Chris,
I believe the USAF still flies the B-1B bomber which is swing-wing. I
actually saw one flying over Charleston a few years ago; only time I've
seen one.
Charlie
On Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 1:35 PM, Chris Barker <ftog@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Well, apart from the fact that I had already seen that particular dream
> machine, courtesy of Rick B, it is difficult to conceive of the combination
> of capabilities: M3.5, 4,000nm range and carrier landing capability.
>
> Oh and to have Low-Observable capabilities with that strange swing-wing
> contraption would be pretty difficult -- too many edges. Finally,
> swing-wing is an old way of doing things. The USA's military aviation
> industry has moved away from changing the wing's shape or size in favour of
> making clever flight computers to run fly-by-wire systems.
>
> It's only us Brits who still operate swing-wing, as far as I can make out.
> Before I had been more than a couple of years on the Tornado GR1 I
> realised that it was a pretty useless way of doing things. The weight of
> the mechanism, the extra hydraulic power needed and the extra bulk to
> accommodate the whole structure are big disadvantages against the very
> minor advantage of adjusting the planform. We should have welded the
> Tornado's wings at 45degrees 20 years ago, allowed the flaps to move at
> that sweep and stopped worrying about the tiny increments of speed that
> variable geometry gave us. With a fixed wing we could simplify the speed
> limitations as well, and stop practising swept-wing approaches (an approach
> in 63/67 wing sweep is a wacky thing to do).
>
> Chris
>
> On 29 Nov 2011, at 17:56, Paul Laughlin wrote:
>
> > My first thought, which I foolishly ignored, was that an aircraft with
> > those capabilities would just be away too much for launching off a
> > catapult. Or off a carrier at all, for that matter.
> > Paul in Portland OR
> >
> > On 11/29/2011 3:54 AM, Chris Barker wrote:
> >> Yes, the aircraft is a mockup for a film, apparently. But the whole
> setup looks like a very expensive way to get publicity shots.
> >
>
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