aerodrew Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 I don't know if this is real, but does anyone have any insights as to what it is? I've heard that the first experimental aircraft carriers were actually Zeppelin types but I didn't think any were ever fully realized as they were slow and easy to shoot down. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rapier01 Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 That is most definitely not real; however the US Navy had two airship capable of carrying aircraft- one was the USS Macon and I can't remember the other- Akron maybe? Too lazy to look it up. The Kriegsmarine only ever built the Graf Zepplin carrier, but it was a conventional carrier and never completed. Probably comparable to the British carriers of the time. Even if they had completed the ship, it would have been useless given Germany's situation... and also the fact that Goering did everything possible to hinder the project didn't help. It was however, used as lumber storage warehouse before being scuttled. The Soviet later refloated it for a time before sinking her as a target ship. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
madmanrick Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 (edited) I don't know if this is real, but does anyone have any insights as to what it is?I've heard that the first experimental aircraft carriers were actually Zeppelin types but I didn't think any were ever fully realized as they were slow and easy to shoot down. The U.S.S. Akron & Macon were the World's only aerial aircraft carriers. They were each capable of carrying 4 F9C-2 Sparrowhawk biplane fighters, to protect themselves. Both crashed and their end signaled the end of the rigid airship in U.S. service, thereafter the U.S. would only ever use blimps. See here for more info: http://www.ciderpresspottery.com/ZLA/great...kron_Macon.html HTH, Rick Edited December 20, 2008 by madmanrick Quote Link to post Share on other sites
majortomski Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Actually the Akron and Macon were the only ones designed to carry scouting planes, many other ridgid airships carried or tested carring and deploying fix winged aircraft. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Flankerman Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 The U.S.S. Akron & Macon were the World's only aerial aircraft carriers. Rick You are not quite correct on two counts...... The British carried out experiments using the R-33 airship and a Gloster Grebe fighter - launching and recovering them..... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R33 In the 1930's the Soviets experimented with aerial aircraft carriers - except they weren't lighter-than-air. The final one in the 'Zveno' series - the 'Aviamatka-PVO' - consisted of a Tupolev TB-3 bomber 'mother ship' with FIVE fighters attached for self-defence. The 2 x I-16s & 2 x I-5s attached to the wings could only detach - but the centre I-Z fighter was on a retractable trapeze and could be recovered. Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
phantom Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Perhaps not real but one heck of a nice what-if? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sv51macross Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Obviously a carrier like the Agaion from Ace Combat 6 is impossible, but in Ace combat 3 there's a cutscene of an airship-like aircraft carrier receiving Cynthia in a R-103 Delphinus, and then while she's on the bridge, aircraft launch from a runway underneath. And does anyone know how the heck the Banshee from Yukikaze was powered? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aaronw Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 That is cool is what that is. Lets not forget the Goblin which was a fighter designed to be carried by bombers, it could "take off" and "land" on a trapeze under the bomber. For other fictional airship carriers there was a game called Crimson skies that featured fighter carrying airships. It was a rather neat art deco style flight sim. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
David Walker Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 (edited) I don't know if this is real, but does anyone have any insights as to what it is? The lower one looks very much like a model for the the German version of the sky carrier in "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow", the movie with Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law and Angelina Jolie. There wasn't one in the movie (a German version) but had there been one I expect it would have looked a lot like this. Edited December 21, 2008 by David Walker Quote Link to post Share on other sites
F106A Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 Is it just me? Am I the only one who understood that Aerodrew was being facetious with the original post? Seriously, I thought that was pretty funny! Must be a KC-135 Crew Chief thing! (Remember, that's what I used to do before I became a Flight Engineer.) Mark Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Adam Baker Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 I gotta say that carrier dirigible looks awesome! Whoever built that had way too much fun, haha. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
