Fly Navy

[Theantiquetiger]

fly navy by Theantiquetiger, on Flickr

 

[SCraig]

Son of the Last of The Gunfighters

Beautiful shot of a great airplane.

 

[Mamccarthy]

Where was this taken and one other thing I want to add to that hoooyahhh

 

[Theantiquetiger]

Where was this taken and one other thing I want to add to that hoooyahhh

This was taken at the USS Kid in downtown Baton Rouge.

 

[Mamccarthy]

Oh alright

 

[cowleystjames]

Great bit of history, I love the cold war fighters.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

 

[goodguy]

Love war birds the A-7 Corsair II was a good capable plane for its days and has a very unique look to it.

 

[SCraig]

Love war birds the A-7 Corsair II was a good capable plane for its days and has a very unique look to it.

Not really that unique. The A-7 came about because the Navy wanted a new fighter, however one of the caveats was that it had to be based on an existing design. Vought based the A-7 Corsair II on the existing F-8 Crusader, and if you look at photographs of both they look virtually identical. The A-7 is a bit shorter and has a rounded nose whereas the F-8 is larger and has a very pointed nose cone.

On a side note, the F-8 was built in the period when the Navy (in their infinite wisdom) was transitioning away from fighters with guns in them. They felt that the wave of the future was going to be missiles and guns would only be excess weight that would be wasted. The F-8 gained the nickname "The Last Of The Gunfighters" because of that, hence my line in my first topic that the A-7 was the son of the last of the gunfighters

 

[goodguy]

Love war birds the A-7 Corsair II was a good capable plane for its days and has a very unique look to it.

Not really that unique. The A-7 came about because the Navy wanted a new fighter, however one of the caveats was that it had to be based on an existing design. Vought based the A-7 Corsair II on the existing F-8 Crusader, and if you look at photographs of both they look virtually identical. The A-7 is a bit shorter and has a rounded nose whereas the F-8 is larger and has a very pointed nose cone.

On a side note, the F-8 was built in the period when the Navy (in their infinite wisdom) was transitioning away from fighters with guns in them. They felt that the wave of the future was going to be missiles and guns would only be excess weight that would be wasted. The F-8 gained the nickname "The Last Of The Gunfighters" because of that, hence my line in my first topic that the A-7 was the son of the last of the gunfighters

Modern air to air fights are very rare and the ones that happened usually indeed are with air to air missles still I believe all modern fighters do cary 20mm canons or even 30mm.

The first kill of an F15 ever in the world was in my old country when an Israeli F15 shot down a Syrian Mig 25 which no fighter plane (until today) can catch when its in full speed that kill was done with 2 air to air missiles.

 

[SCraig]

Modern air to air fights are very rare and the ones that happened usually indeed are with air to air missles still I believe all modern fighters do cary 20mm canons or even 30mm.

That was the US Navy philosophy. "Why weigh the airplane down with a gun and ammunition when all future engagements will be with missiles?" We found out in Vietnam when the Navy started sending virtually unarmed F-4's into combat. The North Vietnamese pilots simply got within minimum missile engagement range so the Phantom couldn't fire its missiles and they had a turkey shoot.

The ground crews scrambled trying to find a way to mount ANY kind of gun ANYWHERE on the airplane. They mounted them in chin pods (despite McDonnell-Douglas warning them not to), they mounted them on weapons hardpoints, anywhere that would carry them. They weren't great but at least the Phantoms weren't completely unarmed.

Since that time, I don't think there has been an airplane built without a gun. We apparently learned from that one

The first kill of an F15 ever in the world was in my old country when an Israeli F15 shot down a Syrian Mig 25 which no fighter plane (until today) can catch when its in full speed that kill was done with 2 air to air missiles.

The MiG-25 scared the beejesus out of a lot of people over here. We had nothing that could touch it, which is why the F-15 was developed. It was designed from the get-go to catch the MiG-25 and defeat it in combat.

 

[goodguy]

Modern air to air fights are very rare and the ones that happened usually indeed are with air to air missles still I believe all modern fighters do cary 20mm canons or even 30mm.

That was the US Navy philosophy. "Why weigh the airplane down with a gun and ammunition when all future engagements will be with missiles?" We found out in Vietnam when the Navy started sending virtually unarmed F-4's into combat. The North Vietnamese pilots simply got within minimum missile engagement range so the Phantom couldn't fire its missiles and they had a turkey shoot.

The ground crews scrambled trying to find a way to mount ANY kind of gun ANYWHERE on the airplane. They mounted them in chin pods (despite McDonnell-Douglas warning them not to), they mounted them on weapons hardpoints, anywhere that would carry them. They weren't great but at least the Phantoms weren't completely unarmed.

Since that time, I don't think there has been an airplane built without a gun. We apparently learned from that one

The first kill of an F15 ever in the world was in my old country when an Israeli F15 shot down a Syrian Mig 25 which no fighter plane (until today) can catch when its in full speed that kill was done with 2 air to air missiles.

The MiG-25 scared the beejesus out of a lot of people over here. We had nothing that could touch it, which is why the F-15 was developed. It was designed from the get-go to catch the MiG-25 and defeat it in combat.

