1958 F-100 USES SHORT "RUNWAY"
Popular Mechanics has a story about a couple Cold War era F-100 fighter jets that are for sale. The Cold War spawned all kinds of crazy ideas:
The F-100’s most dramatic trick involved taking off without an airfield. One of the most vexing problems facing the Air Force during the Cold War was getting planes off the ground during wartime, when the Soviet Union was anticipated to target NATO runways. In response, the Zero-Length Launch program sought to do away with runways altogether by installing a Rocketdyne XM-34 solid rocket booster under a F-100. In just 5 seconds, the XM-34 could boost the F-100 to an altitude of 400 feet and speed of 275 miles an hour. (How the F-100 landed on a damaged runway was never explained.)
Via FlightAware
The F-100 has appeared here before.
Update September 2021 changed link.
Taking off is more crucial to mission than is landing. Aircraft on the ground don't do much for one. That said, landing on a damaged runway/taxiway/field is less scary than taking off since landing distance is much shorter.
ReplyDeleteDuring the early 1980s, I worked on the Rapid Runway Repair program at Tyndall AFB. At that time our company was charged with using aircraft structures models (produced by airframe manufacturers) to produce repair criteria that must be met for landing on and for taking off using whatever surface was available. The aircraft ranged from F-4, F-15, F-16 to overseas models of DC-10 and B-747 to B-1s and Warthogs. The criteria were specific to aircraft and operational regime. It was interesting work, but involved much too much travel.