Wildcat on the Ronald Reagan

"Dudhorse" wrote:

"Charles Talleyrand" wrote
in message
...
Suppose someone tried to land an F4F Wildcat
on a modern American
aircraft carrier. We'll give the carrier
a few hours to prepare, and lets
assume
the carrier is at sea and moving.

Can a WWII fighter land on a modern carrier?
Can it get back in the air?

... cannot think of a reason why not for both
landing & launch; compared
to the WWII carriers a Nimitz class flightdeck
would be huge!!



It's been done befo in August 1995 USS Carl Vinson sailed to Pearl Harbor
to take part in ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary of the end of the
war, and a dozen warbirds embarked on the cruise Two B-25s, two TBMs, 3 or
4 Corsairs, an F8F, two P-40s, and a pair of Mustangs were aboard. One of
the B-25s didn't launch when an engine blew, but all other warbirds launched
off Oahu, and landed at Hickam AFB. They then launched from Hickam after
the ceremonies were over and recovered aboard the carrier. All of the warbird
pilots had done FCLP to get used to carrier landing procedures and techniques.

And they didn't need arrester gear.

Posted via www.My-Newsgroups.com - web to news gateway for usenet access!

ANDREW ROBERT BREEN wrote:
snip ISTR the fleet Air Arm museum's Swordfish landing on and taking
off from Illustrious a year or so ago as part of the commemoration of the
60th anniversary of the Taranto raid - which of course would not present
any problem to a Stringbag as Illustrious, while smaller than US carriers,
is a lot bigger than many of the ships Swordfish operated from.

Really? Got a reference for that? The WWII Lusty didn't have a sodding
great ramp on the bow like the current one does. I'm sure the FAA never
got clearance for the Swordfish to do ski-jumps in WWII so when was the
appropriate clearance work done?

In article ,
NoHoverStop wrote:

ANDREW ROBERT BREEN wrote:
snip ISTR the fleet Air Arm museum's Swordfish landing on and taking
off from Illustrious a year or so ago as part of the commemoration of the
60th anniversary of the Taranto raid - which of course would not present
any problem to a Stringbag as Illustrious, while smaller than US carriers,
is a lot bigger than many of the ships Swordfish operated from.

Really? Got a reference for that? The WWII Lusty didn't have a sodding
great ramp on the bow like the current one does. I'm sure the FAA never
got clearance for the Swordfish to do ski-jumps in WWII so when was the
appropriate clearance work done?

Nope, completely off the top of my head and from memory. Given the
take-off and landing run for the Stringbag there should have been more
than ehough deck before it reached the ramp, either in take off or
landing, and there was certainly a Stringbag on Lusty for the Taranto
60th. I support it's possible that it either landed on and was taken off
in harbour, or vice versa, or harbour lofted on and off - in which case
I'm confusing it with an earlier Taranto anniversary when a Swordfish
certainly flew onto and off a more modern 'carrier - Eagle or Park Royal,
maybe. I've certainly seen photographs of a Stringbag on the deck of the
current Lusty, and it's possible I've conflated it with accouints of
earlier landings-on to more or less modern 'carriers.

--
Andy Breen ~ Interplanetary Scintillation Research Group
http://users.aber.ac.uk/azb/
"Time has stopped, says the Black Lion clock
and eternity has begun" (Dylan Thomas)

Considering that a Wildcat had a tail hook, why not? As for the
optical system, it'd take about a 5 minute chalk talk to show a WW2
pilot how it worked and what to do. We USAF drivers didn't get any
briefing at all and we used to use the field optical landing system at
Navy Key West, absolute proof that anyone with half a brain can do it,
right? (G)

"ANDREW ROBERT BREEN" wrote in message ...
In article ,
Charles Talleyrand wrote:
Suppose someone tried to land an F4F Wildcat on a modern American
aircraft carrier. We'll give the carrier a few hours to prepare, and lets assume
the carrier is at sea and moving.

Can a WWII fighter land on a modern carrier? Can it get back in the air?

