THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 11, 1995 TAG: 9503110306
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENNIS JOYCE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
The largest aircraft ever to block the sun over Hampton Roads landed at Norfolk Naval Station on Friday to deliver a part about the size of a passenger van.
It may have been more plane than the job required, but the customer was desperate: The part is for a British navy frigate that's more than a week late for drug interdiction duty in the Caribbean.
The delivery was made by a chartered Antonov An-124, a Russian-made heavy lift plane that's more than three-fourths the length of a football field and half the length of the frigate it came to rescue.
``Jane's All The World's Aircraft,'' a respected reference book, calls the An-124 the world's largest production aircraft. It is 20 feet shorter than the Lockheed C-5 Galaxy but has a greater wingspan, and in a competition, carried 50 percent more payload than the American-made plane.
After the Antonov's 24 wheels touched down at the Naval Air Station on Friday afternoon, the crew lifted the nose to open the cargo hold. Inside was a pod containing a sonar dome for the Royal Navy ship Monmouth.
``The part came from Great Britain, in Plymouth,'' said Lt. Cmdr. Mark Slawson, the Monmouth's marine engineer. ``I don't know how the Russian plane became involved, but it was the cheapest, largest plane we could get quickly. It's an expensive repair anyway, and we needed to cut down on the costs as much as we can.''
At least two of the An-124s are based in England and used for charter operations.
The Monmouth detoured to Norfolk after the sonar dome was damaged in storm-tossed seas that rose higher than the ship's bridge. The ship had just left Great Britain for a nine-month tour.
The sonar dome, used in submarine detection, is mounted on the ship's bow and is an integral piece of the hull. It was damaged near Bermuda and apparently fell off as the ship headed south.
``When we got to Miami, we found out it was missing and thought we had better do something about it,'' Slawson said.
Newport News Shipbuilding was the nearest East Coast yard that could handle the job. The Monmouth and its crew of 185 arrived at Norfolk Naval Station on Saturday and are expected to enter the yard early next week. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN, Staff
Russia's big bird: The Russian An-124 delivered a sonar dome Friday
to Norfolk Naval Station. The part was needed for a Royal Navy
ship.
by CNB