The US Navy has some of the most capable planes in the world. Not every attempt to parking advanced aircraft on 4.5 acres of floating "Sovereign American territory" has succeeded.
Over the past 50 years, Uncle Sam has tried to keep every fighter developed on carrier duty.
The legendary U-2 Dragon Lady spy plane is one of the planes that have actually landed and taken off from the decks of American carriers.
Modern carriers don't need to be fueled for decades, but they still need supplies from land-based installations. Replacement parts for the aircraft that operate from the carriers' flight deck are included in the range.
The Navy wanted to find a way to get larger shipments out to carriers at sea without having to build an expensive clean sheet aircraft. The solution was crazy enough to land the C-130 on the deck of the aircraft carrier.
On October 3, 1963, Lieutenant James H.Flatley brought his massive C-130 down onto the aircraft carrier and missed the control tower by 15 feet.
The Navy is trying to get the C-130 off of aircraft carriers.
Two months before Flatley's C-130 would make history with a landing on the Forrestal, the test pilot of the U-2A would carve his own name into the record books by taking off from the deck of the US Navy ship.
The U-2 was renovated on March 2, 1963. He left from a land-based airfield with orders to land on the forestall-class supercarrier.
The U-2 was able to return to the sky after a series of landings on the Ranger. The conditions were1-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-6556 was1-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-65561-6556
As he brought the U-2 down on the aircraft carrier, its new tailhook grabbed the cable, just as it was intended, but the rapid shift in momentum and weight pushed the tail upward, causing the plane's pitot tube to break. The team was able to fix the aircraft in a few days.
The mission of the first U-2 was to monitor French nuclear tests in French Polynesia, and it was launched from an aircraft carrier.
The French were completely unaware of the two flights that were launched over the course of three days. It would be the last time a U-2G would be launched from a carrier for active operations.
The CIA and Navy are trying to get the U-2 off of aircraft carriers.
The F-16 Fighting Falcon has been the workhorse fighter for the US Air Force for more than 40 years, and at one point it looked like a carrier- capable version would do the same for the US Navy.
The Vought 1600 was larger than the F-16A because it was needed by the Navy. It was larger than the Air Force's version of the fighter, with a 33 foot three inch wingspan.
The expansion of the wings gave the aircraft better stability at lower speeds. The canopy was pivoted forward and the fuselage was flattened. This design can still be found on the F-35.
Heavy duty landing gear had to be attached to the Vought 1600's belly in order to survive carrier landings. A pulse-doppler radar for beyond-visual-range targeting was added to the Navy's engagement range due to the strength of the fuselage.
The structural changes needed to make the F-16 into the Vought 1600 added more than 3000 pounds to the plane. Changes were made to the wing and fuselage of the Vought 1600. The V-1602 had more wing area at 399 square feet and was given a heavier engine.
The full story about the attempts to fly the F-16 off of aircraft carriers can be found here.
For a short time in the 1970s, the Navy considered flying the F-15 from its aircraft carriers instead of the F-14, but decided against it.
McDonnel Douglas knew the platform would have to be modified to make the F-15 suitable for carriers.
A larger reinforced hook was added to the design of the F-15A because the carrier fighter needs to rely on its hook for every landing. The wings would fold up at a 90-degree angle to make it easier to store below the deck.
The landing gear needed to be swapped out for a more rugged set that could handle the abuse of carrier landings. If the Navy wanted to go forward with the aircraft, they would have to design the new gear.
The F-15 only gained 3000 pounds. This, along with a higher top speed and a lower price, made this new Sea Eagle sound like a good deal.
Capable as the F-15N may have been, it couldn't carry the AIM-54 pheonix, the most powerful air-to-air missile in the world.
The full story about the attempts to fly the F-15 off of aircraft carriers can be found here.
The US Air Force's venerable F-22 Raptor is widely seen as the world's most capable air-superiority fighter, but it was nearly joined by a sister platform modified specifically for the Navy.
Congress pressed the Navy to adopt a sweep-wing version of the F-22 because it proved so capable. There would have been a lot of technical hurdles to overcome if the US Navy had pursued a carrier variant of the F-22. There are different take-off and landing challenges for land and carrier aircraft.
A tailhook at the rear of the aircraft is needed to support the fuselage during catapult launches and short-distance landings. The NATF-22 would need to use the same sort of wing approach found on the F-14 to be able to land on a carrier.
The variable-sweep wing design compromises some degree of stealth. If the connecting surfaces of the wings produced a high enough return on radar to secure a weapons-grade lock on the plane, the value would be fundamentally compromised.
The Navy's existing F-14 Tomcats were quicker than the F-22. Even if it was borrowing heavily from the Air Force's program, the F14 Tomcats were still cheaper than building a new stealth fighter for the Navy.
The full story about the attempts to fly the F-15 off of aircraft carriers can be found here.
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