My Latest. Not a WHIFF but more of a WTF

[Ed S]

My latest is RW. This is one of those ideas that make you wonder what people were thinking. In the late 40's the FAA experimented with landing aircraft gear up on a carrier with a rubber deck. The DH Sea Vampire was the first jet to make such a landing. As it turned out, the tests proved that the idea would work, but it never went any further. If you are interested, you can google this. Also, there are videos on youtube of the landings. Can you image this becoming standard and something the size of a Phantom, Tomcat or Hawkeye making this kind of landing.





The kit is Cyber Model (DHL) 1/72 DH Sea Vanpire and was nicely molded and fit together well. Fine engraved panel lines and a basic but usable cockpit make a good looking finished model. The base a piece of sheet plastic and the cable is a piece of gray sewing thread, stiffened with white glue and then rubbed with "Rub and Buff" to give it a metallic appearance. The paints are Model Master Acryl in Sky and Dark Sea Gray.  I printed the big "I" decal on the nose with a laser printer.

Ed

[Dizzyfugu]

Nice idea, and an odd concept. IIRC it did not catch on because the handling of the aircraft was, without wheels, a little complicated - esp. when several aircraft were to come in and the runway had to be cleared immediately.

[Thorvic]

Excellent model of an interesting project 

[PR19_Kit]

IIRC the idea was to save weight, the early jets needed to save every ounce they could find.

The pilot of that Sea Vampire was the late Capt. 'Winkle' Brown, just one of his 2271 deck landings.

[Knightflyer]

I seem to remember seeing a picture of (Sea) Vampires stacked against each other, nose down which I think was one of the space-saving ideas to follow on from 'no undercarriage required' deck landings. As Ed S says, imagine doing that with Tomcats, Phantoms etc ..... maybe you could have something like the holders for ice-cream cones and 'deposit' the aircraft in them 

Brilliant model of a crazy (but true) concept 

[Dizzyfugu]

The Vought F6U just followed this "staggering" concept. I did not have foldable wings, but the front wheel leg could be lowered so that the tail would rise and aircraft interleaved in the hangar.

[NARSES2]

Excellent model of an interesting project 

Absolutely  Particularly like the arrestor wire

[Ed S]

Just realized I screwed up and posted the same photo twice.

Here's the other one.



Ed

[Weaver]

Nice model - well done!

The Supermarine 505 (straight-wing ancestor of the Scimitar) was designed to this flexible deck requirement from the start. That's why it had a featureless, curving underside. It had another bizarre feature too: a V-tail whose pitch control was achieved by moving the whole tail cone, with the tail surfaces attached, up and down. The trailing edge surfaces were just trimmers.

The upsides to flexible decks were:

1. Reduced aircraft weight due to lack of undercarriage
2. Greater ability to recover aircraft with damage, since u/c damage wasn't an issue
3. Greater survivability from heavy landings, since the deck provided the shock absorption

The downsides were:

1. Difficulty of handling u/c-less aircraft once landed
2. Inability of u/c-less aircraft to divert to carriers or land bases not equipped with flexible deck gear
3. Inability to cross-deck aircraft with other navies that didn't use flexible decks
4. Handing helicopters

[Mossie]

Lovely model Ed and a great idea!

[tc2324]

Nicely dio`d...... 

[buzzbomb]

Nicely executed action setting.

[Dork the kit slayer]

Lovin it Ed.