We need this!!11!

[Monostripezebra]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI2kmMhvub8

[AndyJWest]

That, ladies and gentlemen, is why the helicopter was invented. 

 

Seriously though, a brilliant idea, even if it turned out to have no practical application.

[CanadaOne]

I have no use for anything with a practical application.

 

We must have that in the sim!

[Guest deleted@30725]

No redundancy if the cable snaps - any issues with that system or the plane and death.

[CanadaOne]

Reincarnation. You come back and try out the MKII model.

[TG-55Panthercules]

How much runway did those little spotter planes actually need?  Seems like a couple of Seabees with a couple of bulldozers could probably rough out a runway suitable for those little planes in about the same amount of time it would take to put up one of those contraptions.  An ingenious bit of technology, certainly, but yeah, doesn't seem to have much practical application.

[AndyJWest]

How much runway did those little spotter planes actually need?  Seems like a couple of Seabees with a couple of bulldozers could probably rough out a runway suitable for those little planes in about the same amount of time it would take to put up one of those contraptions.  An ingenious bit of technology, certainly, but yeah, doesn't seem to have much practical application.

 

The video claimed that everything needed to set up the contraption could be dropped by parachute. Probably intended for use in inaccessible terrain, and/or behind enemy lines - think Burma or New Guinea.

 

As for being impractical, it is hard to say for sure, given that helicopters were beginning to come into service at the time of these experiments, and they obviously presented a simpler solution. What is certain is that sometimes daft-sounding ideas work - see for example the Fulton surface-to-air recovery system (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulton_surface-to-air_recovery_system) for something apparently even less plausible. 

[AndyJWest]

I've been trying to find more information on this contraption via Google, without much luck. There seem to be multiple copies of the video on YouTube, but the only other documentation I've located seems to be at the UK National Archives: they apparently have a document entitled "American Brodie suspension system: erection and operation of suspended runway". Getting that copied and sent to me would be rather expensive though. http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C4076292

 

The US Navy experimented with operating fighter aircraft from airships in the 1930s: I wonder if this was the inspiration for the idea?

 

[AndyJWest]

Bingo! A bit more Google-Fu has paid off: there is a Stinson L-5 Sentinel, complete with skyhook, hanging in the U.S. National Air & Space Museum Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center. https://travelforaircraft.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/no-runway-no-aircraft-carrier-no-rotors-%E2%80%94-brodie-gear/

 

A detail missed from the video is that the gadget was also intended for use on LSTs - amphibious landing craft - and seems to have been at least tested operationally during the closing stages of the Pacific War. http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/articles/secretweapon.aspx

 

Brodie's patent: http://www.rexresearch.com/brodie/brodie.htm#ps46

 

Popular Science article, March 1946: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=PSEDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA99&lpg=PA99&dq=James+PECK:+Popular+Science+(March+1946)+--+Airstrip+in+the+Air&source=bl&ots=uPD5QiCwX8&sig=rrtC7KlSZLFBGSA8iqfpp847XlQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwirq4H_z_vVAhWEvRoKHZnGB1gQ6AEIKzAB#v=onepage&q=James%20PECK%3A%20Popular%20Science%20(March%201946)%20--%20Airstrip%20in%20the%20Air&f=false

Edited August 29, 2017 by AndyJWest

[Monostripezebra]

How could anyone not want this for Okinawa (where it saw some use in WW2)? Looks just like the right flightsim fun.

 

 

 

and some more details on the museum one.

Edited August 29, 2017 by Monostripezebra