Purple Ops
Civilians like myself are generally not aware of how radically the military has changed over the last couple of decades. It's much less hierarchical, less command-and-control, than it used to be. Furthermore, while there's still rivalry between the major branches (Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force), it's more friendly than it once was, and they go out of their way to form joint operations. In fact, operations are sometimes referred to as "purple" ops because they involve a blend of all the colors of each service's uniforms.
It's obviously worked very well for them, but I recently came across a new "purple" operation that looks like it may be taking things too far. I dunno, maybe some of you military folks can tell me if I'm wrong.
Great link, Dean - I really enjoyed the "How to simulate being in the Navy"; aye, it brought a tear to me one good eye - remember what it was like all those years ago.
The main thing is that they are all having fun :)
Well, as McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) did advertise those as being short-runway capable, I guess that would be the ultimate test.
Must be hell on the brakes, tho! Heh.
All joking aside, they have landed large planes on carriers. A C-130 and a P-3 are the two that I know of.
C-130 yes, P-3 no.
But could the Hercules take off again?
Hey Jared:
Not "no" but "hell no." The catapult has not been built which could throw something that massive off a carrier deck at flying speed, jet assist or no.
I actually find it extremely hard to visualize a P-3 landing on a carrier deck as well. Even if fitted with a tailhook (which I never assumed they were) a P-3's wings would have a hard time clearing the island with a big enough margin for safety.
Michael, are you sure you're not thinking of the S-3 Viking? Those things live on carriers, and have an identical, anti-submarine mission to that of the Orion.
No catapult needed. The C-130 is short field capable and jets aren't. That's why jets need the catapult. At the tail end of the video, as the 130 rotates for take off, you can see blast of the JATO units hitting the deck. This was onboard the USS Forrestal in 1963.
See http://www.airandspacemagazine.com/ASM/Web/Site/QT/HercOn.html
for a video of the landing and
http://www.airandspacemagazine.com/ASM/Web/Site/QT/HercOn.html
for the take off.
The Forrestal site has more.
http://forrestal.org/fidfacts/page18.htm
Dennis:
Thanks for the links!! BTW, I think you made a little boo-boo with the take-off link. Shouldn't that be HercOff.html, not HercOn.html?