New Carriers
While I'm slightly surpised by the infantle slanging - I as ex tiny hand in the Sea Harrier 1 & 2 development take Jackonicko's stand on this one -he has the outside perspective, and internal knowledge & contacts to have a worthwhile view.
A few days ago I saw a programme on 'SKY' - obviously recorded some years ago but only out now - where a 'Navy Engineer' said 'the Sea Harrier was obviously not designed by an engineer, it's a nightmare to work on and you even have to take the wing off to get the engine out !"...
Well chum, the wing is only held on by 4 bolts, and my father could organise an engine change in 45 minutes - of course there was then the running up & calibration, first by resident Rolls Royce engineers like Mick Simmonds & Keith Wardle, then Test Pilots like John Farley.
I doubt this berk would be 'glad to see the back of it' if his ship was under attack - though that's never going to happen is it ( C*1981 ).
Rant over, my main point was...
Why am I not shocked to death to hear of delays in building the 2 carriers- both awfully but understandably neccessarily named.
I would have thought something more like the U.S. Marines Carriers might have have been more suitable, while we'll have to wait & see if the JSF works out - even I was staggered to read here the unit price to Norway of £209 million !
My only hope for the project is that Graham Tomlinson is fighting our corner.
I'm not a tactician, but if for some reason I was attacking Norway what would I rather take on, 20+ sorted out Gripens with links, or maybe 5-6 JSF's with downgraded kit ?
I will rant over just one more thing, UK Ltd had a ' three poster ' supersonic VSTOL fighter in full mock up design example at Kingston in the 1980's - it made the JSF look like the Sopwith Camel, and one version had forward swept wings, made of carbon fibre 'trained' to avoid wingtip digression.
Guess who cancelled it - the great margaret thatcher, whose poltical arse had been saved by the Harrier ( and AIM 9L, thanks largely to Test Pilot Taylor Scott - who was later killed serving his country, his family treated despicably, but eventually his widow beat the BAe teams of lawyers ).
Back to the carriers, we need them and aircraft able to operate from them, but I notice other 'poorer' countries are happy to operate ships we deemed fit for scrap or selling on...
There was a huge amount of truth in the Bird & Fortune sketch ( findadable on youtube ) " how many Admirals do we have at the moment ?" - " Oh about 85 " - " and how many warships do we have ? "
- " err, about 25 "...
Last edited by Double Zero; 11th Dec 2008 at 21:33.