Floatplane F-6f Or Firefly?

[ysi_maniac]

Hey, that Blenheim on floats is a beauty

[Archibald]

How about Jeanne D'Arc carrying an airwing of floatplane Alizes? It could probably accomodate 8 Alizes, and a couple of Allouetes for SAR work. They would make for a good ASW escort for the Foch and Clemenceau, and make for excellent ASW carriers for the N. Atlantic...

A similar option might even work for the UK (though it would be a stretch to see it happening), with the UK operating floatplane Fairey Gannets alongside Sea Kings and Wessexes. They could operate as ASW carriers, but be able to carry AEW versions as well, to give a carrier some extra screening. Perhaps a new class of cruiser, along the lines of the Jeanne D'Arc, but with full AAW capability.

I'm sure someone mentioned recently on this forum that the floatplane AEW Gannet had been proposed at Falkland war times...

I'll be glad to enter a such a group build GTX  

[dy031101]

How about Jeanne D'Arc carrying an airwing of floatplane Alizes? It could probably accomodate 8 Alizes, and a couple of Allouetes for SAR work. They would make for a good ASW escort for the Foch and Clemenceau, and make for excellent ASW carriers for the N. Atlantic...

A similar option might even work for the UK (though it would be a stretch to see it happening), with the UK operating floatplane Fairey Gannets alongside Sea Kings and Wessexes. They could operate as ASW carriers, but be able to carry AEW versions as well, to give a carrier some extra screening. Perhaps a new class of cruiser, along the lines of the Jeanne D'Arc, but with full AAW capability.

I'm sure someone mentioned recently on this forum that the floatplane AEW Gannet had been proposed at Falkland war times...

Alize and Gannet both feature under-fuselage radar radomes...... would the addition of floats interfere with radar operations and therefore necessiate relocation of their radomes?

[Lawman]

Very true, it would pose a major problem. One possibility might be to switch to an overhead radome, a la Sea Kings, or a dispersed array - i.e. one radar towards the front, looking through 180+ degrees, and one aft, looking through 180 degrees. This could get round the problems, since the two arrays would be clear of the floats...

[dy031101]

Actually I've been thinking floatplane variants of S-2 Tracker and E-1 Tracer.  But now that I thought about it, Gannet and Alize floatplanes in ASW and AEW flavours...... I'm trying to imagine a way...... ASW variants of Gannet and Alize floatplanes can most likely use underwing antenna pods, but AEW variants.......

[elmayerle]

Well, depending on how good your hydraulic systems are, why not something that retracts the floats upward, closer to the wing (telescoping fairings on the struts, obviously) at the same time the radome is lowered from the fuselage (like the "M&M" radome of the EP-3 can be)?  In both cases, the raising and lowering would be done mechanically with hydraulically driven rotary actuators (again, much as the "M&M" is).

[GTX]

Maybe something similar to the Blackburn B.20:




See more here along with a Whiff version.

Regards,

Greg