A couple of rare pics I found!

RE: Doing away with landing gear!

Well they do say that the definition of a good landing is one which you can walk away from, and the definition of a REALLY good landing is one where you can use the aircraft again… 😉

Doing away with landing gear!

I suppose it could be done, I mean now we have the Harrier and the Osprey! All we need to do is work on a way to land the things on the ground without too much damage occuring to the plane!

I can do it, but I need your support!

RE: A couple of rare pics I found!

Sounds like the landings I had on Olympic Airways recently… 🙂

RE: A couple of rare pics I found!

Speaking of trying to get rid of the landing gear… One of my lecturers said recently if you could figure out a way to do away with the landing gear, you’d be a rich person!! He hates landing gear, it takes up so much weight, and isn’t critical to the aircrafts flight.

RE: A couple of rare pics I found!

It certainly was, but then you’ve still got to move the thing around on the ground, so your into platforms with wheels, jacks, or lifting equipment and a lot of bother. Can you imagine a Jumbo load of fare paying passengers landing on a rubber runway – the bounce would smash the duty free’s!!!!!!!!

RE: A couple of rare pics I found!

Thanks Uncle, if memory serves weren’t they looking into ways of reducing aircraft costs and weights by any means nessasary, and since the landing gear is the heaviest and most often the first bit of a plane that wears out they thought of ways to get rid of it! Wasn’t this part of that trials scheeme?

I can do it, but I need your support!

RE: A couple of rare pics I found!

Hello Nephew! I’ve just found this. I’m really not that old, I was 3 when this happened, and I was not an anchor clanker! However as you ask, 3 Sea Vampire 21s were modified for the trials which proved only that the system was a non starter. There was too much bounce, then the aircraft had to be jacked up and the gear lowered before they could be moved to the hangar. Not a good idea if you have a wave of aircraft returning from an operation. It was just one of the less clever ideas which got tried out. Some succeeded, like angle decks and mirror landing systems, which our American chums still use today! Which only proves that you have to try out all the silly ideas if you are going to progress!
Uncle KeithMac

RE: A couple of rare pics I found!

Uncle Keithmac, No comments?

Fighter pilots make movies, Bomber pilots make history and Nerds make money from the sims!

RE: A couple of rare pics I found!

That L39 is certainly uniqe, any info on it?

RE: A couple of rare pics I found!

nice pics Ja!