The Turtle's Takeoff

Great googly moogly...

For a summary description of this Lockheed P2V's record distance flight, see http://thanlont.blogspot.com/2011/01/truculent-turtle.html

I knew the overloaded takeoff from Perth, Australia was a close-run thing, but I just came across this video recently posted by Ken Horner:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cyQklgmfzE

Note that for maximum takeoff benefit from JATO, you fire the rockets so that burnout occurs just after liftoff. That is why there is no JATO boost during the first part of the takeoff roll.

In the event of an engine failure at or above 1,000 feet after takeoff, the crew had a fuel-jettison plan (including getting rid of the tip tanks) to get down to a weight that would allow them to climb before they hit the ground. It doesn't look like they got to 1,000 feet for a while...