriers make more sense. This should be easy enough to land on.
USS LST-906 - Wikipedia
Last edited:
Escuadrilla Azul
Staff Sergeant
- 1,487
- Feb 27, 2020
Well, hanging a fighter from a blimp could be useful when you don't have a plane with the endurance to escort it (or if you want to attack a distant and heavyly defended target, as the soviets do with the TB-3 and the I-16 in the Zveno).
In this particular case, I think that there were other approachs by the date more useful, less risky and less cumbersome.
Barrett
Senior Airman
Sidebar:
The Quora Idiot Quotion is clean off the scale. But I reckon this one makes the finals:
"How does an aircraft carrier take off from the runway?"
Right alongside
"What role did the air play in the Battle of Britain?"
"How many propellers did a Spitfire have" seems downright lucid by comparison!
However: there are enough pilots, engineers, historians, and even carrier captains to make Quora sorta worthwhile.
The Quora Idiot Quotion is clean off the scale. But I reckon this one makes the finals:
"How does an aircraft carrier take off from the runway?"
Right alongside
"What role did the air play in the Battle of Britain?"
"How many propellers did a Spitfire have" seems downright lucid by comparison!
However: there are enough pilots, engineers, historians, and even carrier captains to make Quora sorta worthwhile.
GrauGeist
Generalfeldmarschall zur Luftschiff Abteilung
Quora is not alone - Reddit, Facebook and many other places are inhabited by people with an amazing shortfall of education.
History according to random people...
Snautzer01
Honourably banned
- 38,227
- Mar 26, 2007
Spice it up with a jato and you have a winner.
SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
How does an aircraft carrier take off from a runway?
The Basket
Senior Master Sergeant
- 3,712
- Jun 27, 2007
Trebuchet
GrauGeist
Generalfeldmarschall zur Luftschiff Abteilung
SaparotRob
Unter Gemeine Geschwader Murmeltier XIII
Gesundheit.
bdefen
Senior Airman
And be sure to let go of the rope:
swampyankee
Chief Master Sergeant
- 3,954
- Jun 25, 2013
Take off from the ocean without an aircraft carrier?
One of these, perhaps?
From Shin Meiwa PS-1 / US-1 - avionslegendaires.net
One of these, perhaps?
From Shin Meiwa PS-1 / US-1 - avionslegendaires.net
GreenKnight121
Senior Airman
- 598
- Mar 16, 2014
Ummm... I don't think an LST had much of a reverse speed, so I'd say "Not easy at all to land on", thanks to the superstructure and mast aft of the take-off deck.The LST carriers make more sense. This should be easy enough to land on.
USS LST-906 - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
LST-906 was one of six LSTs to be converted. The others being LST-16, LST-158, LST-337, LST-386, and LST-525.
Admiral Beez
Captain
I was thinking that with the Piper Cub's stall speed of 38 mph, the LST's speed of 13 mph (12 knots) and trusting on a 20-25 mph wind, the aircraft could land back on at almost VTOL speed.
Didn't work out well for RNAS Squadron Commander Dunning in 1917. Succeeded on 2 Aug 1917 in making the first carrier landing around Furious's superstructure onto her forward flying off deck. Died trying it again 5 days later. The idea was dropped and Furious was refitted with a landing on deck aft instead.
en.m.wikipedia.org
Edwin Harris Dunning - Wikipedia
I love the Cub, you can do amazing things with it, but this is one I wouldn't want to try. This one's for armchair theorists and DCS "aces" only. Plus, 20-25 mph winds aren't trustworthy enough to justify modifying a ship like this, and if you get that bucket going 12 knots into that wind, with its accompanying chop, you won't have a stable deck to land on.
Pitching decks are hard enough to land on with the help of a gyro stabilized meatball. Doing it over the superstructure, with the turbulence it generates in the 40 mph airflow when you're less than 5 mph above stall, and your "runway" narrower than your wingspan and heaving up and down?
"No, no, no, it ain't me, babe! It ain't me you're looking for, babe, it ain't me your looking for!"
