MOTORWAYS AS RUNWAYS

[kitnut617]

I was told that back in the 1970's a pilot of a Boeing 707 mistook the A40 for a runway and thought that RAF Northolt was Heathrow. The passengers went by coach and their cheif test piolt flew the stripped out 707 to Heathrow, minus seats. They had to lay metal sheets as the runway isn't long enough for a 707 to take off from.

It was actually back in the 60's, here's a link to a pic of it taking off afterwards.

http://www.abpic.co.uk/photo/1001607/

If you read the text at the bottom, it took off on minimum fuel about two hours after it landed, it doesn't say anything about all the seats being taken out or metal sheets being laid down anywhere.

[rallymodeller]

So what kind of work needs to be done to make a roadway suitable for runways?  Not the big bombers, but interceptors and such.  How thick do you need the concrete/asphalt/whatever, and how wide should it be?  (Landing and takeoff runs of your aircraft provide obvious minimum lengths of straights of course)

Depends -- the main differences between a runway and a well-built motorway are the width and camber (the amount of "crown" a road has to shed water). Runways are wider and flatter than roads for obvious reasons. Other than that, most fighters and smaller aircraft would have little trouble with the road itself.

Heavies is where it gets complicated, with load ratings and such. 

[Meteorit]

Here's a recent (2010) Finnish official guide on road runway construction and maintenance: http://portal.liikennevirasto.fi/portal/page/portal/9423784707A667F8E040B40A1B0136CD. It's in Finnish but at least it has some interesting drawings.

[rickshaw]

Montana Highway 16 from Culbertson to Medicine Lake had not so much as a bend over its 20+ miles for the first 50 or so years of its existance.    One could put some fanciful large, very high speed Republic interceptors designed to thwart the Russians in the farmer's barns yes?   Especially since Med. Lake is only about 35 miles south of the Canadian/US border and the road runs perfectly north/south.

Yes, they changed the road up a bit adding a bend here and there for safety's sake.   

Made me smile  - in Britain they're usually taking bends out for safety's sake....

Downunder, if we don't add bends, people go to sleep:

I dunno, no forward planning: if you'd left the original straight bit in as well, you could have made a runway out of it....

It looks like that is what has been done.  See the short piece of cleared runway along the original stretch, with a road leading from the town on the right?

Its what they did, as I alluded to earlier with RAAF TINDAL.

[Weaver]

It looks like that is what has been done.  See the short piece of cleared runway along the original stretch, with a road leading from the town on the right?

Why only leave such a short section? It could have been twice as long and still had plenty of clearance with the road, and grubbing up less of it would have been less work, not more.

I don't think that's a town; more of a truck stop. Look at the size of it in proportion to the road itself, plus it must have been built after the road diversion, otherwise it would have been at the old crossroads, not the new one.

[GTX]

Belarussian Road Operations:





regards,

Greg

[rickshaw]

It looks like that is what has been done.  See the short piece of cleared runway along the original stretch, with a road leading from the town on the right?

Why only leave such a short section? It could have been twice as long and still had plenty of clearance with the road, and grubbing up less of it would have been less work, not more.

You don't need to grub it up downunder.  A few years and nature does it for you. 

I don't think that's a town; more of a truck stop. Look at the size of it in proportion to the road itself, plus it must have been built after the road diversion, otherwise it would have been at the old crossroads, not the new one.

The concept of a town is relative.  I think you'll find we call a pub and a road house a "town". 

[GTX]

Some more photos of Roadway Ops:

Pakistan:




Singapore:




Regards,

Greg

[icchan]

And they said the flying car is a dream!

[PR19_Kit]

There's something TOTALLY bizarre about seeing an E-2 taxying along a road with its wings folded! 

[McColm]

How many free glasses would they get from the service station?
Thanks for the pic-RAF Northolt.

[Thiel]

How many free glasses would they get from the service station?
Thanks for the pic-RAF Northolt.

Back in the fifties, one of the Danish Army's spotting planes had to make an emergency landing on a farm road because someone had screwed up during the refuelling.
Now, standard procedure would be to call one of the recovery teams and get them to pick you up, but this was during an exercise with the West Germans and the pilot had a job to do.
So instead he walked to the nearest farm and convinced the farmer to tow him to the nearest gas station where he refuelled his aircraft and got on with his job.

[GTX]

There's something TOTALLY bizarre about seeing an E-2 taxying along a road with its wings folded! 

How else do you expect him to park it in his garage...?

Regards,

Greg

[Rheged]

So what kind of work needs to be done to make a roadway suitable for runways?  Not the big bombers, but interceptors and such.  How thick do you need the concrete/asphalt/whatever, and how wide should it be?  (Landing and takeoff runs of your aircraft provide obvious minimum lengths of straights of course)

Dare I at this point introduce the Harrier, operating from a tennis court?.............it would liven up Wimbledon if nothing else!

[icchan]

Dare I at this point introduce the Harrier, operating from a tennis court?.............it would liven up Wimbledon if nothing else!

Hey, as long as McEnroe goes home crying, go for it.