Britain's longest aircraft runway ?

[Tango13]

Eric Mc said:

miln0039 said:

Hey - the second model was going to be able to do 300mph...!! But yes, I agree they lost the plot when making something the size of a 767 and then only getting 50-100 people on board. Silverjet anybody?

The design was based on pre-war thinking. The airliner world had changed radically by 1945 and there was no way the Brabazon would ever turn a profit for its operator. Indeed, only one operator was envisaged, BOAC, and they weren't interested.

Other designs stemming from the Brabazon Committee were more successful, particularly the Viscount and the De havilland Dove.

'The Worlds Worst Aircraft' by James Gilbert features the Brabazon. It was suffering from metal fatigue after only a few hundred hours and the gearboxes on the coupled Proteus engines were a constant sourch of problems.

[stemll]

Total loss said:

stemll said:

AAGR said:

A runway 5 miles long ? What on earth for .... ?

IIRC it was actually going to be a taxiway between the two sites, not a runway. So the airfield would remain where Thurleigh was with the maintenance at Twinwoods.

A quick google to refresh the memory shows people talking about the 5 mile taxiway and runway, but norwichpaul on AIX says the plans for the runway are at the RAF Museum and the 'underpass' built is a lot wider than needed for just a taxiway.

Seems that the plan was to extend the 09/27 runway to Little Staughton but the bit going over the road in the cutting was to be a taxiway to maintenance at Twinwoods.

Oddly, it seems that the 27 runway is now open again but has become 26??

http://goo.gl/maps/jN2k

has become

http://www.palmersport.com/venue-aerodrome.aspx

[eharding]

stemll said:

Oddly, it seems that the 27 runway is now open again but has become 26??

Change of magnetic declination over the years...

[LukeBird]

el stovey said:

There are longer but unpaved rwys at Edwards AFB (39,600ft) , Nellis AFB and White sands in the USA.

Bloody hell!

[Eric Mc]

Basically lines on a salt lake.

[Dustytrucker]

Hi a recent join to the site but was interested in discussions on rwy lengths and saw reference to VC9, the Vanguard did have a makers ref as VC9 but in aviation flight planning it was'nt used by the Vanguard, the aircraft that did use it was the USAF VIP conversion of the DC9.

[vescaegg]

LukeBird said:

Bloody hell!

I think I read somewhere that the one at Area 51 is something like 8 miles long. It's for all them alien ships innit.

[Eric Mc]

Dustytrucker said:

Hi a recent join to the site but was interested in discussions on rwy lengths and saw reference to VC9, the Vanguard did have a makers ref as VC9 but in aviation flight planning it was'nt used by the Vanguard, the aircraft that did use it was the USAF VIP conversion of the DC9.

Yes - and the Vickers Viking was the VC-1 and the Viscount was the VC-2. Neither of these designations were ever used as the marketing brand name.

As far as USAF designations are concerned, transport aircraft in USAF service are always prefixed by the letter "C", as in C-130 or C-17. If a version has been configured for VIP transport, it will be given an additional "V" prefix. The USAF designation for the DC-9 airliner was the C-9. The VIP version became the VC-9

[MarkwG]

Dustytrucker said:

Hi a recent join to the site but was interested in discussions on rwy lengths and saw reference to VC9, the Vanguard did have a makers ref as VC9 but in aviation flight planning it was'nt used by the Vanguard, the aircraft that did use it was the USAF VIP conversion of the DC9.

Not quite my recollection: the original ICAO fligth plan code used by the Vanguard was VC9, when I used to deal with the Merchantman cargo versions flying for Air Bridge Carriers. During the mid to late '80s the codes were revised by ICAO & the Vanguard & Viscount became VANG & VISC, I think, by which time the majority of them were coke cans anyway. The USAF codes for their civilian conversions usually started as "C" numbers back then. The Nightingale (DC9 flying hospital) was a C9, the Beech 200 used around Europe between the bases was the C12, the Boeing 737 200s were C43 etc, although the confusion that caused was a bit of a nuisance. Mixing up a King Air & a jet ain't funny...

[AAGR]

OK, let's get back on track.

What does anyone think of the proposal that the northern runway at Heathrow should effectively be doubled in length, though it will really be end-to-end runways with a safety 'neutral zone' in the middle ?

How long will that all be, in total ?

[Foliage]

doogz said:

tuffer said:

Ginetta G15 Girl said:

tuffer said:

Boscombe may be long but its far from flat and the approach is a bit dodgy (at least it looks it to me), big hill right in front of it.

I've never had an issue landing at Boscombe.

In a Space shuttle?

Don't space shuttles approach at a much steeper angle than any other aircraft. If a hill doesn't bother a plane, it's unlikely to bother a shuttle.

I do believe the space shuttle takes the falling with style approach to landing.

[Foliage]

vescaegg said:

LukeBird said:

Bloody hell!

I think I read somewhere that the one at Area 51 is something like 8 miles long. It's for all them alien ships innit.

Testing of experimental aircraft, you need a good amount of runway.


With all the companies developing and testing space planes, is it planned for any of these airfields to be re-commissioned?

[Hugo a Gogo]

I vaguely imagined that the shuttle would re-enter at more 'central' latitudes, would it ever come anywhere near northern europe? and how much variation can it make in its glide path?

[eharding]

Hugo a Gogo said:

I vaguely imagined that the shuttle would re-enter at more 'central' latitudes, would it ever come anywhere near northern europe? and how much variation can it make in its glide path?

As above - there were contingency runways planned for the polar orbit Shuttle missions, which were cancelled after the Challenger accident.

[Hooli]

Foliage said:

doogz said:

tuffer said:

Ginetta G15 Girl said:

tuffer said:

Boscombe may be long but its far from flat and the approach is a bit dodgy (at least it looks it to me), big hill right in front of it.

I've never had an issue landing at Boscombe.

In a Space shuttle?

Don't space shuttles approach at a much steeper angle than any other aircraft. If a hill doesn't bother a plane, it's unlikely to bother a shuttle.

I do believe the space shuttle takes the falling with style approach to landing.

5:1 glide ratio I seem to remember.

[MartG]

Tango13 said:

The question is, what would NASA have done if the shuttle had landed there? A couple of big cranes and a lot of faffing about to get it on the back of the 747 I'd imagine.

Depending at what point it had to abort, the orbiter could require virtually rebuilding after an emergency landing. After a normal landing it needs to be quickly coupled up to ground support vehicles for cooling to prevent all the onboard equipment from being cooked as the heat from re-entry works its way to the interior.

[Dr Jekyll]

I think the most likely scenario for the shuttle using an emergency runway was an abort before reaching orbit, in which case temperature wouldn't be an issue.

[MarkwG]

AAGR said:

What does anyone think of the proposal that the northern runway at Heathrow should effectively be doubled in length, though it will really be end-to-end runways with a safety 'neutral zone' in the middle ?

How long will that all be, in total ?

Anything's doable: the procedures would need to be pretty clear as to what to do in the event of the unexpected. There's benefits to be had, whether they out weigh the problems created, not sure. I'm not sure I'd want to be the first airport in the world to try it though. Total length of both would be in excess of 16km.

Edited by MarkwG on Thursday 29th January 15:44

[Vaud]

Dr Jekyll said:

I think the most likely scenario for the shuttle using an emergency runway was an abort before reaching orbit, in which case temperature wouldn't be an issue.

Scenarios outlined here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_abort_m...

[Foliage]

I'm surprised to see no abort to ISS listed or was that never a possibility?