Now Thats a BIG Airplane!

[Penderic]

https://www.geekwire.com/2017/paul-allens-stratolaunch-space-venture-brings-monster-airplane-hangar-first-time/



 

[Sheepdog]

Odd that there are two cockpits.

[Sasquatch Jim]

  Fully loaded and fueled, its' take off weight is greater than the weight of 12 M-60 tanks.
 That is indeed a BIG airplane.

 quote- Odd that there are two cockpits.  Maybe they want two flight crews to be capable at the same time.
 Hopefully they are trying to do the same thing at the same time.

 If converted to a bomber it could carry 22 of those giant mother bombs like they used on the terrorists a couple of weeks ago.  Talk about Big Bang theory!

[slowmover]

I watched a show last night on the terrorist bombing of the USS Cole in 2000. There was a 40 ft. in it's side and they put the whole battleship ON another bigger ship to get it to dry dock. I wish someone could post a picture.,

[GuzziDog54]

I watched a show last night on the terrorist bombing of the USS Cole in 2000. There was a 40 ft. in it's side and they put the whole battleship ON another bigger ship to get it to dry dock. I wish someone could post a picture.,

[Tom]

Odd that there are two cockpits.

Husband and wife team.   

[Testarossa]

Odd that there are two cockpits.

The plane is flown from the right side. The left side is empty and unpressurized. It has windows only because the plane has a lot of used components from retired 747s, including upper forward fuselage structures.

[fossil]

The torsional load on the middle wing must be hell.

[Socalrob]

The torsional load on the middle wing must be hell.

I was thinking the same.  Shocked the tail was not connected.

Sure the engineers built it that way on purpose.

[Sasquatch Jim]

 The lack of structure between the tails is probably to allow room to launch a space ship.

[Northern Bill]

thanks for posting - very interesting

[Testarossa]

The plane can carry up to three orbital launch vehicles at a time, so it can put satellites into three different orbits on a single flight.

[Two Checks]

I watched a show last night on the terrorist bombing of the USS Cole in 2000. There was a 40 ft. in it's side and they put the whole battleship ON another bigger ship to get it to dry dock. I wish someone could post a picture.,

The Cole is a destroyer. Much smaller. There are no active commissioned battleships.

[Triple Jim]

As big and heavy as it appears to be, its maximum takeoff weight is the same as an Airbus A380-800F, 1.3 million pounds.

[azguzzirep]

I'd paint it yellow and call it 'Big Bird', or perhaps "Tweety"😆

[drdwb]

I didn't see mention of distance between wheels,but I'm thinking there's probably not too many runways in the world that this thing could land or take off from.

[Penderic]

You could land a small plane on those huge wings! Almost. 


 

[Triple Jim]

Is that Chuck in the little yellow plane?

[Denis]

The Cole is a destroyer. Much smaller. There are no active commissioned battleships.

Beat me to it.
And while there were floating dry-docks that could handle battleships (there's a neat YouTube video of the USS Idaho moving into one in 1944) there certainly was no ship afloat that could handle a battleship in the way that transport ship handled the Cole.

[Sasquatch Jim]

  Landing a small plane on the big bird would be a landing with two severe bumps in mid field.

[Triple Jim]

  Landing a small plane on the big bird would be a landing with two severe bumps in mid field.

You'd probably have to land with the two planes flying the same direction at the same speed.  Otherwise you'd have some severe crabbing to deal with.   

[Sasquatch Jim]

  I think they were referring to landing on it as it st on the ground.

[twowings]

Chuck could do it!

[Triple Jim]

  I think they were referring to landing on it as it st on the ground.

What fun would that be?

[Tom]

Is that Chuck in the little yellow plane?

Yes! and that's why we call him "Chuckie".   

[drdwb]

Does that little yellow thing actually fly?  The little training wheel landing gear makes me think all landings would be bone jarring, and something I'd only want to experience once. Probably much rougher than the thread that described becoming air borne off a V7.

[Triple Jim]

Does that little yellow thing actually fly?

Only if you drop it out of an airplane, and then much like a brick flies.

[n3303j]

Only if you drop it out of an airplane, and then much like a brick flies.

Actually it flies at a speed approaching 200 mph
Here's a bit of history:
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/design/q0214.shtml

[Triple Jim]

I stand wrong!  :)   It looked to me like the prop was not really bolted to anything substantial, so I thought the plane was just a display item or trainer of some sort.  Amazing!

[fossil]

Is that Chuck in the little yellow plane?