By Tommy H. Thomason

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Fitting In V

All U.S. Navy carrier-based airplanes being developed at the beginning of World War II had folding wings and there was only one exception thereafter, the A4D Skyhawk; its span was specifically limited to the maximum dimension generally acceptable for a folded airplane. See http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2012/12/fitting-in-iv.html

There were, however, airplanes with specific limitations or issues that meant they weren't always folded at all times on deck. For example, the McDonnell F2H-2 (and reportedly the -3 and -4) Banshee's wings could not be folded or unfolded with full tip tanks. As a result, they had to be spotted with the wings unfolded for fueling before flight if the tip tanks were to be filled.


In order to minimize weight, the North American AJ Savage's wings and vertical fin could only be folded after the deck crew bolted a hinge to the fold joints along with a folding device, hydraulic for the wings and manual for the vertical fin. As a result, they weren't often folded.
U.S. Navy via Greg Bishop

Although the Douglas AD Skyraider's wings could be loaded with bombs and rockets when folded, it was sometimes more convenient to arm one with the wings spread.

1 comment:

Fernando said...

I've been following you for 7 years now and in my opinion this continues to be the most interesting web for air Navy history, sorry, for air Navy. This type of posts (Fitting in V) are my favourite ones. Thank you.