marky sparky Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 Hi. This might seem a dumb question for many, but I've seen photo's of Scimitars' and Buccaneers ready for take off on aircraft carriers tail sitting, I just wondered how they did it. (sarcastic comments accepted but don't be too boring, thanx). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 They use the tail bumper and pull the bridle taut against the shuttle, tipping the aircraft. It is released when the cat fires and breaks the holdback. I'll post a video link when I find it. 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Boak Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 The why is to put them in a high lift attitude for climbing away after being catapulted, so I suggest that the connection to the catapult is aft of the cg, do that it pulls the tail down when tensioned. PS what he said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob G Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 @bentwaters81tfw thanks for sharing those videos, they answered quite a few questions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noelh Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 That's why the FG1 Phantom had the extendable nosewheel leg. It produced a high angle of attack which allows greater lift initially. Eminently sensible. You'd wonder why the Americans never copied it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Procopius Posted October 20, 2018 Share Posted October 20, 2018 6 minutes ago, noelh said: That's why the FG1 Phantom had the extendable nosewheel leg. It produced a high angle of attack which allows greater lift initially. Eminently sensible. You'd wonder why the Americans never copied it. It wasn't needed. Even the Essex class ships were bigger than Ark Royal and Eagle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marky sparky Posted October 21, 2018 Author Share Posted October 21, 2018 Thankyou very much for that, much appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 12 hours ago, Procopius said: 12 hours ago, Procopius said: It wasn't needed. Even the Essex class ships were bigger than Ark Royal and Eagle. Bare in mind that I'm just a simple "pongo" and don't know much about floaty things on the water, but why would the size of the carrier have anything to do with it? Would not the length of the catapult be similar? John. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverkite211 Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 13 hours ago, noelh said: That's why the FG1 Phantom had the extendable nosewheel leg. It produced a high angle of attack which allows greater lift initially. Eminently sensible. You'd wonder why the Americans never copied it. Actually, US Navy Phantoms do have an extendable nosewheel leg, it just wasn't the double length type as used on Royal Navy Phantoms. It seemed to be the F-4Bs that it was used the most on and, even then, it wasn't used all the time. I don't know that I've seen an F-4J using it, maybe the engines developed more thrust by that time and it wasn't necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tailspin Turtle Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 1 hour ago, silverkite211 said: Actually, US Navy Phantoms do have an extendable nosewheel leg, it just wasn't the double length type as used on Royal Navy Phantoms. It seemed to be the F-4Bs that it was used the most on and, even then, it wasn't used all the time. I don't know that I've seen an F-4J using it, maybe the engines developed more thrust by that time and it wasn't necessary. The F-4J also needed the extendable nose landing gear strut for a catapult launch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dnl42 Posted October 21, 2018 Share Posted October 21, 2018 The Grumman S-2 had a tail wheel for catapult launches, with its nose LG off-deck. See a launch in this video of HMCS Bonaventure operations starting at about 5m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverkite211 Posted October 22, 2018 Share Posted October 22, 2018 22 hours ago, Tailspin Turtle said: The F-4J also needed the extendable nose landing gear strut for a catapult launch. You would certainly be the man who would know. 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j-fever Posted October 23, 2018 Share Posted October 23, 2018 Awesome video, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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