Picture of the day

[CV32]

Original specs for the Mohawk called for it to be aircraft carrier capable. I saw some films in the late 60s of some of the carrier tests by the Navy at Pax River. At that time the plane had a conventional single rudder tail. On a simulated carrier takeoff the pilot apparently flipped the landing gear switch to the up position and relied on the weight-on-wheels switches to keep the gear down. I assume he was trying to get quicker gear retraction on take off. The he stepped on the brakes, ran the engines up to military power and got ready to launch. Unfortunately while running the power up the plane started to bounce a bit. It bounced just enough to take the weight off the switches and retracted the gear at max power and zero airspeed. Probably not a career enhancing day for the pilot. On a simulated carrier landing the plane hooked the arresting cable. Just before it came to a stop the fuselage ripped apart right at the trailing edge of the wings. The tail and most of the fuselage dropped to the ground, the wings and wheel house rolled on down the runway. Soon after the Navy dropped the project.

You might be mixing up the OV-1 Mohawk and the OV-10 Bronco here. Yes, the Mohawk was originally envisioned as a joint Army-USMC project, with an aircraft capable of deployment from light escort carriers. But the Marine Corps (Navy) dropped out a year before the first prototype took to the air. The Bronco, on the other hand, always had an aircraft carrier capability with the Marines. Footage of carrier tests in 1968 here:

Unless it was a later, short lived Navy test effort?

 

[Cottage Hill Bill]

Nope, it was early Mohawk tests. I saw the films when doing a two week Civil Air Patrol camp at Craig AF Base. Don't know the date the films were made, but I saw them '69-'70. The AF guys made a point of making fun of the Navy efforts.

 

[Ganderite]

Bronco in video did not have a tail hook or catapult launch. A conventional a/c off a carrier. That seems strange.

 

[CV32]

Nope, it was early Mohawk tests. I saw the films when doing a two week Civil Air Patrol camp at Craig AF Base. Don't know the date the films were made, but I saw them '69-'70. The AF guys made a point of making fun of the Navy efforts.

Ok, interesting. I wonder why the Navy would bother, given that they had dropped out of the program twenty years earlier and already had a similar capability in the Bronco. It would be great to see the footage.

Bronco in video did not have a tail hook or catapult launch. A conventional a/c off a carrier. That seems strange.

Great STOL performance.

 

[diopter]

 

[camster]

Hey, flyboy - buy you a drink?


The DH Caribou - one of DeHavilland's unsung success stories.

The Mohawk was rare in being a fixed wing conbat-capable Army asset. Not many of those allowed by the Air Force folks. And I wonder how many US Army personnel were trained in aerial refueling.

The Caribou, and later Buffalo are awesome STOL planes!

 

[Ganderite]

What is that ugly big box on right side?

Are those bombs or fuel tanks under the wing?

 

[Bubba Yugga]

With the Caribou and the Buffalo, de Havilland was magic.
And then, they just seem to have lost that spirit.
The Twotter and Dash 7 benefited from that spirit, but that spirit itself seems to have flickered out after the Barfalo.

 

[dryfire]

What is that ugly big box on right side?

Are those bombs or fuel tanks under the wing?

Big ugly box spoiling the aerodynamics is a SLAR(Side Looking Airborne Radar) from the earlier expert's posts

Under the wings are likely tanks perhaps to extend loiter time... I don't think these carried weapons that size.

 

[diopter]

Cockpit View OV-1 Mohawk

 

[grelmar]

B-26 Marauder "Hell's Belle II" after getting her 100th sortie mark painted on her nose:

Whole story here: https://youdidntaskbut.wordpress.com/2016/08/14/b-26-bomber-hells-belle-on-her-100th-mission-a-world-war-2-story/, and well worth the read.

Basically a love story, between a crew chief and his "ship." Her 100th raid was the 46th time in a row she'd gone out without an early turn back. The stars must truly have been in the right alignment as the Belle wet through the factory at Martin, and she definitely had a crew chief who knew how to treat her right.

 

[Still alive]

Did the Marauders in Italy fall under the "25 sortie and you go home" rule?

If so, 130 total missions makes for 5+ crews. Everyone must have been clamoring for Hell's Belle II or trying to stay away from her, depending on whether you were a cup half full or half empty kinda guy!

 

[Dwag]

Read that comic book as a kid. Still have the flag. OOhra.

 

[Sharps '74]

For a good account of the B-26 in the Pacific War, read "Rugged, Ragged Warriors" by Martin Caidin(?)

These were early models with pretty short wing spans. In the tropical heat they had a tough time getting airborne with a full bomb load. Fighter pilots flying the P39 and Brewster Buffalo were getting shot out of the skies by the Japanese like clay pigeons.

 

[Polearm]

"Ragged, Rugged Warriors" by Martin Caidin (ISBN 0-553-25062-0). I have my Bantam War Book copy here. It really is a great read.

 

[bjmurata]

For a good account of the B-26 in the Pacific War, read "Rugged, Ragged Warriors" by Martin Caidin(?)

These were early models with pretty short wing spans. In the tropical heat they had a tough time getting airborne with a full bomb load. Fighter pilots flying the P39 and Brewster Buffalo were getting shot out of the skies by the Japanese like clay pigeons.

One of my all time favourite military aviation books, I can't count how many times I have read and re-read that book over the years.

 

[grelmar]

I think it's a testament to the ground crew... The hours those guys put in to keep those aircraft flight worthy must have been extraordinary.

For Hell's Belle in particular... Pilots and flight crew came and went. But the crew chief stayed, and in fact almost the entire ground crew stayed with that bird for the duration. A lot of dedication and pride went into that.

The B-26 had a reputation as a widow-maker. But by the end of the war had one of the best records for crew survivability. The tricky part was landing. It had a relatively high landing speed for the day (140mph) with a narrow margin in either direction. Pilots today wouldn't blink at that speed, but it was definitely quick for the time.

 

[Cdn303]

Just finishing up Mark Zuehlke's latest installment in his Canadian Battle Series of books, FORGOTTEN VICTORY -First Canadian Army and the cruel winter of 1944-45.

The Clearing of Moyland Wood, during Operation Veritable, is one location the book goes into detail about. Several Canadian regiments had the joy of rooting out well dug in paratroopers throughout the nightmare of a place.

Chatting with my grandfather once about his time as an infantryman with the Canadian Scottish Regiment, he recalled in particular the Leopold Canal, and this forest as being some of the most terrible times.

Picture of Moyland Wood below gives a strong hint of why he felt that way .....

I too enjoy those series of books. It is nice to be able to read some Canadian war accounts in a market flooded with America stuff.

 

[Cdn303]

So I haven't been on here foe 4 weeks. To rectify all the ugly aircraft how about some pretty ones. I thing the FW200 was a good looking bird

 

[diopter]

Speaking of good looking birds.

Member of Portugal's Paratrooper Nurse Corps 1961. Hope the soldier to our right of her doesn't get !@#$% for going to battle without his rifle.
Sorry, photographer said what?