Showing posts with label gunships. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gunships. Show all posts

Friday, 13 April 2018

Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar.

A glider concept Engined.

World War-II (1939-45) produced many concepts in military transportation, one being gliders by both the British and Nazi-Germany to move troops and equipment! But despite being clever and useful they were easy targets for the artillery on each side!

After the war the Fairchild company produced a concept that may have been copied from Nazi-German ideas, and this proved to be on of the first effective designs from 1947 to at least 1970. Speed was not fast compared to later machines, but sixty-two troops and vehicles could be moved over at least 3.400 miles with a crew of four.

The French Nord N2501 Noratlas developed from 1960, but much smaller was based on the same tail configuration design! it carried forty-five passengers and five crew at a range of 1550miles and was exported to Chad, Greece and Nigeria.

The aircraft was exported to Ethiopia, India, Italy, Morocco and Thailand, apart from early U.S. service. The C-119G was converted to the AC-119 gunship version, this was later superseded by the Fairchild C-123 Provider of a more conventional design from 1949.

Many nations who received these initial aircraft, went on the buy the long serving Lockheed C-130 Hercules.

Thursday, 3 December 2015

MIL Mi-24 Helicopter.

Another Unique Design.

That no western design company has followed, and one wonders why?

The Mil helicopter designers are but a few who built helicopters in the former Soviet Union, Kamov and Yakolev were the other two. The Mil's started with the Mi-1 and then just progressed in size up to the Mi-6/10 and on to the most succesful Mi-17/117, Mi-171.

But the origins of the the Mi-24/25-35 have a much different take, it was the Afghanistan wars of the 1970'-80's that called for a combined helicopter roles so that both specialised troops could be got on to an area fast and protected by heavy fire.

The rocket pods on the Mi-8/17 were not suitable, so it was decided to combine two machines into one, transporter and gunship. There have over the years been many variants from the early glazed noses to the present aircraft style canopies. 

The west meantime do not seem to have taken advantage of developing a similar type, but rather have kept to fast transport backed up by supporting helicopter gunships.