USN Carrier question...

[BLUEHAWK]

What is THE largest aircraft of any kind to successfully land on and/or take off from a Navy Carrier?

I was having a USAF fantasy about an emergency landing of a C-130 on a carrier at sea...

Is it possible?

No tail hook, limited deck width, etc...

[Jerry D]

Blue , yes they do land C-130's on Carriers and they use Jet assisted takeoff to get off the carrier. http://www.miramarairshow.com/HI_RES/fatalbert.jpg

Here is one of the first known C130 Carrier test:

The trials were conducted aboard USS Forrestal (CVA-59) in
October, 1963. The aircraft involved was a USMC KC-130F.

Modifications to the aircraft comprised the installation of an
improved antiskid braking system and the removal of the external
fuel tanks. A sink rate of 9 feet per second was employed, with
the first landings made with a 40-knot wind over the flight deck.

The crew included a pilot, copilot, flight engineer and a Lockheed
flight test pilot. Twenty-nine touch and goes and 21 full-stop
landings were made without the benefit of arresting gear. The
propellers were reversed while the aircraft was still a few feet
above the flight deck. These were followed by 21 unassisted
takeoffs at gross weights ranging from 85,000 to 121,000 pounds.
(To put that into perspective, the maximum takeoff weight for
the C-130E, on which the KC-130F is based, is 135,000 pounds,
with 155,000 pounds permitted in emergency wartime situations.)

At the lower weight, the airplane came to a stop in 270 feet, which
was just over twice its wingspan of 132 feet. At the higher gross
weight, landings required 460 feet. Takeoffs required 745 feet.
A special offset "centerline" was painted on the flight deck for
the trials.

Reference: _C-130 Hercules_, by Arthur Reed (Ian Allen, 1984)
more Info:
On 30 October 1963, a USMC KC-130F made several carrier landings and take-offs on the flight deck of USS Forrestal, in a series of tests intended to determine whether it would make a good COD (carrier on-board delivery) aircraft. The only modification was an anti-skid braking system. The aircraft made several landings and take-offs, with no use of arrester gear or catapults, and performed well (the pilot, Lieutenant James H Flatley III, was awarded the DFC for his part in the tests). However, it turned out that the Hercules would have been unable to fit in a carrier's hangar deck, so the smaller Grumman C-2 Greyhound was developed instead.

for pictures check out this URL: http://www.codeonemagazine.com/archi...apr_05/nohook/

[SuperScout]

... and I'll bet that the pilot's pucker factor was 9.9 out of a possible 10!

[BLUEHAWK]

ummmmmmm...

KC means Tanker.

Tanker means aviation fuel.

No tail hook.

JATO?

That's it?

[Boats]

Look at what they did during WWII - Doolitte took B-17's off a carrier without jet assist. Now they didn't land on the ship but I bet my a_s those guys were a little nervous on that takeoff. Now that's what I'd like to see.

[revwardoc]

Boats, they were B-25's, not -17's.

[BLUEHAWK]

Internestling...

The B-25 was 28,557 lbs max take-off weight.

The F-16 (fer example) would be 37,500 lbs max take-off weight.

The F-4 whopped down at 62,000 lbs max take-off.

A C-123 max take-off is at 60,000 lbs, and a 130 tips the max TO scale at 155,000 lbs.

By way of comparison: The B-52 is maxed at 488,000 TO lbs, and the old B-36 came out at 410,000. A C-5, on the other hand, goes to 769,000 lbs max take-off weight.

So, the question probably should have been:

What is the maximum take-off weight and wingspan a modern aircraft carrier could conceivably handle on and off the deck (assuming JATO, catapult, jerry-rigging, luck, considerable prayerful behavior, and a gracious attitude toward Zoomies on the part of the US Navy)???

[Boats]

25's fine still they took off from a carrier unassisted. That's point I'm making.

[BLUEHAWK]

Originally posted by Boats 25's fine still they took off from a carrier unassisted. That's point I'm making.

Right you are... so they had enough power to get off the deck, AND were actually not as heavy as a F-16.

The comparison of wingspans is interesting...

B-25 was 67'6"

F-16 is 32'8"

C-123 is 110'

[SparrowHawk62]

I seem to recall a U-2 having landed on a carrier.. I'll have to do some digging..