Fly Navy

[SCraig]

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.

Nothing is as unmistakeable as the sound of a Merlin-powered P-51 either! A wealthy doctor here owned one for a number of years (may still own it), and I've seen and heard it "In The Wild" (so to speak) several times. The last time I had my D90 and 70-300 lens hung around my neck and all I could do was stand there stupidly and drool at it

Me and another guy were coming back to the office one day after being on a job site, and I glanced out the window of the truck just in time to see him fly a big, lazy barrel roll around an Army UH-60 Blackhawk.

 

[goodguy]

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.

I might be misinformed about the Mig 25, the Syrians used to fly these beasts over Israel and Israeli planes (It was either a Mirage or an F4 cant remember) tried to get close to them to shoot them down but it was no match for the fast flying Mig that just kept acceleration and ran away.
When Israel got it first F15 from the US it set a trap to these Migs, when the F15 locked on the Mig it released a missile and then another one, the pilot didn't really need the second one but he did just to be sure.
For what I know this was the first kill for any F15 in the world and that was the end of Migs or any foreign man controlled plane over Israel air space.

 

[goodguy]

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.

The Mustang was the ultimate game changer in WWII, they say when the Fuftwaffe commander (Herman Gering) saw a P51 over the skies of Berlin he told his people "The war is over for us".
The ability to escort US bombers to berlin and back changed the rules and the German ME109 and FW190 were no match to the P51.
Funny to think that its initial motor Allison engine was less then impressive but once the Spitfire engine the Merlin was put in its nose this turned to be the best piston driven fighter in WWII