Q'ns about retired airframe

[Max the Mad Russian]

Might as well develop a pod for the Harrier and JSF that allows them to carry a life raft so they can fly the D for the MEU while we’re creeping

BTW, there was an airdroppable whaleboat that Tu-16 Badger, specially modified, could carry over 1100 km. Here is a cut from the Soviet motivational movie while the tanker Tu-16 tries to refuel this "nutshell carrier" and Il-38, portraying P-3C, tries to interfere in the process. Funny stuff -

 

[Max the Mad Russian]

Gents,
One more thing about retired airplanes
Being in South Korea, Seoul, I've visited Korean war museum there and found the Stoof there. Grumman S2F as it was. I noticed that the throttle quadrant of this airplane is almost on the ceiling. Was it good enough to operate it? The museum staffmember, as usually (who else could be there to ask?), told me that this airplane could use no catapult to be launched off the old Brit carriers. True?

 

[Renegade One]

Was it good enough to operate it?

Uh...what are you asking?

 

[Renegade One]

Here is a cut from the Soviet motivational movie while the tanker Tu-16 tries to refuel this "nutshell carrier" and Il-38, portraying P-3C, tries to interfere in the process.

Gave me goosebumps. Too bad he wasn't inverted...

 

[Griz882]

Those pesky Yankee Air Pirates.

 

[FormerRecruitingGuru]

Was it good enough to operate it?

*looks down*

Yup, it’s still operating.

 

[HAL Pilot]

Here is a cut from the Soviet motivational movie while the tanker Tu-16 tries to refuel this "nutshell carrier" and Il-38, portraying P-3C, tries to interfere in the process. Funny stuff -

That was a wasted 3 minutes of my life I'll never get back. No wonder you ask the questions you do...

 

[Griz882]

That was a wasted 3 minutes of my life I'll never get back. No wonder you ask the questions you do...

Ty shutish'? Eto bylo dostoyno russkogo Oskara ... Trotskogo.

 

[Max the Mad Russian]

Yup
I said, funny stuff
As for Stoof, I meant how comfortably is to operate the throttle levers if they're overhead

 

[Max the Mad Russian]

BTW, nowadays Russian war- and navy-related movies are even worse. Soviet motherfuckers in charge of an ideology were stupid but now it all is awful. Say, TV series "Homeland" were repeated here with the same title, and the only people who deserve at least some attention in the US original, a CIA operatives, here are presented by some rural federals with faces absolutely identical to Putin's one. Some squad of grim putins. And I every time have to deside either to switch a TV off or to vomit as a result of intellectual evaluation of that "movie"

 

[sparky]

Yup
I said, funny stuff
As for Stoof, I meant how comfortably is to operate the throttle levers if they're overhead

Don't know firsthand, and I'm not a single anchor type. But the control layout was good enough for lots of folks over many years and landings. I had an uncle with S2F/S-2/C-1/E-1 time and this never came up as an issue. The E-1 came up a lot, but that was because of its performance, especially single-engine.
He passed away a few years ago so he's not available for comment.

We had some aviators with Stoof time on this board some years ago ... maybe there are still some here who have first-hand experience especially with landings. Must not have been a significant issue because of all the hours and landings.

 

[Max the Mad Russian]

Thanks Sparky. I am too far from being an aviator, and if Stoof is still in service ( I suppose Brazilian Navy uses both piston Tracker and Turbotracker simultaneously embarking them on its sole carrier), such layout is ok. Though it seemed unusual to outsiders like me

 

[Max the Mad Russian]

Gents,

This time A3D related question. This airplane was the only one of the heavy attack airplanes which had single-wheeled nose gear, all the others crewed birds had and still have paired wheels there. Was it a feature of the bridle-launching system or a unique trait of this Douglas design? Had there been any troubles with one wheel on the nose landing gear of the Whale, say, during arrested landing? I have read there was huge amount of A3D mishaps during landing...

 

[Treetop Flyer]

Gents,

This time A3D related question. This airplane was the only one of the heavy attack airplanes which had single-wheeled nose gear, all the others crewed birds had and still have paired wheels there. Was it a feature of the bridle-launching system or a unique trait of this Douglas design? Had there been any troubles with one wheel on the nose landing gear of the Whale, say, during arrested landing? I have read there was huge amount of A3D mishaps during landing...

The A-5 had a single nose wheel

 

[brownshoe]

The A-5 had a single nose wheel

What an aircraft! Being in the community I worked in I rarely worked around the Viggie. Oh we saw them from a distance, landing for fuel and such around Jacksonville but that the limit. The first time I actually worked around them was aboard the Indy out of Norfolk for quals. All I can say is "Fucking wow!"

Funny story though, went up to the deck to start quals one morning and an A-5 was hooked to a mule on deck, an enlisted guy in the cockpit with the engine running. It was the dead of winter and we were in the upper Atlantic and during the night ice had formed on the deck. The Viggie with its low tail pipe was being moved around and being used to deice the deck. Hell of a use for a multimillion dollar aircraft (lot of money in my day).