Future WARTHINK 028: Return of the "Hurricats": F35cats

Desperate times call for desperate measures--like the Royal Navy rocket catapulting Hurricane land fighters to shoot-down Luftwaffe Fw200 Condor Maritime Patrol planes shadowing convoys whose supplies Britain needed to survive--even if after shooting down the German patrol bomber, the heroic pilot had to ditch or bail-out into icy Atlantic waters by a ship who hopefully pick him up before freezing-to-death. 

"The Scourge of the Atlantic" Fw200s could radio direct German U-Boats into positions to ambush air cover-less convoys as well as attack them with on-board weaponry; by WW2's end they had Anti-Ship Missiles (ASMs) to attack from safe stand-offs

One Citizen proposed flotation bags in the Hurricats to keep them floating longer for pilot rescue. 

Superb Bjorn Jacobsen dioramas show the importance of naval aircraft at least able to float long enough for rescue by perhaps slow, crap helicopters--which themselves must be amphibious like the SeaKing shown above...

Sikorsky R-4 Hoverfly helicopters were available in WW2 and were used by Admiral Byrd during Operation HIGH JUMP where a lot of our aircraft were shot-down by Nazi flying saucers aka Anti-Gravity Craft (AGC) and men were dying in very frigid Antarctic waters... 

https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/antarctica/antartica11.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP6kWm23MTU

Even better would have been a fighter with floats rocketcat-launched that could land on the water and be craned aboard for re-use.

The superb Spitfire was developed FROM a floatplane racer!

How about some LEND-LEASE F4F Wildcatfish Seaplane Fighters from American cousins?

Commander Ian Fleming took the Fw200 pilot flying one to the Allies as a defection as the turn-coat who after the war ditched a RAF bomber to give S.P.E.C.T.R.E. a pair of nuclear weapons in "Thunderball". 

The U.S. Navy has now placed itself in an air cover-less mess like WW2 Atlantic convoys by placing ALL fixed-wing aviation into too few, expensive bloated, vulnerable target super aircraft carriers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQAyqm6c-mw

The USN must urgently deploy at least lift fan 1x F-35B on every surface ship in lieu of a crap, slow helicopter offering ZERO anti-air defense. The Iraqis nearly sank the air cover-less, USS Stark with ASMs launched from a BUSINESS JET.  The air cover-less USS Vincennes mass-murdered an Iranian airliner full of women & children because it had nothing to intercept a radar "bogie" and verify what it was before shooting it down with a SAM or two.

R&D

If the F-35B with light air-to-air missiles cannot VTOL, then it must be helped into the air--like the Hurricats--with a turn-table catapult MAG-LEV powered instead of steam or gunpowder (MAGCATs). Then, after shooting down the myriad of enemy air threats and/or conducting visual interceptions for IFF, the F-35B less fuel/armament possibly can Vertically Land (VL) on the cruiser/destroyer/frigate's rear fantail deck =

CatoVL.

The need for a convoy defensive fighter is not new:

www.combatreform.org/seaplanefighters.htm

The superb SC-1/2 SeaHawks seaplane fighters were in combat by WW2's end--then retired using the excuse of crap slow helicopters to protect the bloated fleet carrier "Mafia" as were escort carriers made from civilian cargo ships:

www.combatreform.org/midwaymyth.htm

If the single-engined F35cat goes down in the water, the pilot should have an immersion suit and it should have 2x large fuel tanks--shaped like seaplane floats considered for the P-38; 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=604A6dgpQkk

...the A-4 SkyHawk uses for belly landings on ground if landing gear cannot extend & lock. We would be wise to return new-build A-4Z HydroHawks with Vectored Thrust Canards (VTC) for STOL and Super Maneuverability (SM) and turbofan engines with fuel floats to operate from every USN surface ship like the emergency F35cats with the addition of a crane to fish them out of the water after a sea landing =

CatoWL.

Had the USN been less korrupt, we'd already have 2nd Generation seaplane fighters aka SEAFIGHTERs derived from the Convair SeaDart...just like on land, the USAAC should have armored F-39, F-47, F-51, MUDFIGHTERs with contraprops

https://1sttac.blogspot.com/2021/04/retrowarthink-019a-lazy-static-land.html

https://1sttac.blogspot.com/2021/04/retrowarthink-019-lazy-static-land-base.html

...as well as F-20V TigerShark VTC jets for CAS and local point defensive air superiority functions the korrupted USAF doesn't want to do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18xosz2Vgmo

https://1sttac.blogspot.com/2021/04/future-warthink-025-f-35-radar-stealth.html

https://1sttac.blogspot.com/2021/03/currentwarthink-004-usaf-snake-bit-by.html

The Royal Navy had a lot of success using Swordfish attack biplanes catapult-launched from cruisers/battleships in WW2: the 1st German Kriegsmarine vessel sunk was destroyed by such a SEAFIGHTER crew from HMS Warspite in 1939.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpC60IXTtEs

The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) were the most successful seaplane fighter combatants in WW2 even deploying them from submarine aircraft carriers--mentioning this to today's Amerika exceptionalists gets one nowhere. 

Japanese Rufe seaplane fighter variant of the Zero--the IJN had ACES who flew these--again too much "crow" for Amerika worshipers to swallow...a good idea is a good idea, PERIOD.  

www.combatreform.org/submarineaircraftcarriers.htm

https://1sttac.blogspot.com/2020/03/ijn-44-fatal-ambush-for-undisciplined.html

Semper Airborne!

James Bond is REAL.