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The COOLEST PICTURE EVER.

Cobrahistorian

By Cobrahistorian,
in Real Aviation

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CiscoKid

CiscoKid

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Ok, stupid question here. On the pic of the superhornet above, what's the purpose of the flap/opening/thingy-ma-bob near the wing root just above the intakes? That isn't on a regular Hornet, is it?

Brian

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David Walker

David Walker

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Posted (edited)
Ok, stupid question here. On the pic of the superhornet above, what's the purpose of the flap/opening/thingy-ma-bob near the wing root just above the intakes? That isn't on a regular Hornet, is it?

I'm pretty sure those are just the standard Super Hornet speedbrakes, though I could be wrong.

Edited by David Walker
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BAM'n'IVM

BAM'n'IVM

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Yup. On the Super Hornet them's the breaks (Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week...). It uses those little flaps and the rudders to slow down. Legacy hornets have the one big "F-15 style" speedbreak between the tails.

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BAM'n'IVM

BAM'n'IVM

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F-14swing.jpg

Never seen the Tomcat in this configuration. I wonder how it handles like that? :D

:P

It was a fairly standard flight configuration - he's signalling to his wingman that he'll be making a right turn. :beer4:

IIRC, this was done in flight testing, on purpose, to test a "just in case" scenario where one wing might fail to swing.

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David Walker

David Walker

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Yeah, unfortunately for the pilot that day. I picked up the picture a long time ago so I don't remember the whole story, but apparently the outer portions of the wings hadn't been locked in place and they folded up right after takeoff. I'm sure someone else here can give you a more accurate version of the story.

Edited by David Walker
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pollie

pollie

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A decidedly non-standard configuration. I can only imagine what his final approach speed must have been.

f8_wingsfolded.jpg

Fuel consumption went down considerably so it was decided to add winglets to civil airliners also :thumbsup:

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David Walker

David Walker

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Hey David - what's all the smudginess under the Crusader - did the pic get wet or something?

No idea. That's how it was when I first found it.

From an article I just scanned through it appears this plane was from VMF(AW)-235, and concerning the F-8 in general, "This has happened about 5 times; some landed with wings folded, some managed to extend them in flight."

And from the Vought site (narrative by Charles R. Foreman, a Navy engineer):

"On my first visit to Da Nang I was told about the two F-8s which had taken off with outer wings folded, as mentioned previously by Jim Smith. It is difficult for the pilot to see the outer wings, particularly at night. In the second incident, which occurred at night, the pilot taxied with the wings folded and forgot to put them down for takeoff. The pilot reported later that he used most of the 10,000 foot runway getting airborne. The tower did not notice his problem because it was dark. By the time the pilot discovered his error it was too late to abort the takeoff. He continued to climb, got some altitude, and then pushed the nose over to get zero-g so that he could actuate the outer wings to the down position.

Flight with the outer wings folded is possible in an F-8 only because the ailerons are inboard of the wingfold. The outer panels have leading edge flaps but no trailing control surfaces. This incident, taking off with the wings folded, has occurred on other occasions in the flight history of the F-8. The first incident occurred in the early 1960’s at Naples, Italy. To me it is remarkable that the F-8 could take off near maximum gross weight with that significantly reduced wing area!"

Edited by David Walker
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Stef (#6)

Stef (#6)

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Hello,

It also happened to a french Navy Crusader, during an airshow in Belgium which took off and flew for 40 minuts with wings folded;

it didn't made its demo, of course but had to circuit until allowed to land.

Who said the Crouze had a weak thrust/weight ratio ?!!!

Cheers

Stef (#6)

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Sebastijan

Sebastijan

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Pratica di Mare airshow last September? All those poor spectators got soaking wet. Thank god I was in the Red Bull tent having a snack :)

hehe I could be there, too, but the weather and the display was so awsome it was worthwile to get a bit wet... actually the only thing wet was my feet, cause I was wearing sandals, delibaterately... I carry quite a good anti-rain equippment with me to the shows :woo:

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Aggressor Supporter

Aggressor Supporter

Posted
Posted
Yeah, unfortunately for the pilot that day. I picked up the picture a long time ago so I don't remember the whole story, but apparently the outer portions of the wings hadn't been locked in place and they folded up right after takeoff. I'm sure someone else here can give you a more accurate version of the story.

Incredible that it can still fly in that configuration. Thanks for the information Dave.

Hello,

It also happened to a french Navy Crusader, during an airshow in Belgium which took off and flew for 40 minuts with wings folded;

it didn't made its demo, of course but had to circuit until allowed to land.

Who said the Crouze had a weak thrust/weight ratio ?!!!

Cheers

Stef (#6)

Wow. Guess it isn't that uncommon then.

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MarkusN

MarkusN

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It is amazing what weird configurations are still capable of controlled flight. I just read about an RC Glider that lost 4/5 of one wing (broke off at the spoiler).

The pilot was able to maintain up as up and bring the plane down at the edge of the grass strip.

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