Multi Aircraft ZELL Idea

[Cobra]

Hey Guys, What If Someone went 'GA' and Built a Multi Aircraft ZELL Vehicle? would it be with Wheels,Tracks,Hover? all the Threads on ZELL got me to Wondering if Anyone Ever thought about Launching 2,3,or 4 Aircraft at Once?  Just something also wondered about for a while. What Models would Work? Thanks for looking.Dan

[TsrJoe]

hmm, thinking here of the multi launcher space interceptors from the opening of the Dan Dare 'Man from Nowhere' trilogy series 

[Weaver]

Hmm... a mobile ZELL launcher for one aircraft would be pretty big, so for several, it'd be vast. That would tend to imply tracks just to deal with the weight.

The general real-world problem with giant vehicles comes when they want to interact with the normal vehicle infrastructure. i.e. bridges, roads with buildings/fences/poles/wire right next to them or over them. No point having a giant multi-ZELL crawler that has to take a 3 hour diversion around town when a convoy of single-ZELL launchers can drive right through it. Just about the only place it might work is in either a desert or the arctic/antarctic, but it would then be a pretty conspicuous target.

How about a road-train style vehicle, which only has the width and ground pressure of a convoy of single-ZELLs but the efficiency of only one cab and one really big engine? For that matter, how about a train?

[Mossie]

Well, knowing Dan is a fan of Gerry Anderson stuff, how about a hidden base in the side of a mountain or hill?  A camouflaged hatch opens up in the side of the mountain, a ZELL track moves out with about five aircraft on it.  As they launch, it retracts into the mountainside for ready to be loaded with another batch of interceptors.  Several tracks work in unison to maintain the launch rate.  The mountain serves as both a camouflage & protection from bombardment.

Recovery?  Knock yourself out.  Runway tunnel cut into the side of the mountain, preferably not at ground level.  Interceptors do a Pugachev's Cobra manouvere into the top of a hollowed out volcano to be caught by an elaborate trapeze or tractor beam.  Plunge into a lake, go into submarine mode & are craned out back in the bowels of the mountain.

Perfect for Gerry or the Manga boys! 

[jcf]

Here is what Joe is referring to:

[Caveman]

Hmm... a mobile ZELL launcher for one aircraft would be pretty big, so for several, it'd be vast. That would tend to imply tracks just to deal with the weight.

How about a road-train style vehicle, which only has the width and ground pressure of a convoy of single-ZELLs but the efficiency of only one cab and one really big engine? For that matter, how about a train?

It doesnt have to be big, that is sort of the point...



Found this trailor which I guess could be used as your suggestion of a land train of them. I would have thought that it would be of more flexibility to not have all of the aircraft behind one "tractor".