geedubelyer Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 The final one in the 'Zveno' series - the 'Aviamatka-PVO' - consisted of a Tupolev TB-3 bomber 'mother ship' with FIVE fighters attached for self-defence.The 2 x I-16s & 2 x I-5s attached to the wings could only detach - but the centre I-Z fighter was on a retractable trapeze and could be recovered. Ken If anyone is interested in this, check out the In-Progress forum, Lucien Harpress is scratch-building one of these Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Flankerman Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 If anyone is interested in this, check out the In-Progress forum, Lucien Harpress is scratch-building one of these Lucien is doing the 'Zveno-7' - a TB-3 with two underwing I-16 on trapeze's that could be launched and recovered. There were 9 different 'Zveno' combinations - I did the 'Zveno-1' (TB-1 with 2 x I-4 fighters) plus the 'Aviamatka' shown above..... They are all listed here - together with the Aviamatka build. The 'Zveno-1' build is here..... Ken Quote Link to post Share on other sites
majortomski Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Seriously, I thought that was pretty funny! Must be a KC-135 Crew Chief thing! (Remember, that's what I used to do before I became a Flight Engineer.)Mark Well then, that will explain my answer. As a KC-135 depot engineer I never understood what the boomers wanted to really do with the airplane. Happy Hanukkah to all the Chosen People! Merry Christmas to the inheritors Happy holidays to the rest Tom Quote Link to post Share on other sites
aerodrew Posted December 31, 2008 Author Share Posted December 31, 2008 Is it just me? Am I the only one who understood that Aerodrew was being facetious with the original post?Seriously, I thought that was pretty funny! Must be a KC-135 Crew Chief thing! (Remember, that's what I used to do before I became a Flight Engineer.) Mark Although I'm not going to disagree about your comment on KC-135 Crew Chiefs(you should see some of the guys I work with) I wasn't being facetious with the question on this aircraft, as it piqued my interest having seen something like it before, and Flankerman's post pretty much nailed it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Grey Ghost 531 Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 (edited) That is cool is what that is. Lets not forget the Goblin which was a fighter designed to be carried by bombers, it could "take off" and "land" on a trapeze under the bomber. For other fictional airship carriers there was a game called Crimson skies that featured fighter carrying airships. It was a rather neat art deco style flight sim. The Goblin never really worked. It took an expert test pilot to hook onto the trapeze and even they only managed to do it without damaging the aircraft a couple of times. However, the RF-84E was used operationally as a parasite reconnaissance aircraft off of the RB-36s for a number of years and made many in flight attachments to the B-36. It's very likely that they were used to overfly the PRC and to make close coastal approaches to the Soviet Union in the late '50s. The USS Los Angeles, ZR-3 was used for testing the launch and recovery of fixed wing aircraft for the Akron/Macon program. Oh, yeah, unless that flight deck on the pictured Zep was made of styrofoam, it would never lift. Maybe not even styrofoam! Neat model, though. Edited December 31, 2008 by Grey Ghost 531 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
richter111 Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 The carrier top kinda looks WWII Japanese to me. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
illithid00 Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 Obviously a carrier like the Agaion from Ace Combat 6 is impossible, but in Ace combat 3 there's a cutscene of an airship-like aircraft carrier receiving Cynthia in a R-103 Delphinus, and then while she's on the bridge, aircraft launch from a runway underneath.And does anyone know how the heck the Banshee from Yukikaze was powered? The Agaion, is that the one that looks like a giant flying wing with a runway in the center? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
sv51macross Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 The Agaion, is that the one that looks like a giant flying wing with a runway in the center? Yeah. There is no way that forty jet engines burning at afterburner could keep that think aloft for any decent flight time. Now, imagine instead a nuclear reactor powering a quartet of gigantic C-130 style props. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Autobahnstormer Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 Did none of you watch "Captain Scarlet" as children? Cloudbase was a nuclear powered airborne carrier that had a compliment of six Angel Fighters. On a (Slightly) more serious note plans were drawn-up to carry two Folland Gnat Lightweight fighters under the wings of a Vulcan on the Skybolt Pylons. I had plans somewhere, but cannot find them. Phil Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pirata Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 This thing is the coolest Whiff I've ever seen. Put Eurofighters on it and it's Luftwaffe 2046! :P Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aggressor Supporter Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 This thing is the coolest Whiff I've ever seen. Put Eurofighters on it and it's Luftwaffe 2046! :lol: If any concept for an airborne carrier would ever work, this may very well be it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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