F-111 bombers flying from carriers ?

"The Raven" wrote in message
...

I'm reliabiliy informed they never use the hooks, too much stress on the
airframe. Of course, it would not surprise me if they are trained in their
use with one or two traps.


Reliably informed by whom? The hooks are for emergency use.

"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
thlink.net...

"The Raven" wrote in message
...

I'm reliabiliy informed they never use the hooks, too much stress on the
airframe. Of course, it would not surprise me if they are trained in
their
use with one or two traps.


Reliably informed by whom?

You can't expect much of an answer beyond, someone who works with them.

The hooks are for emergency use.

Of course in an emergency situation you'd use them if you could.

--
The Raven
http://www.80scartoons.co.uk/batfinkquote.mp3
** President of the ozemail.* and uunet.* NG's
** since August 15th 2000.

On Sun, 27 Jul 2003 04:01:40 GMT, "Steven P. McNicoll"
wrote:


"The Raven" wrote in message
...

Presumably so as the F-111 was going to be used as a carrier aircraft.
Note
that F-111's have tail hooks. Australian air aircraft still have them
although the pilots aren't trained for it.


I'm sure Australian F-111 pilots are trained to use the tailhook, just as
their USAF counterparts were. USAF tactical aircraft have been equipped
with tailhooks for quite some time. I imagine the F-111B tailhook was a bit
more substantial than that on the F-111A/D/E/F/G though.

I remember USAF F-4s occasionally used their tailhooks in emergency
situations, but the deployable arresting barrier (imagine a big tennis
net with vertical fabric strips, with the aircraft running into it)
quickly became the preferred method of stopping a brakeless Air Force
bird; far less damage to the airframe, and the landing gear were less
likely to collapse (meaning you could probably tow the bird away in
one big piece instead of sweeping it off the runway).

___
Walter Luffman Medina, TN USA
Amateur curmudgeon, equal-opportunity annoyer

"Walter Luffman" wrote in message
...

I remember USAF F-4s occasionally used their tailhooks in emergency
situations, but the deployable arresting barrier (imagine a big tennis
net with vertical fabric strips, with the aircraft running into it)
quickly became the preferred method of stopping a brakeless Air Force
bird; far less damage to the airframe, and the landing gear were less
likely to collapse (meaning you could probably tow the bird away in
one big piece instead of sweeping it off the runway).


Quickly became the preferred method? Do you mean not long after the F-4
entered USAF service? I was an F-4 crew chief in the 70's, saw several
recoveries where the hook was used, never saw the barrier you describe.
What you describe sounds like the barrier straight-deck carriers used.

"Mike" wrote in message
om...
Remember the famous World War 2 raid when those B-24 bombers were
placed on the USS Hornet and sent to bomb Japan ?

I just got done reading that in 1965 the United States landed C-130
Herculees planes on a US aircraft carrier.

So that got me thinking. I'm not a Navy man or Air Force man, so this
question may sound crazy to some of you, but please at least address
it.

Let's talk hypothetically here. What if, at some point late in the
cold war the United States decided to stage a " Doolittle " type raid
on some country by having a small number of F-111 bombers take off
from a giant Nimitz class carrier. Could it have been done ?

The F-111A had a lot in common with the Carrier capable F-111B Navy model
and might have survived a carrier landing, but it would not have been a good
idea.

The F-111B had a much shorter nose than on the landbased F-111s to allow a
better view of the boat. The F-111B also had some small flaps located on
the wing roots that were present but locked up in the F-111A. These were
required to lower the approach speed a couple of knots to meet the Navy
spec.

The landbased F-111s had less robust tailhooks, and the hooks could not be
raised in flight once released.

I'm pretty sure all F-111s had the same landing gear.

Jim Howard (former EF-111 EWO)
jim [at] grayraven [dot] com

IIRC, the F-111B also had longer wings to reduce the landing speed.

"Jim H" wrote in message
. ..

"Mike" wrote in message
om...
Remember the famous World War 2 raid when those B-24 bombers were
placed on the USS Hornet and sent to bomb Japan ?

I just got done reading that in 1965 the United States landed C-130
Herculees planes on a US aircraft carrier.

So that got me thinking. I'm not a Navy man or Air Force man, so this
question may sound crazy to some of you, but please at least address
it.

Let's talk hypothetically here. What if, at some point late in the
cold war the United States decided to stage a " Doolittle " type raid
on some country by having a small number of F-111 bombers take off
from a giant Nimitz class carrier. Could it have been done ?

The F-111A had a lot in common with the Carrier capable F-111B Navy model
and might have survived a carrier landing, but it would not have been a
good
idea.

The F-111B had a much shorter nose than on the landbased F-111s to allow a
better view of the boat. The F-111B also had some small flaps located on
the wing roots that were present but locked up in the F-111A. These were
required to lower the approach speed a couple of knots to meet the Navy
spec.

The landbased F-111s had less robust tailhooks, and the hooks could not be
raised in flight once released.

I'm pretty sure all F-111s had the same landing gear.

Jim Howard (former EF-111 EWO)
jim [at] grayraven [dot] com

"Jim H" wrote in message

I'm pretty sure all F-111s had the same landing gear.

No, they did not. The F-111B had different gear and different bulkheads in
the gear wells (which implies different structural attachements to the
airframe, I think).

http://f-111.net/t_no_B.htm

Note the drawing at the bottom, which marks landing gear as "peculiar for
F-111B", along with quite a few other bits, including the wing pivots.
--
Tom Schoene Replace "invalid" with "net" to e-mail
"If brave men and women never died, there would be nothing
special about bravery." -- Andy Rooney (attributed)

"Thomas Schoene" waxed lyrical
nk.net:

"Jim H" wrote in message

I'm pretty sure all F-111s had the same landing gear.

No, they did not. The F-111B had different gear and different
bulkheads in the gear wells (which implies different structural
attachements to the airframe, I think).

http://f-111.net/t_no_B.htm

Note the drawing at the bottom, which marks landing gear as "peculiar
for F-111B", along with quite a few other bits, including the wing
pivots. --
Tom Schoene Replace "invalid" with "net" to e-mail
"If brave men and women never died, there would be nothing
special about bravery." -- Andy Rooney (attributed)


--

Didn't the FB-111A and F-111C also have stronger U/C than the A/D/E/F?
--------
Regards
Drewe
Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity

"Jim H" wrote in message
. ..

The F-111A had a lot in common with the Carrier capable F-111B Navy
model and might have survived a carrier landing, but it would not have
been a good idea.


The scenario doesn't require a carrier landing, just a launch.



The F-111B also had some small flaps located on
the wing roots that were present but locked up in the F-111A. These were
required to lower the approach speed a couple of knots to meet the Navy
spec.


All F-111s had these small flaps. They were supposed to retract when the
wings were swept from 16 to 26 degrees, but sometimes failed to do that. So
they were disconnected and locked up.