The Really Bad Ideas Thread

Weaver · February 06, 2018, 04:09:25 AM

Hmm. I was sure I had a thread like this long ago, but I can't find it. Maybe it was on another site? Maybe I'm just incompetent? Maybe asking endless rhetorical questions is a Really Bad Idea in itself, so this is the perfect place to keep doing it? Will this ever stop?

Anyway, the idea is that this is a repository for all your really bad, but funny (possibly in a malicious kind of way), ideas. The sort of ideas that cross your mind for a hot second while you're turning parts over in your head and/or your hands, and which you normally consign to the Recycle Bin of your mind. This is the place, you kick that bin over and see what falls out.

Please put up a new post for each idea, rather than lists, so that people can quote-reply specifically and it doesn't get horribly confusing.

Weaver · February 06, 2018, 04:16:05 AM

First up, an idea that germinated/spawned on the Supermarine Swift/Attacker thread:

Double Undercarriage.

The idea is to have wheel on the top side of an aircraft as well as the bottom, in case you accidentally land it upside-down. It strikes me that the perfect subject for this is the Boulton-Paul Defiant. Why? because WWII night-fighters suffered a lot of non-combat losses due to the pilot becoming disorientated due to some combination of instrument failure, heavy cloud and a moonless night. Since a Defiant's outer wings are empty anyway, they're the perfect place to mount a pair of Spitfire-style inboard-hinged undercarriage legs that extend upwards. Instead of a tail wheel, the fin could be fitted with a heavy steel tip to act as a landing skid.

Weaver · February 06, 2018, 04:19:10 AM

Bad Nuclear Bombers.

Okay I said no lists, but this is an exception since they're all really the same idea on different platforms. What's the daftest thing you can think of to hang a nuke from, i.e. something that can barely get out of it's own way, never mind the shockwave of the nuke it just dropped?

Suggestions on the Cold War GB 2018 discussion/inspiration threads have included:

Gloster Gladiator
Fairey Swordfish

I'd also add the following:

Any airship
Any dive-bomber
Any glider

Weaver · February 06, 2018, 04:23:35 AM

Close Air Support Glider.

Speaking of gliders, how about a heavily armed one that can swoop around, straffing, bombing and rocketing enemy troops for ten minutes or so, before inevitably landing right next to them? I'm sure the soldiers who've just been bombed will always be professional-enough to respect the Hague Convention so the pilot has nothing to worry about. Right?

Snowtrooper · February 06, 2018, 04:32:48 AM

Quote from: Weaver on February 06, 2018, 04:19:10 AM
hat's the daftest thing you can think of to hang a nuke from, i.e. something that can barely get out of it's own way, never mind the shockwave of the nuke it just dropped?

Well the USAF at one point seriously considered clearing A-10 for carrying "special" stores...

sandiego89 · February 06, 2018, 05:05:43 AM

Not sure we ever had a dedicated string here, but I have nominated the "bad idea" theme for Group Builds for the past few years, but it never quite gets the vote count. Think it could be a fun theme. We even has some real world examples like ramming fighters, nuke armed Wasp helicopters, project Pluto....

tigercat · February 06, 2018, 05:19:30 AM

wasn't there a suggestion of rubberized carrier decks and undercarriage less aircraft

Weaver · February 06, 2018, 05:37:41 AM

Quote from: tigercat on February 06, 2018, 05:19:30 AM
wasn't there a suggestion of rubberized carrier decks and undercarriage less aircraft

Yep the RN played with it in the late '40s/early '50s. Even got as far as full scale trials using a Sea Vampire as the test aircraft. On it's own terms it worked (i.e. the aircraft landed and took off successfully, but the wider problem was that, without undercarriage, you couldn't land at, or take off from, any normal airfield that didn't have a 'rubber runway', and with undercarriage to allow that, there was no advantage. Tad limiting.....

tigercat · February 06, 2018, 06:17:49 AM

plus shifting it around a hangar deck would have been fun

NARSES2 · February 06, 2018, 06:20:14 AM

Quote from: Weaver on February 06, 2018, 04:23:35 AM
Close Air Support Glider.

Speaking of gliders, how about a heavily armed one that can swoop around, straffing, bombing and rocketing enemy troops for ten minutes or so, before inevitably landing right next to them? I'm sure the soldiers who've just been bombed will always be professional-enough to respect the Hague Convention so the pilot has nothing to worry about. Right?

Not close air support but the German's did build and test the Bv 40 glider interceptor and one proposal for future development of the idea was to equip them with under wing bombs. Thus equipped two were to be flown to the combat zone under the wings of an He 177 . So it was seriously thought about and I'm sure the Japanese thought about it as well but their's was probably intended to be a suicide mission ?

And yes there is a similar thread to this floating around somewhere. I'll see if I can find it and merge them.

Chris

NARSES2 · February 06, 2018, 06:23:16 AM

Quote from: Weaver on February 06, 2018, 05:37:41 AM
Quote from: tigercat on February 06, 2018, 05:19:30 AM
wasn't there a suggestion of rubberized carrier decks and undercarriage less aircraft

Yep the RN played with it in the late '40s/early '50s. Even got as far as full scale trials using a Sea Vampire as the test aircraft. On it's own terms it worked (i.e. the aircraft landed and took off successfully, but the wider problem was that, without undercarriage, you couldn't land at, or take off from, any normal airfield that didn't have a 'rubber runway', and with undercarriage to allow that, there was no advantage. Tad limiting.....

There is some footage around of the tests, I saw it on a BBC 4 programe a couple of years ago. I'm also certain that I've read that during one of the tests the landing aircraft bounced off the dummy deck ?

Quote from: tigercat on February 06, 2018, 06:17:49 AM
plus shifting it around a hangar deck would have been fun

Not a great problem once you've got it back onto its take off trolley. Wouldn't have fancied being in the deck crew though

tigercat · February 06, 2018, 09:18:06 AM

the Me 323 escort gunship

TomZ · February 06, 2018, 09:26:27 AM

Quote from: NARSES2 on February 06, 2018, 06:23:16 AM
There is some footage around of the tests, I saw it on a BBC 4 programe a couple of years ago. I'm also certain that I've read that during one of the tests the landing aircraft bounced off the dummy deck ?

Here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7Lu6LEQ0zo

TomZ

Scotaidh · February 06, 2018, 01:08:32 PM

The Battleship Aircraft Carrier.

poru48 · February 06, 2018, 01:35:10 PM

Hyman Rickover's dream of a nuclear powered submarine force was still-born. Although there were many advances in diesel technology over the years, attack submarines required frequent refueling. This was particularly true of the two attack boats then assigned to each of the carrier battle groups. Due to the need for the carrier battle
group to remain mobile at all times, sailors skills were frequently tested while conducting underway replenishment alongside a "United States" class CVA.