The British invented the steam catapult, but it was the United States that made the steam catapult popular. It is precisely because of the steam catapult that the United States was able to launch the 30-ton Tomcat fighter into the air. The catapult is inseparable, and because of the steam catapult, it can eject a carrier-based aircraft like the E-2 for ship-borne early warning.
Otherwise, the all-round performance of the US aircraft carrier will simply be unattainable.
However, for small countries, it is different. Like the United Kingdom, it is unable to maintain conventional aircraft carriers because of the continued weakness of its national power. At the same time, it is also because some domestic politicians think about suicide with their own navy all day long. Therefore, the United Kingdom There are only 20,000 tons of aircraft carriers left to resurrect, and they are unable to operate such things as steam catapults.
The Invincible class can change the rear blocking cable to land, but the front ski jump takes off, it must not be changed. If the Tomcat carrier aircraft cannot achieve ski jump takeoff, it still cannot operate the Tomcat.
Can it take off with a ski jump
In fact, this is not too dangerous. The ski-jump take-off was the first to enter the practical state of the United Kingdom, but in fact, the idea of ski-jump take-off has long existed.
In a 1952 report of the National Aviation Advisory Committee of the United States, it was mentioned that the aircraft carrier was equipped with a ski jump deck to improve the take-off performance of the carrier aircraft.
This should be the earliest idea, but this is just an idea. They think that after takeoff, the carrier-based aircraft will fall to a height of about 9 feet below the flight deck before climbing. The use of ski jump decks can compensate for the height loss caused by the height of the carrier aircraft after taking off on the aircraft carrier.
In this way, until 1974, a British naval officer proposed in his graduation thesis the idea of a "Sea Harrier" aircraft taking off from the ski jump deck.
It is precisely because of this graduation thesis that the British military has decided to use the Sea Harrier aircraft for a skid-leap takeoff experiment.
Later, the U.S. Navy also had this idea, and later in 1979 it also launched a lot of theoretical research. After the theoretical research was okay, they built a ski jump deck at the Pentax River test base for the test work of various carrier aircraft. The entire ski jump deck is 112.1 feet long and 8.58 feet high. It is made of metal and can be modified to adjust the angle to 3 degrees, 6 degrees and 9 degrees.
Using this modified base, the U.S. Navy has carried out more than 200 ski jump takeoffs of fixed-wing carrier-based aircraft, including 112 tests of the T-2C trainer aircraft, 28 tests of the F-14 Tomcat fighter, and 91 tests of F/A-18 fighter jets.
The data obtained through many experiments shows that the length of the flight deck can be greatly reduced by the ski jump deck. For example, the take-off distance of the F/A-18 carrier aircraft can be reduced by about 50%.
However, the U.S. Navy also found some disadvantages, especially on the U.S. super aircraft carrier. The disadvantages brought by the flying deck were also quite obvious. A lot of area was wasted and the deck operation was inconvenient. Therefore, the U.S. continued to use catapult The way to take off.
This means that there is no problem for the Tomcat to take off with a skid jump, and because of the deployed variable swept wings, its take-off is easier.
Now, Nathan's plane was towed to the take-off position, the rear flame shield was deployed, and the ski jump of the Tomcat fighter plane was about to begin.
"The aircraft carrier speeds up to the highest speed." Wu Huade said.
When Nathan landed, the aircraft carrier was sailing at maximum speed. After landing, the aircraft carrier began to slow down. Now, the aircraft carrier speeds up again, quickly reaching a high speed of 28.5 knots.
At the end of the 167-meter take-off line, Nathan has been aligned with the take-off line, and the deck wind on the aircraft carrier has also increased as the aircraft carrier speeds up. Because this is the first test, the Tomcat fighter jet, the fuel tank The fuel is less than 2 tons.
However, the empty weight of the Tomcat fighter has reached 2 tons, which is a terrible figure. With the addition of 2 tons of fuel, the weight of the Tomcat fighter has exceeded 20 tons. The two engines at the rear provide a total thrust. If it is less than 20 tons, its thrust-to-weight ratio is still less than 1.
"The aircraft carrier has been accelerated to its maximum and can be used for takeoff experiments."
"take off!"
Although it was not a catapult take-off, but on the deck, the commander still made the skillful action. The two TF41 engines at the tail sprayed out hot flames, the afterburner has been opened, and the flames can even be seen along the flame barrier with the naked eye. The board flew back up, and then Nathan released the brake.
The Tomcat fighter roared and started rushing forward.
The speed was getting faster and faster. The scenery on both sides was retreating quickly. Soon, the runway began to rise. At the end of the runway, the Tomcat fighter left the deck with a relaxed attitude.
"Success!" The people present were extremely excited. Nathan's movements were so perfect, without any muddle-headedness, it was almost done all at once.
Without the kind of ecstasy that catapults and take off, Nathan's sane has always been sober, at this time, he does not have the cheers of those on the aircraft carrier.
Nathan already had a foreboding.
Something's wrong.
This is no load, with a total weight of only 20 tons. Even so, when flying off the aircraft carrier's deck, it barely reached the height of leaving the deck without dropping.
So, what if the Tomcat fighter is fully loaded? With the phoenix mounted, full of fuel, and the maximum weight of 33 tons, can it fly from this aircraft carrier
No, definitely not.
If the Tomcat fighter has always been loaded with half fuel and half ammunition to take off, what is the use? It simply can't exert its combat effectiveness!
According to Nathan’s vision, the front and rear are separated, and the take-off area has to be shortened. It is said that one hundred meters is enough. The succeeding Su-33 and J-15 can almost take off smoothly at more than one hundred meters , And the Tomcat fighter, it is said that the take-off and landing speed is about 15 knots lower than theirs.
How is this going
It seems that it is still the drag of the engine! Take a look at the later generations of J-15, the engine used, the thrust has reached 13.5 tons, but what about your own? It's less than 10 tons.
This issue must be clarified to colleagues.
It was still early in the day, so when Nathan took off, it was almost the same as just before, making three turns around the aircraft carrier and landing again.
The second time, and the first time, it was almost as perfect.
"Your Excellency, don't be too happy, everyone." Nathan looked at the people who came down, and began to pour cold water on them: "I think our aircraft can't take off full of fuel and bombs."
Suddenly, everyone was at a loss: "Why?" (End of this chapter)