RN post war carrier conundrums

[Arjen]

Yup. The Tracer has a spot factor of 2.35 when using the A-4 as your baseline equalling a spot factor of 1. The Hawkeye has a spot factor of 2.25. It's not a huge difference, but on a smaller ship, every little bit helps.

Edit: Just to clarify, spot factor is based on the folded size of the aircraft, not the size with the wings extended. Extended, the Hawkeye is clearly a bigger aircraft then the Tracer. But it folded up smaller than the earlier E-1 did

Thanks. I included span folded figures for E-1 and E-2 because of an inkling that they had something to do with it.

 

[SSgtC]

Unfortunately, Grumman ef'd it up. The E-2A was so damn unreliable that the Navy grounded the plane and put the E-1 back on the carriers and threatened to cancel the whole damn program unless Grumman fixed in one damn big hurry. That led to the E-2B which was better, but was only an interim solution. Grumman replaced as much of the internal vacuum tube electronics as they could with solid state electronics and deleted the telescoping mount for the radar to reduce complexity and add additional cooling to the cabin.

 

[SSgtC]

Yup. The Tracer has a spot factor of 2.35 when using the A-4 as your baseline equalling a spot factor of 1. The Hawkeye has a spot factor of 2.25. It's not a huge difference, but on a smaller ship, every little bit helps.

Edit: Just to clarify, spot factor is based on the folded size of the aircraft, not the size with the wings extended. Extended, the Hawkeye is clearly a bigger aircraft then the Tracer. But it folded up smaller than the earlier E-1 did

Thanks. I included span folded figures for E-1 and E-2 because of an inkling that they had something to do with it.

Yeah, late 50s/early 60s carrier aircraft tended to be big even when folded. Starting in the 70s and 80s, the Navy made a big effort to get their aircraft to fold up as small as possible.

 

[bobtdwarf]

I am always intrigued by the US ASW Essex ships with their mixture of S2 and Seaking ASW and anti-snooper Skyhawks. A developed short take off ASW plane rather than the S3 might have allowed these and Karel Doorman and Bonaventure to be replaced by an updated new build Essex size ship. The UK could easily have designed and built such a ship to replace Hermes and Bulwark in the ASW role more effectively than the Invincibles. Italy and even France might have joined such a NATO small carrier programme with Arromanches 2 and Trieste/Italia

Sorry for replying to a months old post, but the S-3 Viking was actually designed specifically to be operated off the Essex class. They had a folding vertical stabilizer to fit them in the 17.5' hangers of the class. Same with the E-2 Hawkeye. The Hawkeye was originally equipped with a telescoping mount for the radar allowing the aircraft to be struck down into the hangers of the Essex and Midway classes.

I remember reading on a forum about how the telescoping mount was a PITA/flaky... not that it would have stopped it being used, just there would be a lot of ugly stories about it on the 'net today if it had been used more

 

[SSgtC]

I am always intrigued by the US ASW Essex ships with their mixture of S2 and Seaking ASW and anti-snooper Skyhawks. A developed short take off ASW plane rather than the S3 might have allowed these and Karel Doorman and Bonaventure to be replaced by an updated new build Essex size ship. The UK could easily have designed and built such a ship to replace Hermes and Bulwark in the ASW role more effectively than the Invincibles. Italy and even France might have joined such a NATO small carrier programme with Arromanches 2 and Trieste/Italia

Sorry for replying to a months old post, but the S-3 Viking was actually designed specifically to be operated off the Essex class. They had a folding vertical stabilizer to fit them in the 17.5' hangers of the class. Same with the E-2 Hawkeye. The Hawkeye was originally equipped with a telescoping mount for the radar allowing the aircraft to be struck down into the hangers of the Essex and Midway classes.

I remember reading on a forum about how the telescoping mount was a PITA/flaky... not that it would have stopped it being used, just there would be a lot of ugly stories about it on the 'net today if it had been used more

I wouldn't be surprised. The Hawkeye pushed the boundaries of what was possible when it was designed.

 

[Archibald]

The Hawkeye pushed the boundaries of what was possible when it was designed.

A typical & average aerospace product from the 60's, then.

 

[uk 75]

JP Santiago aka Sentinel Chicken shows what the S3 could have been. France could have bought them to replace the Alize