Military Aircraft that should have entered service

mudhead

Father Maryland said:
Is that real?
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HARLEY-FAIRFAX K-55 AIR-PAL TRAINER

"You can't send those nineteen kids up in a crate like that!" bandied the wags whenever a near score of student pilots filed aboard this controversial Army Air Corps ship in the late Thirties; and as the Senate hearing later confirmed, they were chillingly close to the truth. The 19 neophytes could be sent up, all right; it was a matter of how suddenly and how violently they came back down. Trouble started with the pilot and worked its way back to the man at the rear. Conceived as" an economical flying trainer, the Air-Pal was so economical that it lacked any intercom system among instructor and pupils. No problem in a two- or even three-seater - but with 19 sets of controls? Elaborate pre-briefings, hand signals, screaming all were tried but all fell short of the desired result, unanimity of action, as in "Bank left!" Happily for all concerned, a further economy move halted production altogether only five months after it began. But those who flew or tried to fly her are not likely to ever forget this stillborn regent of the cloud lanes-memories shared by those on the ground lucky and sharp-eyed enough to catch a necessarily brief glimpse of an Air-Pal cart wheeling across the sky while 19 plucky, if somewhat perplexed students tried outguessing one another, their teacher and fate itself.

From Major Howdy Bixby's Album of Forgotten Warbirds, in Bruce McCall's Zany Afternoons. Anyone who is a member of this forum will love the book.
 

yulzari

riggerrob said:
For landing VTOL fighters on small decks, look up the "Skyhook" system tested on a British Harrier during the late 1980s. The project started when a British test pilot returned from landing trials on the French aircraft carrier Foch. He complained about heavy rolls almost sliding him off the deck after landing. Discussion turned to some sort of haul-down system like the European Harpoon or Canadian Beartrap systems. Then an engineer asked "Why don't we just grab it in flight?"
So they attached a socket to the spine of a two-seater Harrier, above the centre of gravity. Then they designed a "grabber" and hung it from a crane. The "grabber" contained a fuel hose with an automatic quick-disconnect fitting. The Skyhook concept involved refueling the Harrier while it hovered alongside the ship. If needed, the crane would swing it onboard and lay it on a cradle pre-loaded with bombs.
They even discussed removing landing gear to allow another ton (?) of bombs or fuel. Ultimately, they hoped to fly Harriers from frigates.
Testing got as far as docking the Harrier on a ground-mounted crane.

I suspect that their biggest problem was electronics too slow to stabilize the crane and "grabber" in heavy seas.
May I suggest that the next series of experiments concentrate on attaching the base of the crane closer to the ships Neutral axis for roll, pitch and yaw? That would reduce the amount of stabilization software.
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I am told that the idea still has occasional spasms of reconsideration with more modern industrial robot based systems for the sky hook as part of a modular container based fit for merchant vessels in time of war and with no undercarriage. Latest iterations looking at strike drones which can fit in a standard container. Then it was pointed out that you could put things called missiles in a container instead.......
 

Canuck Wingnut

riggerrob said:
For landing VTOL fighters on small decks, look up the "Skyhook" system tested on a British Harrier during the late 1980s.
Click to expand...
Reminds me of the WW2 Brodie Landing System for flying off light aircraft. Which, to tie back to this thread a bit, had ambitious plans for expansion in both civil and military use postwar until the helicopter came along and ended that dream.
 
Shurik

Shurik

So the McDonnell Douglas/General Dynamics A-12 Avenger II...

450px-A-12_Avenger_Concept.jpg


Whether it should have entered service or not... Meh.

But I just learned that the instructor for a class I'm taking was the primary terminating contract officer (for the govt) for that program!
 

Have Blue-117

The A-12 was way too problematic and expensive, cost overruns and poor teaming doomed it. The NG proposal was much more realistic but they wouldn't come down on price for the Navy, so it was turned into A/FX and then finally cancelled. Dare I say the F-117N was the most realistic proposal for the ATA program.
 
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