Yes I know about the F4 and its gun pod, a big disgrace back in Vietnam, thank god for the superior training American pilots got and the developments of tactics that kept the kill ration in favour of the US.

Mig 25 is still the fastest war bird in the skies but fast doesn't mean much in modern warfare, its not a true fighter, it was always designed to be an interceptor so in air to air combat it was less then a classic air dominant bird.

 

[SCraig]

Mig 25 is still the fastest war bird in the skies but fast doesn't mean much in modern warfare, its not a true fighter, it was always designed to be an interceptor so in air to air combat it was less then a classic air dominant bird.

Depends on your definition of "Warbird". It may be the fastest fighter, but it's not the fastest military aircraft. That title still goes to the SR-71 (2,193.2 mph on 7/28/76. Yes, I had to look it up )

I read a book many years ago, and I have wished many times that I could remember the name of it. I'd love to get another copy and read it again. Any way, as I recall it was a pseudo-biography of Viktor Belenko, the Russian pilot that defected with a MiG-25 back in the 70's. It really had some eye-opening facts about the MiG-25. It was not the airplane it was rumored to be as I recall.

One that I remember was his statement that it was not at all unusual to take off in a Russian airplane and find out that you had no hydraulic power at all. Normal hydraulic fluid (or the Russian equivalent of "Normal" hydraulic fluid) would freeze solid at the low temperatures of many Russian air bases. To combat that issue they used a fluid based primarily on alcohol. Grain alcohol. The reason they took off with no hydraulic power is because the ground crews had been drinking the hydraulic fluid

 

[goodguy]

Mig 25 is still the fastest war bird in the skies but fast doesn't mean much in modern warfare, its not a true fighter, it was always designed to be an interceptor so in air to air combat it was less then a classic air dominant bird.

Depends on your definition of "Warbird". It may be the fastest fighter, but it's not the fastest military aircraft. That title still goes to the SR-71 (2,193.2 mph on 7/28/76. Yes, I had to look it up )

I read a book many years ago, and I have wished many times that I could remember the name of it. I'd love to get another copy and read it again. Any way, as I recall it was a pseudo-biography of Viktor Belenko, the Russian pilot that defected with a MiG-25 back in the 70's. It really had some eye-opening facts about the MiG-25. It was not the airplane it was rumored to be as I recall.

One that I remember was his statement that it was not at all unusual to take off in a Russian airplane and find out that you had no hydraulic power at all. Normal hydraulic fluid (or the Russian equivalent of "Normal" hydraulic fluid) would freeze solid at the low temperatures of many Russian air bases. To combat that issue they used a fluid based primarily on alcohol. Grain alcohol. The reason they took off with no hydraulic power is because the ground crews had been drinking the hydraulic fluid

I know about the black bird which is a spybird not a warbird, no plane can touch the blackbird (but a missle can LOL).
The Mig 25 still officially holds the record for the fastest war plane.
The stories you read about Alcohol gone in Russian planes is a rumors I heard too but I always try to take such romors with a grain of salt.
Its nice to see another airplane fan here.
We are VERY proud of our Air Force, to be a pilot in Israels Air Force means you are the cream of the crop, very, very few get behind the stick and those that do are as close to royalty as can be

 

[SCraig]

I know about the black bird which is a spybird not a warbird, no plane can touch the blackbird (but a missle can LOL).
The Mig 25 still officially holds the record for the fastest war plane.

Anything that flies for the military is technically a "Warplane" since the reason for the existence of the military is to fight wars.

The MiG-25 holds the record for the fastest FIGHTER but even that is a dubious honor. The SR-71 Blackbird (spyplane) and the B-70 Valkyrie (bomber) are both faster than the Foxbat. In fact, if you look at This Record List the MiG-25 isn't on it anywhere, but it is on This Page (both on Wikipedia).

The Foxbat was blistering fast in a straight line, but that was about it. It was more a drag racer than anything else. Once the western world actually got its hands on one a lot of the mystery and fear that the airplane had caused tended to disappear. If you look at photographs of the MiG the cans on the engines look large enough to stand in (and in fact may be!), but it didn't really accelerate that fast for a fighter. Additionally, it can't turn worth a hoot! Anything in the world can turn inside one and be waiting for it. I agree that it was a magnificent airplane in it's day, but much of that was because of the Soviet propaganda machine to.

We are VERY proud of our Air Force, to be a pilot in Israels Air Force means you are the cream of the crop, very, very few get behind the stick and those that do are as close to royalty as can be

I would never argue that point with you. I agree 100%, and even though I am not Israeli I have a great deal of admiration for the Israeli Air Force, and in fact the entire Israeli military. For decades the IADF flew anything and everything they could lay hands on, and they used it very well. Nobody on this planet has earned the right to be proud of their air force more than the Israelis.

I have a 1/32 scale model of an F-15I Ra'am (actually an F-15E with a lot of aftermarket conversion sets) that I'm going to get around to building one of these days. I honestly don't have the time to do it right now since it usually takes me 6 to 8 months to finish a model, but one of these days I'm going to build it.

 

[runnah]

I got thrown out of an airshow for caressing a p51 in too suggestive of a manner. Nothing beats that sound and look. Piston > Jet.