Mystery - Jet Powered Sailplane - Van Nuys Airport

"Paul Remde" wrote in message
news:XDV2f.237781$084.175922@attbi_s22...
Hi Wayne,

I'm curious - why was that landing interesting? I would think it would
land
much more slowly than most other planes.


It does land slower; however, it doesn't have a tail hook to stop it. It
doesn't have the usual trucks that run down the runway along side to catch
the wings. The starboard wing comes mighty close to the island and the
port wing tip wheel outrigger is out over the water.

To land, the ship turns into the wind and generated about 20 kts of wind
across the deck. It lands, then a mass of deck hands run out and grab it to
keep it from blowing away while they tie it down.

It is much more impressive than seeing a C-130 land and go to full reverse
to stop prior to running of the angle deck. At least the C-130 has a wing
load heavy enough to not get blown around and has the ability to taxi.

Wayne

Bob Kuykendall wrote:
Earlier, Pete S wrote:


It is a U2 with wing tanks...


I disagree. I think that the others have nailed it; it's the GROB
Egret.

Strangely enough, there are two registered in the US:

N520EG (Gentran Corp)
N520DM (Raytheon E Systems)

I wonder what they're up to 8^)

Marc Ramsey wrote:
Strangely enough, there are two registered in the US:

N520EG (Gentran Corp)
N520DM (Raytheon E Systems)

I wonder what they're up to 8^)

That was easy:

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/row/egrett.htm

Marc

Definitely not a U2. And Van Nuys is where I would expect Raytheon to
base their Grob.

meant to include ... the planform is way too narrow for the U2, which
is wide at the wing root and tapers noticably to the wingtip. I've
spent some time admiring SR-71s and U2s over the years and the Van Nuys
photo does not look like a U2.

Very interesting find though!

I agree. Definitely not a U2. Look at the canopy location.


wrote in message
oups.com...
Definitely not a U2. And Van Nuys is where I would expect Raytheon to
base their Grob.

On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 15:48:00 -0600, "Wayne Paul"
wrote:

This is an interesting description of the U2 carrier trials:
http://www.afa.org/magazine/feb2001/...ane_print.html

It does land slower; however, it doesn't have a tail hook to stop it.

Although the very first carrier trial used an unmodified U-2A without
arresting gear, the U-2G and U-2R had:
http://www.afa.org/magazine/feb2001/0201spy3.jpg

Was the arresting gear removed later?




Bye
Andreas

Interesting!? I don't remember the hook? It has been a long time since
1964! However, I do remember the swarm of deck hands pushing out of the
landing zone.

Wayne
HP-14 N990 "6F"
http://www.soaridaho.com/

"Andreas Maurer" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 11 Oct 2005 15:48:00 -0600, "Wayne Paul"
wrote:

This is an interesting description of the U2 carrier trials:
http://www.afa.org/magazine/feb2001/...ane_print.html

It does land slower; however, it doesn't have a tail hook to stop it.

Although the very first carrier trial used an unmodified U-2A without
arresting gear, the U-2G and U-2R had:
http://www.afa.org/magazine/feb2001/0201spy3.jpg

Was the arresting gear removed later?




Bye
Andreas