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F-111 bombers flying from carriers ?
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 ? Remember the 1986 raid on Libya ? Our F-111 bombers had to fly about 4,000 miles from their bases in Great Britain. Or would the F-111 have been too big ? I'm not talking about storing the planes below the carrier deck, or about having them return to the carrier and land on it. But would it have been possible to have a special mission and have F-111's take off from a carrier ? |
#2
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"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 ? Possibly but why bother ? Extending strike range are what tankers and in flight refuelling gear were developed for. Keith |
#3
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In article , Mike
wrote: Remember the famous World War 2 raid when those B-24 bombers were placed on the USS Hornet and sent to bomb Japan ? ....the "30 seconds over Tokyo" raid. 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 ? Why bother when the F-111 could be ariel refueled? Remember the 1986 raid on Libya ? Our F-111 bombers had to fly about 4,000 miles from their bases in Great Britain. Thanks to French faggots that wouldn't give us permission to overfly their precious country. Next time, we should just bomb Paris and get it over with. Perhaps they would have been more cooprative if we would have let the Nazis stay there for a few more years. Or would the F-111 have been too big ? I'm not talking about storing the planes below the carrier deck, or about having them return to the carrier and land on it. The F-111 was supposed to have a Navy version that was carrier ready, but it never got off the drawing board. It was just too heavy to be workable. The F-14 ended up doing the job. The F-111 and C-130 are different kinds of planes. The C-130 is a prop plane, and it has enough horsepower to do a short field take-off. It can even be fitted with RATO bottles to help decrease the take-off distance. The F-111, however, needs to get up to speed in order to take off, and it takes great deal longer amount of runway to do so as compared with the C-130. A carrier just wouldn't be long enough. But would it have been possible to have a special mission and have F-111's take off from a carrier ? Again, it just wouldn't be worth the effort. The only scheme that I can see is that you would modify a number of F-111's with a beefed up nose gear, and cat launch it with a near zero fuel load. That might be light enough to get off of the deck. Once you get airborne, then you would have to hit a tanker right away. But if you have to tank anyway, why bother with the carrier? -john- -- ================================================== ================== John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708 Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com ================================================== ================== |
#4
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"John A. Weeks III" wrote in message ... The F-111 was supposed to have a Navy version that was carrier ready, but it never got off the drawing board. It was just too heavy to be workable. The F-14 ended up doing the job. It got a bit further than the drawing boaed. Seven F-111Bs were completed and one did make a few carrier landings and takeoffs. |
#5
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Here is a url or two for everyone wrt F-111B
http://www.mozeyoninn.com/Ginter/NAVAL/NF41.htm http://f-111.net/t_no_B.htm Mark "John A. Weeks III" wrote in message ... In article , Mike wrote: Remember the famous World War 2 raid when those B-24 bombers were placed on the USS Hornet and sent to bomb Japan ? ...the "30 seconds over Tokyo" raid. 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 ? Why bother when the F-111 could be ariel refueled? Remember the 1986 raid on Libya ? Our F-111 bombers had to fly about 4,000 miles from their bases in Great Britain. Thanks to French faggots that wouldn't give us permission to overfly their precious country. Next time, we should just bomb Paris and get it over with. Perhaps they would have been more cooprative if we would have let the Nazis stay there for a few more years. Or would the F-111 have been too big ? I'm not talking about storing the planes below the carrier deck, or about having them return to the carrier and land on it. The F-111 was supposed to have a Navy version that was carrier ready, but it never got off the drawing board. It was just too heavy to be workable. The F-14 ended up doing the job. The F-111 and C-130 are different kinds of planes. The C-130 is a prop plane, and it has enough horsepower to do a short field take-off. It can even be fitted with RATO bottles to help decrease the take-off distance. The F-111, however, needs to get up to speed in order to take off, and it takes great deal longer amount of runway to do so as compared with the C-130. A carrier just wouldn't be long enough. But would it have been possible to have a special mission and have F-111's take off from a carrier ? Again, it just wouldn't be worth the effort. The only scheme that I can see is that you would modify a number of F-111's with a beefed up nose gear, and cat launch it with a near zero fuel load. That might be light enough to get off of the deck. Once you get airborne, then you would have to hit a tanker right away. But if you have to tank anyway, why bother with the carrier? -john- -- ================================================== ================== John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708 Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com ================================================== ================== |
#6
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"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 ? They were B-25s. 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 ? Remember the 1986 raid on Libya ? Our F-111 bombers had to fly about 4,000 miles from their bases in Great Britain. Or would the F-111 have been too big ? I'm not talking about storing the planes below the carrier deck, or about having them return to the carrier and land on it. But would it have been possible to have a special mission and have F-111's take off from a carrier ? Possible? Sure. The F-111B was intended for the Navy from the start, seven were finished and it did make a few carrier landings and takeoffs, although after the Navy had withdrawn from the program. But there's no advantage in putting a high speed, long-range, air-refuelable strike aircraft on a slow speed mobile airbase. Just fly 'em there. |
#7
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#8
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"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 ? 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. To quote an un-named F-111 expert "Yes, you could land an (Australian) F-111 on a carrier *ONCE* as the stresses would probably ground the aircraft forever more". Of course, until it is done we'd never know.......... Remember the 1986 raid on Libya ? Our F-111 bombers had to fly about 4,000 miles from their bases in Great Britain. Could simply do air-to-air refueling. Or would the F-111 have been too big ? I'm not talking about storing the planes below the carrier deck, or about having them return to the carrier and land on it. The idea was to use them as carrier aircraft... But would it have been possible to have a special mission and have F-111's take off from a carrier ? Probably in a "Doolittle" situation. I'm sure you could fit some JATO/RATO equivalents if need be, remember the Doolittle raid was essentially a one way trip. -- The Raven http://www.80scartoons.co.uk/batfinkquote.mp3 ** President of the ozemail.* and uunet.* NG's ** since August 15th 2000. |
#9
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"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. To quote an un-named F-111 expert "Yes, you could land an (Australian) F-111 on a carrier *ONCE* as the stresses would probably ground the aircraft forever more". Of course, until it is done we'd never know.......... The scenario presented here doesn't include landing on the carrier, just launching from it. |
#10
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"Steven P. McNicoll" wrote in message
thlink.net... "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. 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. 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. Probably. To quote an un-named F-111 expert "Yes, you could land an (Australian) F-111 on a carrier *ONCE* as the stresses would probably ground the aircraft forever more". Of course, until it is done we'd never know.......... The scenario presented here doesn't include landing on the carrier, just launching from it. True. I thought it work mentioning in reference to carrier ops and tailhooks -- The Raven http://www.80scartoons.co.uk/batfinkquote.mp3 ** President of the ozemail.* and uunet.* NG's ** since August 15th 2000. |
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