Bent Hellcat

[Finn]

I wonder if the pilot knew how hard of a landing he just made was:

 

 

Jari

[John1]

Any landing you can walk away from....   on that note, when are we going to get a decent 32nd scale F6F???

[LSP_Ron]

That will polish out

[LSP_Ray]

Somehow I think the pilot knew it was a hard landing...or at least he will when he wakes up the next morning...

[MikeMaben]

 

Wind shear .

[lawman56]

That's the space saving accordion option for shortening the aircraft to store below deck.... 

[Pete Fleischmann]

That'l buff out.

 

[Confusionreigns178]

Ouch! That would have ruined someone's entire day... Good job they made carrier planes so strong.

 

Chris. 

[Stevepd]

Perhaps it’s an inflatable decoy

[Oldbaldguy]

I could be wrong, but it looks to me like this guy is buckling in in prep for launch.  Realizing he had a bent airplane on his hands, the squadron CO probably grabbed his youngest Nugget and told him to fly the thing to beach for a quick strip and repaint.  Wouldn't be the first time.

[Chad Veich]

On 10/14/2020 at 9:00 AM, Oldbaldguy said:

I could be wrong, but it looks to me like this guy is buckling in in prep for launch.  Realizing he had a bent airplane on his hands, the squadron CO probably grabbed his youngest Nugget and told him to fly the thing to beach for a quick strip and repaint.  Wouldn't be the first time.

I can assure you that airplane is not being prepared for a flight!

[Oldbaldguy]

Ah.  Obviously a failed attempt at humor on my part.

[John1]

10 hours ago, Chad Veich said:

I can assure you that airplane is not being prepared for a flight!

I wouldn't be so sure.  I have a friend, whose brother said he overheard the barista at his local Starbucks say that she found a website that referenced that the USN often launched beaten up, barely flyable Hellcats back into combat.  I guess it's just what they did back then.

 

I think that pretty much seals the deal on this issue, right?

[Joe Hegedus]

3 hours ago, John1 said:

I wouldn't be so sure.  I have a friend, whose brother said he overheard the barista at his local Starbucks say that she found a website that referenced that the USN often launched beaten up, barely flyable Hellcats back into combat.  I guess it's just what they did back then.

 

I think that pretty much seals the deal on this issue, right?

There's a difference between "beat up" and "structurally unsound".  The only place that airplane was likely to be headed was over the side - beyond the capability to repair on board and replacements were readily available.

[LSP_Ron]

Lets be realistic,  there is no way that plane is being launched for flight.  All it would do is loop at the end of the deck. The tail plane incidence would be so positive with that huge bend there would be no way to control it.  There is clearly a bucket under the fuse catching oil also.

 

The pilot is just undoing himself from the plane.  That thing went over the side for sure.