# Tool Talk >  1930s biplane fails aircraft carrier landing - GIF and photo

## Jon

1930s fighter biplane touches down late and snags an arresting wire on a carrier. I believe this is a Grumman F3F, one of the last biplane fighters.



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Different version of a Grumman F3F:



Previously:

Parallel parking a fighter jet on an aircraft carrier - GIF
1963 video of USS Enterprise, the first nuclear aircraft carrier
Tiger Moth biplane hits cow on landing

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baja (Jan 22, 2019),

kboy0076 (Jul 27, 2021),

olderdan (Jan 22, 2019),

oldpastit (Jan 27, 2019),

PJs (Jan 22, 2019),

ranald (Jan 22, 2019),

Rangi (Feb 8, 2020),

Scotsman Hosie (Mar 17, 2019),

Seedtick (Jan 21, 2019)

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## bruce.desertrat

Well, unless it went off the end of the carrier, it most *definitely* landed. _"Any landing you can walk away from"_. Also I think that was technically an early touch down, since I think it's supposed to be that tail hook bouncing along that caught the wire, not the landing gear.

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## toma

It was an early landing obviously...

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Scotsman Hosie (Mar 17, 2019)

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## olderdan

I viewed this in VLC player at slow speed, it looks like the wheels locked after the first bounce just before the collapse of the landing gear. Also the wheels were hand cranked on this plane and took 26 turns to lower them, maybe he missed counted?. A lucky escape fortunately.

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## Jon

I guess late landing because it's touching down right in front of the superstructure.

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PJs (Jan 22, 2019),

Toolmaker51 (Mar 25, 2019)

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## Frank S

The way I see it the landing was not late, most likely it was early early.since the problem was the result of the arresting cable whipping up above the tires grabbing the landing gear. 
Instead of making his approach with the nose slightly up he attempted to land as though it were a ground landing. Seeing this the arresting cable stauntion with the 2 cables on it was dropped in an effort to allow him to do a missed approach and take off for a fly around. For some reason the cable bounced or something and wound up above the center line of the tires.
On modern day carriers the arresting cables are placed at intervals along the flight deck and are kept taught if the tires strike them they will roll over then 
there are several laid out along the deck but never stacked like the early cables were Pilots are also instructed to land at near full power so in the event of a missed hook they can take off again since they will not have the assistance of the catapult

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IAMSatisfied (Jan 27, 2019),

Scotsman Hosie (Mar 17, 2019)

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## Ed Weldon

If only there were a record of the reaction of the engineers back at the Grumman factory when they first saw this film...........

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Scotsman Hosie (Mar 17, 2019)

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## Jon

34-second video:

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ranald (Mar 25, 2019),

Scotsman Hosie (Mar 17, 2019),

Seedtick (Feb 25, 2019)

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## Jon

F6F Hellcat drops a rocket while landing on a carrier:



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baja (Mar 17, 2019),

high-side (Mar 18, 2019),

Miloslav (Mar 16, 2019),

Scotsman Hosie (Mar 17, 2019),

Seedtick (Mar 17, 2019)

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## Frank S

That pilot had some splaining to do

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## bruce.desertrat

And Lo' many sphincters tightened strongly that day

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## Toolmaker51

Had to been armed, but smart enough to keep the pointy end up. 
I don't recall aircraft recoveries with anything beyond ammunition. Real ordnance WWll era had little but hooks and tethers keeping them in place. Real catapult [jet] launching didn't occur until ordnance retention was ready.

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## Jon

MiG-29K takes off from ski jump aircraft carrier.



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blkadder (Mar 20, 2019),

KustomsbyKent (Mar 21, 2019),

ranald (Mar 24, 2019),

Seedtick (Mar 20, 2019)

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## blkadder

Ah, the only carrier that the Russians have. The Admiral Kunetsov. The first of two carriers that the Soviets built. This one has been in dry dock for a long time awaiting repairs and upgrades. The second carrier, only partially built, the Varyag was eventually sold to the Chinese as scrap, or use as a floating hotel/gambling ship. She now sports the Chinese colors and is their top of the line carrier. I recall watching this being built while I was in the Marine Corps working as an Intel guy.

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Jon (Mar 21, 2019),

ranald (Mar 24, 2019)

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## bruce.desertrat

Yes the Chinese turned it into a hotel; weirdly enough I just watched a BBC documentary last night on submarines in the Cold war and they interviewed the commander of the British nuke sub that snuck in and shadowed it out of port on it's maiden voyage in order to capture it's sonar signature. Up in the Berents Sea in the middle of the Russian Fleet under their newest carrier; about 3 meters between the top of their periscope and the keel. They showed some footage of the converted carrier/Hotel. 

IIRC didn't the Russians sell a carriers to the Indian Navy too? Maybe it was just partly completed? I know the Chinese navy has built their own copy.

Weird factoid. On another site I frequent one blogger is a military history prof, and he was discussing the PLAN's new carrier. PLAN stands for Peoples Liberation Army Navy, since the PLA is the overarching agency for all of China's military forces. This would make Naval Pilots in the Chinese Navy members of the Peoples Liberation Army Navy Air Force...

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## Jon

Hawkeye carrier landing goes bad (snapped or missed cable?).



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ranald (Mar 26, 2019),

Seedtick (Mar 25, 2019)

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## Ed Weldon

That's a scary video clip. I'd never seen it before and for a second or two I thought the aircraft was in the water. Then it reappeared climbing. I may be wrong; but it looked vaguely like some water was falling away from it as it climbed. Yikes!

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## Toolmaker51

. . . and that's why landings are conducted all FULL power, aiming for the #3 wire. Deck gear posses all the energy to full stop aircraft, set for recovery weight. Skip [bounce] the arresting hook 2 others remain. Missing them all you are still 'flying', enough airspeed to regain altitude.
And yes, he could have gotten his feet wet.

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## Karl_H

> I may be wrong; but it looked vaguely like some water was falling away from it as it climbed. Yikes!



That was probably the crew's pee!

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## Frank S

yellow stains and possibly brown in the upholstery for sure

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## ranald

Did you see the guy trying to stop the rocket?

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## ranald

you did look again; I wondered why they were standing about.

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## ranald

Reckon they just wanted to surf one of the white caps. Re Hawkeye.

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