The Grumman HU-16 Albatross is a large double-radial amphibious aircraft used by the United States Air Force (USF), the US Navy and US Coast Guard (USCG), especially as a search aircraft and rescue. Originally designated as SA-16 for USAF and JR2F-1 and UF-1 for USN and USCG, it was redesigned as HU-16 on 1962.
Video Grumman HU-16 Albatross
Design and development
Grumman Mallard design improvements, Albatross was developed to land in the open ocean to complete the rescue. The deep-in and long-in-V line lets it land on the open sea. The Albatross is designed for optimal 4-foot (1.2 m) of the ocean, and can land in more severe conditions, but it takes JATO (jet-assisted take off, or simple booster rocket) to take off in 8-10-foot ( 2.4- 3.0 m) of the sea or greater.
Maps Grumman HU-16 Albatross
Operational history
The majority of Albatrosses are used by the US Air Force, especially in search and rescue missions (SAR), and were originally designated as SA-16s. USAF uses SA-16 extensively in Korea for combat rescue, where it earned a reputation as a crude and sailing craft. Later, the redesigned Albatross HU-16B (wing) variant was used by the US Air Force's Rescue and Rescue Service and saw extensive combat services during the Vietnam War. In addition a small number of Air Guard National air command groups were equipped with HU-16 for secret infiltration and special forces extraction from 1956 to 1971. Another example of the HU-16 made it into the Air Force's reserve air backup unit before retirement from the USAF service.
The US Navy also uses HU-16C/D Albatross as a search and rescue (SAR) aircraft from naval air stations, both in the United States and abroad. It is also used as an operational support aircraft worldwide and for missions from the former NAS Agana, Guam during the Vietnam War. Goodwill flights are also commonly performed around the Pacific Islands Region's Faith Region in the early 1970s. Open water landing and take-off training using JATO is also often done by the US Navy HU-16 from locations such as NAS Agana, Guam; Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; NAS Barbers Point, Hawaii; NAS North Island, California, NAS Key West, Florida; NAS Jacksonville, Florida and NAS Pensacola, Florida, among other locations.
HU-16 is also operated by U.S. Coast Guard both as offshore and long-haul SAR aircraft for many years until it was replaced by HU-25 Guardian and HC-130 Hercules.
The latest USAF HU-16 flight is AF Serial No. shipment. 51-5282 to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio in July 1973 after setting a record of 32,883 feet altitude earlier in the month.
The US Navy HU-16 final flight was made on August 13, 1976 when an Albatross was shipped to the National Museum of Naval Aviation at NAS Pensacola, Florida.
The last USCG HU-16 flight was at CGAS Cape Cod in March 1983, when the type of aircraft was retired by USCG. Albatross continued to be used in the military service of other countries, the latter retired by the Hellenic Navy (Greece) in 1995.
Royal Canadian Air Force operates Grumman Albatross's with the marking "CSR-110" instead of US (post 1962) standard "HU-16".
Civil operations
In the mid-1960s the US Department of the Interior acquired 3 Grumman HU-16 military from the US Navy and established Trust Territory Airlines in the Pacific to serve the Micronesian archipelago. Pan American World Airways and finally Air France of Continental Airlines operate Albatrosses serving Yap, Palau, Chuuk (Truk) and Pohnpei from Guam until 1970, when an adequate island foundation was built, enabling land operations.
In 1970, Conroy Aircraft marketed a remanufactured HU-16A with a Rolls-Royce Dart turboprop engine as Conroy Turbo Albatross , but only one prototype (N16CA registration ) ever made.
Many of the advantages of Albatross are sold to civilian carriers, mostly for private owners. The aircraft is operated under the category of Experimental-Exhibition or Restricted and can not be used for commercial operations, except under very limited conditions.
In the early 1980s Chalk's International Airlines owned by Resorts Resorts Merv Griffin had 13 Albatrosses converted to Standard category as G-111s. This makes them eligible for use in scheduled flight operations. The aircraft has extensive modifications of standard military configurations, including rebuilt wings with titanium wing spar caps, additional doors and modifications to existing doors and holds, stainless steel engine oil tanks, dual engine fire extinguish systems on each engine and feather system auto mounted propeller. The G-111 is operated for only a few years and then stored in Arizona. Most are still parked there, but some have returned to regular flight operations with private carriers.
Currently, the Row 44 satellite technology company uses HU-16B Albatross (registration "N44HQ") to test satellite broadband internet service in-flight. Purchased, restored and named Albatross One in 2008, the company chose this aircraft for its operation because it has the same curvature on its aircraft as a Boeing 737 aircraft used by the company to manufacture its equipment. The aircraft purchased by Row 44 was used at one time as a training aircraft for space shuttle astronauts by NASA. It features signatures from astronauts who train on a plane on one of the walls of the cabin.
In 1997, Grumman Albatross (N44RD), driven by Reid Dennis and Andy Macfie, became the first Albatross to travel around the world. The 26,347 nmi flight worldwide lasted for 73 days, including 38 stops in 21 countries, and completed with 190 hours of flight time. In 2013 Reid Dennis donated the N44RD to the Hiller Aviation Museum.
General characteristics
- Crew: 4-6
- Capacity: 10 passengers
- Length: 62 ft 10 in (19,16 m)
- Wingspan: 96 feet 8 inches (29.47 m)
- Height: 25 ft 10 at (7.88 m)
- Wings area: 1035 ftÃ,² (96.2 mÃ,²)
- Empty weight: 22,883 lb (10,401 kg)
- Weight loading: 30,353 lb (13,797 kg)
- Max. weight of takeoff: 37,500 lb (17,045 kg)
- Fuel Capacity: 675 US gallons (2,555 L) internally, plus 400 US gal (1,514 L) in wingtip floats plus two 300 gallon US (1.136 L) drop tanks
- Powerplant: 2 ÃÆ'â € "Wright R-1820-76 Cyclone 9 air-cooled radial two-row cylinder engine, each 1,425 hp (1,063 kW)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 205 knots (236 mph, 380 km/h)
- Roaming speed: 108 knots (124 mph, 200 km/h)
- Kiosk Speed: 64 knots (74 mph, 119 km/h)
- Range: 2,478 nmi (2,850 mi, 4,589 km)
- Service ceiling: 21,500 feet (6,550 m)
- Ascent level: 1.450 ft/mnt (7.4 m/s)
Armament
- Nothing
Important appearances in media
Shown in movies Flights from Ashiya , The Expendables and In Harm's Way .
See also
Pengembangan terkait
- Grumman Goose
- Grumman Mallard
Planes with equivalent roles, configurations, and eras
- Canada CL-215
- Catalina PBY
References
Further reading
- NÃÆ'ºÃÆ'  ± ez Padin, Jorge Felix (2009). NÃÆ'ºÃÆ'  ± ez Padin, Jorge Felix, ed. JRF Goose, PBY Catalina, PBM Mariner & amp; HU-16 Albatros . Serie Aeronaval (in Spanish). 25 . BahÃa Blanca, Argentina: Fuerzas Aeronavales. ISBN 9789872055745. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03 . Retrieved 2015-01-26 .
External links
- Air page history on the Northrop Grumman Website
- History of HU-16, including other titles
- Grumman Albatross Site
- Summary on the Coast Guard Historian site
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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