Land mobile aircraft carrier
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A land mobile aircraft carrier is a fictional terrestrial vehicle built to launch aircraft while mobile. It is not a launching sled for zero-length takeoff systems. The concept of a mobile airbase on land has been explored theoretically by many people[who?], and deemed impractical[citation needed], however this concept appears in some adventure fiction and Japanese manga and anime.
In Japanese animanga, the land carrier, as it is commonly known, is usually accompanied by analogs of other wet navy surface ships, such as land battleships.
- In Gundam, there are land mobile aircraft carriers and land mobile suit carriers.
- In Area 88, there is a converted Soviet aircraft carrier placed atop converted Crawler-Transporter drive systems crawling the desert. This carrier also appears as a boss in the video game adaptation U.N. Squadron.
- In the Warhammer 40,000 novel Double Eagle by Dan Abnett, the forces of Chaos use land mobile aircraft carriers to launch fighter strikes against retreating Imperial forces.
- In the Post-apocalyptic Amtrak Wars universe, giant cross country Road trains act as mobile forts, their long flat tops acting as runways for microlight type attack aircraft.
- In Armored Core: For Answer, the Arms Fort "Spirit of Motherwill" is a giant, 6-legged carrier capable of launching Armored Core mecha from its multitude of runways, as well as conventional aircraft. It is also heavily armed and armored, but contains structural flaws that eventually results in its destruction at the hands of the player.
- And in the videogame Haze, Mantel Industries use a land carrier as their base of operations in the field.
Although not formally land mobile aircraft carriers, films and television series have also depicted helicopter and VTOL aircraft launches from semi-trailers and railroad cars.Concept art for the video game Command and conquer: Renegade featured a ORCA VTOL combat aircraft taking off from a converted 18-Wheeler, based on the scrapped concept from the original Command and Conquer.
