Difference between revisions of "Common Questions and Answers"

Common Questions and Answers (view source)

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 === Why do some aircraft have folding wings? ===
-Folding wings are found almost exclusively on naval aircraft. There is a limited amount of space onboard an aircraft carrier, so folding wings allow multiple aircraft to fit in the space that a single non-folding wing design would take up.
+Folding wings are found almost exclusively on naval aircraft. There is a limited amount of space onboard an aircraft carrier, so folding wings allow multiple aircraft to fit in the space that a single non-folding wing design would take up.{{efn|In the prewar era, the U.S. Navy experimented with another concept for increasing aircraft capacity aboard carriers: suspending them from the hangar deck ceiling. However, this idea was eventually dropped, as it was discovered that in the event of damage to the carrier, the hanging aircraft could fall. In addition, if they caught fire, they were difficult to extinguish.}}
 However, parked footprint is not the only consideration as there are other size constraints on the ship. For example, aircraft must also be able to fit on the elevators that move them between the hangar and flight decks. This is why aircraft like the Mitsubishi A6M have folding wingtips: a feature which is not particularly useful for increasing aircraft capacity due to the small amount – only 20 inches – of wingspan reduction.