Given the much lower take off and landing speeds of WW2 aircraft, I'd not
think there'd be a problem. At the extreme of low take off and landing
speeds, ISTR the fleet Air Arm museum's Swordfish landing on and taking
off from Illustrious a year or so ago as part of the commemoration of the
60th anniversary of the Taranto raid - which of course would not present
any problem to a Stringbag as Illustrious, while smaller than US carriers,
is a lot bigger than many of the ships Swordfish operated from.

Sure there could be problems. Maybe the arresting cables have grown in
diameter and no longer can be reliably caught by the F4's hook. Maybe
the catapult cannot be dialed down low enough for the light weight
plane, or the connection between them has changed shape
and size. Things become incompatable over time.

If things were still compatable 60 years later that would be
amazing. Things have changed so much since then. Note how
the fuel is different, the O2 systems are different, the ammo is
different, etc.

Of course someone said similar planes have flown off modern
carriers. The question becomes

Did they use the arrresting gear?
Did they use the catapult?

-Thanks

(Walt BJ) wrote:

Considering that a Wildcat had a tail hook, why not? As for the
optical system, it'd take about a 5 minute chalk talk to show a WW2
pilot how it worked and what to do. We USAF drivers didn't get any
briefing at all and we used to use the field optical landing system at
Navy Key West, absolute proof that anyone with half a brain can do it,
right? (G)

Finally. An admission by a USAF pilot that they are a half-brained
lot. Good for you, Walt.

OJ III

Walt- We USAF drivers didn't get any
briefing at all and we used to use the field optical landing system at
Navy Key West, absolute proof that anyone with half a brain can do it,
right? (G) BRBR

USAF-flare to land, squat to pee...

;-l)
P. C. Chisholm
CDR, USN(ret.)
Old Phart Phormer Phantom, Turkey, Viper, Scooter and Combat Buckeye Phlyer

On Thu, 18 Sep 2003 01:35:32 -0400, "Charles Talleyrand"
wrote:

the catapult cannot be dialed down low enough for the light weight
plane, or the connection between them has changed shape
and size.

Many WWII carriers did not have catapults, and the planes operated just fine
without them. What makes you think a catapult is necessary now?

--
Andrew Toppan --- --- "I speak only for myself"
"Haze Gray & Underway" - Naval History, DANFS, World Navies Today,
Photo Features, Military FAQs, and more - http://www.hazegray.org/

I knew they launched off the Carl Vinson, but this is the first time I
heard that they were allowed to recover on the carrier. Hard to believe that
the Navy would risk some civilian pilot slamming into the back of the
carrier or the island superstructure.


"Matt Wiser" wrote in message
news:3f688b24$1@bg2....

"Dudhorse" wrote:

"Charles Talleyrand" wrote
in message
...
Suppose someone tried to land an F4F Wildcat
on a modern American
aircraft carrier. We'll give the carrier
a few hours to prepare, and lets
assume
the carrier is at sea and moving.

Can a WWII fighter land on a modern carrier?
Can it get back in the air?

... cannot think of a reason why not for both
landing & launch; compared
to the WWII carriers a Nimitz class flightdeck
would be huge!!



It's been done befo in August 1995 USS Carl Vinson sailed to Pearl
Harbor
to take part in ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary of the end of the
war, and a dozen warbirds embarked on the cruise Two B-25s, two TBMs, 3 or
4 Corsairs, an F8F, two P-40s, and a pair of Mustangs were aboard. One of
the B-25s didn't launch when an engine blew, but all other warbirds
launched
off Oahu, and landed at Hickam AFB. They then launched from Hickam after
the ceremonies were over and recovered aboard the carrier. All of the
warbird
pilots had done FCLP to get used to carrier landing procedures and
techniques.

And they didn't need arrester gear.

Posted via www.My-Newsgroups.com - web to news gateway for usenet access!

USAF-flare to land, squat to pee...

;-l)
P. C. Chisholm
CDR, USN(ret.)
Old Phart Phormer Phantom, Turkey, Viper, Scooter and Combat Buckeye Phlyer

You know, Old Phart, I once considered going into the USN V12 program,
but then the thought of 6 months on a boat made me go USAF. I really
don't care for guys all that much. Women are softer and smell better,
etc. ;)
Walt BJ