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China-Japan-Koreas

China test-flies warplanes first time on highway strip

2014-05-26

BEIJING: For the first time, China's air force on Sunday successfully test flew warplanes from a highway strip in central China's Henan Province.

Flight tests of military aircraft including the third generation of warplanes were held on the Zhengzhou-Minquan highway, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Common practice in Sweden where it takes a day or more to prepare the road as an air strip. Any central divider is removed to allow use of the full width of the road and the surface is swept of debris. Roads so used are thicker with a concrete base.

I image that sand storms would be a problem in Henan Province.

Posted by:Squinty

#10 The things you learn at Rantburg U.

Thanks guys for the info.

Posted by: CrazyFool 2014-05-26 20:05

#9 You've seen the moonbats go critical of just hazmat stuff transiting the city or even around a city, could you image vehicles on the road. BTW - they did consider putting missiles on railroads.

Posted by: Procopius2k 2014-05-26 18:54

#8 AC, that part was true. The design clearances were based on the height of the missile transports and was probably a consideration for lane width and turning radius. That was also a factor in the design of the "diamond" interchanges as they could route around a bridge with clearance problems by using the exit and entrance ramps. Having sufficient tires and spacing spreads the load and the traffic count for missile transports would be pretty low.

Posted by: tipover 2014-05-26 18:12

#7 Ship, another story I remember from the early '60s was that interstates had certain characteristics in certain areas to facilitate the moving of ICBMs. Maybe that has something to do with the Montana/Dakots.

Posted by: AlanC 2014-05-26 17:03

#6 No, on looking this up, the entire Inter-State Hiways as airfields deal is an urban legend. There was talk while the system was being designed and voted on of building airfields on adjacent property, but it never got to design state. That said, I hear word that there are sudden large and bizarrely wide swaths of interstate in Montana and the Dakotas. I suspect exaggeration or graft. :)

Posted by: Shipman 2014-05-26 16:13

#5 Isn't that the reason for some of the highway specs USN?

So much strightaway every so many miles, clear of trees and other obstructions for so wide...

Posted by: CrazyFool 2014-05-26 13:33

#4 The contract site lead and man responsible for saving the planes and crew at Ali was an unassuming old retired USMC LTCOL.

Heroes everywhere. Another perfect story for Memorial Day. Thank you, Besoeker.

Posted by: trailing wife 2014-05-26 11:13

#3 IIRC, one of the secondary objectives of the 1956 Interstate Highway Act was to provide for alternate aircraft fields.

Posted by: USN, Ret. 2014-05-26 11:11

#2 A bit of trivia. In 1991 when Saddam invaded Kuwait the runways at Ali al Salem airbase quickly became unserviceable due to bombing. A small US contractor for aircraft spares company out of Schaumburg, IL coached the Kuwaiti Air Force into taxiing from the adjacent highway and flying to Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi [PSAB]. Those Kuwaiti pilots and crews became the vanguard of the assault that recaptured the country.

The contract site lead and man responsible for saving the planes and crew at Ali was an unassuming old retired USMC LTCOL. His heroic exploits were not to end there. He was singularly responsible for a daring, motorized convoy 'escape and evasion' effort that led a number of his employees out of Kuwait City and south across the Saudi border to freedom.

Posted by: Besoeker 2014-05-26 05:53

#1 Then there's Australia, where's things are always ever somuchmoreso.

Perth-Ceduna Highway. Designed with fly-in doctors in mind.

Posted by: Shipman 2014-05-26 03:38

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