![]() “We still had a couple hundred feet left when we lifted off. “The last landing I participated in, we touched down about 150 feet from the end, stopped in 270 feet more and launched from that position, using what was left of the deck,” Lockheed’s Ted Limmer recalled. Importantly, it could also take off from the Forestal’s flight deck with that much weight on board, needing only 745 feet for takeoff while weighing in at an astonishing 121,000 pounds. When they tried it again with a maximum payload, piling as much weight into the C-130 as it could manage, the cargo aircraft still stopped in a paltry 460 feet. Incredibly, while flying at 85,000 pounds (with very little cargo), the C-130 managed to come to a complete stop aboard the Forestal in just 267 feet. The waters were choppy, affecting the pitch of the deck, and Flatley faced 40-knot winds as he approached the 990-foot supercarrier. Navy had chosen the USS Forestal to receive the C-130 and positioned it some 500 miles off America’s Atlantic coast, near Boston. Keen on not making this first test easy on anyone, the U.S. On October 3, 1963, the fateful day had arrived. No one had ever attempted to land an aircraft as big as a C-130 on any of the Navy’s flattops before, and while success could mean a meaningful shift in how carrier resupplies were executed, failure would potentially mean death for Flatley and his crew. Those seemingly hilarious orders, however, had come directly from the Chief of Naval Operations himself, and they were precisely as serious as the mission was dangerous. Flatley was a fighter pilot who had never even flown a 4-prop aircraft before. Flatley III was chosen for the historic first attempt at landing a C-130 aboard an aircraft carrier, and as may come as little surprise, he reportedly thought the Navy was joking when they gave him his orders. Note the nose art that proclaims, “Look Ma, No Hook.” U.S. ![]() The KC-130 used for testing on the deck of the USS Forrestal. Beyond that, the first attempt at landing a C-130 aboard an aircraft carrier would come from an otherwise bone-stock aircraft never intended for such a feat. The only changes made to the mighty KC-130 were the installation of smaller nose-landing gear, an improved braking system intended to prevent skidding on the flight deck, and the removal of the aircraft’s underwing fuel pods. What it lacked in a carrier-specific design, it more than made up for in stability, payload capacity, and range–all of which were all too good for the Navy to ignore. It’s not a perfect world, however, and funding was minimal… so the Navy opted to experiment with the concept using nothing more than a lightly modified Marine Corps KC-130F refueler transport. In a perfect world, Lockheed would have taken the Navy’s idea to land a Hercules on their carriers and devised an all-new C-130 airframe purpose-built for the rigors of carrier life. Related: AN-1: AMERICA’S PLAN FOR SUBMARINE AIRCRAFT CARRIERSĬarrier-based fighters tend to be heavier, because of their reinforced fuselages and tail hooks, but are expected to offer similar lifespans and reliability to their land-based counterparts. ![]() Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Utah Kledzik/Released) Nothing quite like coming to a screeching halt from triple-digit speeds while driving $85 million worth of state secrets. Such is the engineering challenge of designing a fighter that can not only duke it out in the skies, but also survive carrier landings and launches on a regular basis. Using such a hook system instead of your brakes is sure to break some stuff on the car… but now imagine if that was the only way you ever actually stopped. You’ll keep your foot firmly planted on the gas pedal throughout, but the cable will be strong enough to bring you to a sudden and violent halt nonetheless. Imagine taking a regular car and replacing its brakes with a steel hook you’ll use to catch a cable while traveling at 140 miles per hour. When landing, carrier-based aircraft deploy hooks to grab massive steel cables that arrest their forward movement almost instantly, despite pilots going to full-throttle upon touching the deck, just in case anything goes wrong. In order to understand why, you have to consider the incredible forces carrier aircraft are subjected to during take-off and landing.Ĭarrier-based fighters utilize steam or electromagnetic powered catapults to propel them to takeoff speeds in a fraction of the time normal aircraft climb into the sky. The F-35A and B are intended to fly from conventional airstrips and short or austere runways respectively, but the F-35C is the only variant rated for carrier operations. Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is thought of as just one jet, but it’s actually three different aircraft. ![]()
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