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During the Vietnam war, I sometimes found myself having to spend the night on a carrier on Yankee Station, before returning to my ship up on PIRAZ Station. Unable to sleep, I often watched night recoveries and was always amazed by the differences in the way pilots landed. The A-4 was my favorite. No matter where they were in relationship to the flight deck moments before landing, I never saw an A-4 pilot miss an approach. The pilots could always adjust, often dramatically with hummingbird-like maneuvers. The F-111 was at the opposite end of the spectrum. It seemed they almost always missed the wire on the first approach and had to go around, sometimes more than once. F-4 pilots, on the other hand. seemed to be able to land with a smooth, robot-like consistency. F-8's were a bit more dodgy in this respect, but oh how the Navy fighter pilots loved them (they had "guns").
During the Vietnam war, I sometimes found myself having to spend the night on a carrier on Yankee Station, before returning to my ship up on PIRAZ Station. Unable to sleep, I often watched night recoveries and was always amazed by the differences in the way pilots landed. The A-4 was my favorite. No matter where they were in relationship to the flight deck moments before landing, I never saw an A-4 pilot miss an approach. The pilots could always adjust, often dramatically with hummingbird-like maneuvers. The F-111 was at the opposite end of the spectrum. It seemed they almost always missed the wire on the first approach and had to go around, sometimes more than once. F-4 pilots, on the other hand. seemed to be able to land with a smooth, robot-like consistency. F-8's were a bit more dodgy in this respect, but oh how the Navy fighter pilots loved them (they had "guns").
When were the F-111s used on carriers off the Vietnam coast? Only seven F-111B prototypes were built, were they used as testbeds for some reason? The Navy scrapped plans for the F-111 as a carrier-based aircraft and ditched them in favor of the F-14.
OK, then my memory was bad. But there was one pretty big plane from that era that had a tough time landing on carriers. It might have had two engines under the wings.
When were the F-111s used on carriers off the Vietnam coast? Only seven F-111B prototypes were built, were they used as testbeds for some reason? The Navy scrapped plans for the F-111 as a carrier-based aircraft and ditched them in favor of the F-14.
OK, then my memory was bad. But there was one pretty big plane from that era that had a tough time landing on carriers. It might have had two engines under the wings.
the biggest thing i can think of that landed on a carrier regularly, then and now, would be either a C2 greyhound;
or an E2 hawkeye;
another fairly large aircraft that regularly flew off carriers was the A6 intruder;
OK, then my memory was bad. But there was one pretty big plane from that era that had a tough time landing on carriers. It might have had two engines under the wings.
I think you're talking about the best-looking carrier aircraft ever, the A-5 Vigilante.
the biggest thing i can think of that landed on a carrier regularly, then and now, would be either a C2 greyhound;
or an E2 hawkeye;
another fairly large aircraft that regularly flew off carriers was the A6 intruder;
Actually all three of those planes are fairly small.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SluggoF16
I think you're talking about the best-looking carrier aircraft ever, the A-5 Vigilante.
Yep, probably. It was designed to carry a strategic nuke in an internal bomb bay. Turned out when fully loaded it was too heavy for the cats and even empty almost too heavy to trap. That's why it was turned into a recon aircraft.
A KC130 did do launches, no wire landings and touch and goes off a carrier in 1963.
OK, then my memory was bad. But there was one pretty big plane from that era that had a tough time landing on carriers. It might have had two engines under the wings.
I have read that, ironically, pilots who graduated in the bottom half of their class were more likely to be assigned to this plane. As if it took less skill to land this big old bird?
It's one of the larger planes to ever be based on carriers.
I think you're talking about the best-looking carrier aircraft ever, the A-5 Vigilante.
like one of these?
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