How Long Were Those Launch Tubes On Original Galactica?

[Samuel]

I used to always love those "launch Vipers" scenes in the original Battlestar: Galactica where a viper was often shown from a variety of angles during launch. But something occurred to me: Even if the Galactica was a mile or two in length and up to half a mile wide (1600 meters & 3200 meters and 800 meters for our European members), then based on what I can tell the launch tubes would've been at most about 30 feet long (9 meters). Assuming the Vipers accelerate to hundreds and hundreds of miles per hour, then their time from engine ignition to exiting the launch tube should be no more than a fraction of a second. Far too short a time for all the different views of the fighters in the tube we see.

By my calculations the launch tubes would need to be at least several hundred meters long.
So what gives?

 

[EnderAKH]

It looked cool?

 

[Samuel]

It looked cool?

To me it did (does).

 

[Tosk]

Assuming the Vipers accelerate to hundreds and hundreds of miles per hour

Then don't.

 

[John Clark]

I used to always love those "launch Vipers" scenes in the original Battlestar: Galactica where a viper was often shown from a variety of angles during launch. But something occurred to me: Even if the Galactica was a mile or two in length and up to half a mile wide (1600 meters & 3200 meters and 800 meters for our European members), then based on what I can tell the launch tubes would've been at most about 30 feet long (9 meters). Assuming the Vipers accelerate to hundreds and hundreds of miles per hour, then their time from engine ignition to exiting the launch tube should be no more than a fraction of a second. Far too short a time for all the different views of the fighters in the tube we see.

By my calculations the launch tubes would need to be at least several hundred meters long.
So what gives?

Also, has it ever been officially mentioned how long a viper is? - Just say it's the size of a Spitfire (never mind something more modern) and you've got 9 meters there which would argue for the tubes being longer.

Guess it just has to be filed under "because it looks cool" which it does and to liken it to Carrier catapult launches

(Edit to add - some websites seem to indicate the mockup for the original show was 27 feet/8.2296 meters)

 

[Samuel]

Also, has it ever been officially mentioned how long a viper is? - Just say it's the size of a Spitfire (never mind something more modern) and you've got 9 meters there which would argue for the tubes being longer.

Guess it just has to be filed under "because it looks cool" which it does and to liken it to Carrier catapult launches

(Edit to add - some websites seem to indicate the mockup for the original show was 27 feet/8.2296 meters)

The 27 feet long figure for a Viper is what I've heard for years. It should be pretty easy to figure as we have plenty of footage of the actors getting in and out of the cockpits.

 

[EnderAKH]

To me it did (does).

I agree, I'm saying the answer to your question is it looked cool, that is what gives.

 

[Tenacity]

The tubes were angled (iirc) at 45 degrees to the forward.

The Vipers seem to have some kind of anti-acceleration field (or some such).

So. a hypothetical 200 foot launch tube, at hundreds of gravities, get you "hundreds and hundreds" of miles per hour. Yeah such a tube would flick the the fighter out in a fraction of a second, but what we saw could have been a slow motion depiction of the launch for dramatic purposes.

No?

The movie Top Gun showed catapult launches with multiple camera angles that seem to take fifteen seconds or more.

 

[Samuel]

The tubes were angled (iirc) at 45 degrees to the forward.

The Vipers seem to have some kind of anti-acceleration field (or some such).

So. a hypothetical 200 foot launch tube, at hundreds of gravities, get you "hundreds and hundreds" of miles per hour. Yeah such a tube would flick the the fighter out in a fraction of a second, but what we saw could have been a slow motion depiction of the launch for dramatic purposes.

No?

The movie Top Gun showed catapult launches with multiple camera angles that seem to take fifteen seconds or more.

I thought about that. But aren't the "catapult runs" on U.S. carriers something like 300 feet long? And IIRC they only get up to about 140 mph. at the end of them.

Note that the anti-acceleration field for Vipers doesn't work 100%. Because we frequently see Colonial pilots obviously shoved back into their seats and (especially when taking off from a planetary surface) their helmets jostled sometimes severely.

Something just occurred to me. The launch tubes as seen onscreen would make sense if they started at the rear of the landing bay pods and ran along the outside of the pods all the way forward. Of course this would mean you could have only a handful of tubes and thus launch Vipers only a few at a time.

But this would be consistent with what was seen onscreen. IIRC we never saw more than three Vipers exiting the launch tubes simultaneously.

 

[Galileo7]

 

[Leviathan]

1.14 Plot lengths.