What is that airplane from years ago?
The C-141.
Might be time to dust off the old birds from the scrapyards and stick modern engines on them and put them back into service!
Thanks to everyone for their comments but a few points...
1. The C-141 cubing out before reaching its max takeoff weight was examined and to a certain degree rectified by the stretched C-141B.
2. In the light that the C-141 was tweener...between the C-5 and the smaller C-130 makes it similar to the A400 in mission profile..
3. If you think that any of the partner nations in the A400 project are going to be using the A400 on rough fields, etc, then I've got a bridge in a dark swamp to sell ya...it ain't going to happen.
4. The idea that in addition to A330, the A400 will make a superior tanker is nonsense. The A400 will not be procured in large enough numbers for it to perform a swing role...a role that the A330 is more than adequate for.
5. The C-141 is faster, flies farther and carries as much as the A400...the only place where the A400 might be superior is the fact that it can carry SOME outsized cargo.
I think it might be a little bit harder then just strapping a new engine upon their backs. The airframes themselves might also have come to the end of their service life. Don't get me wrong I'm all for reusing a proven tech. If it ain't broke stick wit it.
ReplyDeletePK
I took a C-130 to the boneyard several years ago. The last of the 141's were being cut up as fast as the USAF could deliver them. Bad, old wiring, corrosion, airframe fatigue. The taxpayers got their money from them.
ReplyDeleteNo matter how good, no one in the west will ever go back and make something old. The military-industrial complex has convinced them that they can't do that. They're worse than consumers when it comes for falling for new and improved.
Except, it didn't...
ReplyDeleteThe C-141 cargo box cross-section is essentially identical with the C-130, meaning it cannot carry anything wider than a Stryker.
/Bengt
Better yet, how 'bout the YC-15.
ReplyDeleteThe C-141 had no outsize cargo capability and couldn't do tactical landings, so it's ridiculous to claim that it could have been a rival to the A400M. It only made sense to the USAF, where it fit as a pallet/troop carrier in a mixed fleet with C-130s and C-5s. It did do low level paradrop as a secondary tasking, but was ill-suited for that and paid the price in terms of structural fatigue and maintenance costs.
ReplyDeleteThe C-141's real successor is actually the Airbus A310 MRT, odd as that may sound.
A C-141 derivative was actually considered during the FIMA studies in the 1980s, but rejected as unsuitable due to capacity and take-off/landing constraints (as were Belfast-based proposals).
ReplyDeleteThe Britons, during the Sixties, produced a very capable A400M's predecessor: the Short SC.5 "Belfast" .....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flightglobal.com/airspace/media/militaryaviation1946-2006cutaways/images/14187/short-sc5-belfast-cutaway.jpg
http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviation-photos/middle/5/0/1/1283105.jpg
It was, even if moved by turboprops, surely more capable than the "Starlifter" .....
The value of the C141 WAS its size. It was a good damn TROOP lifter. IMHO the USAF has over emphasized the need for out-sitzed lift which has resulted in too few big damn airlifters and not enough on the other end of the scale like C-27J Spartans. I have to look at the current C-130 inventory.
ReplyDeleteWhy do I posture as above? When the stuff hits the fan and DOD has to move troops to overseas locations how do they fly? In the big cargo holds of current $$ birds OR in chartered airliners. Which would you prefer to have in the USAF inventory? More big damn airlifters or some smaller troop carriers?
This model of Private Jets are widely used in military purpose and for short distance travel.
ReplyDeletetotally agree Leesea.
ReplyDeletequestion. Mike referred to a website that you run that i've been looking for that covers small boat operations. can you tell me what it was?
Warboats.org where the history of Combat Craft sailors and boats is kept alive. We also have a small forum going. Sign in to it.
ReplyDelete