The Airplane Thread

[3798j]

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[Romo]

Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet

Capable of an astounding +12 -6,4 G limit !







https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassau...nier_Alpha_Jet

[Romo]

Fiat G.91







https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_G.91

[Lady Jane]

Originally Posted by Romo

Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet

Capable of an astounding +12 -6,4 G limit !

A little digging on the aircraft brought me here: A Canadian company formed by three former F-18 pilots.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Aces
https://www.topaces.com/company

[Lady Jane]

Another little gem: Saab 35 Draken performing the Cobra maneuver.

[Llarry]

Somebody posted info on the Curtiss XP-55 within the last few months; Northrop had an unconventional fighter, too: The XP-56 Black Bullet. Like the XP-55, the XP-56 had lots of problems; only two were built and one was lost in a crash while testing high-speed taxiing. XP-56 development was protracted and jets were coming, leading to abandonment of the concept.

[Llarry]

The third unconventional fighter tested by the U.S Army Air Forces during World War II was the Vultee XP-54. The XP-54 was also unsuccessful, with disappointing performance. Its standout characteristic was a pressurized cockpit for the pilot, though that feature also added a lot of complexity: The seat was electrically lowered on the ground and the pilot would then sit down and raise the seat into the cockpit. Bail-out was also a problem. Like the other pushers, only two were built.

[Llarry]

The U.S. Marine Corps is unique among the Marines/naval infantry of the world in having a robust and versatile aviation component.

The fighter/attack force is made up of about half new and half older aircraft. The new portion is mostly the F-35B stealth short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) fighter/attack aircraft, along with four squadrons of the F-35C carrier strike fighter planned to augment Navy carrier air wings.

The older generation of fighter/attack aircraft is represented by the F/A-18C and F/A-18D fighter/attack aircraft and the AV-8B STOVL attack aircraft. These will still be used for several more years until sufficient F-35Bs are bought to replace them.

The backbone of Marine rotary-wing aviation is the MV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor, with 14 squadrons active. These are supplemented for heavy lift by the Sikorsky CH-53E Super Stallion, being replaced by the new CH-53K King Stallion. Utility and attack helo squadrons are also in the inventory flying the UH-1Y Venom and the AH-1Z Viper; these are descendants of the UH-1 Huey and AH-1 Cobra of years past, but are extensively updated, notably with 4-blade rotors for improved performance.

The Marines are also buying the MQ-9A Reaper, already flown by the Air Force and others, to replace smaller unmanned air vehicles.

The USMC has four transport/refueling squadrons using the KC-130J Hercules. In addition, a special squadron, Marine Helicopter Squadron ONE (HMX-1) provides aviation support to the President with older helicopters being replaced by the new VH-92A Marine One (not pictured) , as well as MV-22B Ospreys (in spiffy paint jobs) for tasks like positioning presidential vehicles, etc.

When a Marine Expeditionary Unit deploys aboard a group of ships, the aviation element is centered on a full MV-22B squadron, augmented by six AV-8B or F-35B jet aircraft, four CH-35E or CH-53K heavy lifters and 6-7 smaller UH-1Y and AH-1Z helos. These are embarked on a helicopter assault ship and several other ships, along with an infantry battalion and augmenting units.

[Lady Jane]

Vickers Supermarine 508 prototype VX133 during trials on HMS Eagle in 1952

https://www.baesystems.com/en/herita...8----type-529-

[vreihen16]

Picture from Indonesia's Air Force, showing the huge size of the Russian Flankers in relation to F-16's and other military aircraft:



https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...the-flanker-is


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[ezaircon4jc]

Speaking of Marine pilots, they weren't any fun when I used them for intercept "practice." The procedure was to drive them away from each other, give each a 180º turn back at each other and have the good guy get a lock on the bad guy; think Top Gun. One would think that as part of the Navy they would know port from starboard. Half the time one of the pilots would turn the wrong way turning what should be a relatively simple intercept into a complicated one. It was a fun challenge though.

[Llarry]

The top fighter aces of all time with the most enemy aircraft shot down are all German fighter pilots of World War II; most ran up tremendous scores against poorly-equipped and -trained Soviet pilots. Rather than list a bunch of German aces of 1941-45, let me just concentrate on the all-time ace of aces, Erich Hartmann, who had 352 victories. Most of those were on the Eastern front against the Soviet Air Force, but a few were against other countries such as the U.S. and the Royal Air Force.
His missions were all flown in the Messerschmitt Bf 109. He surrendered to U.S. forces in 1945 but, in accordance with agreements between the Allies, was then turned over to the Soviet Union since he had fought on the Eastern front. After years of imprisonment and indoctrination, he was finally freed in 1955. He subsequently became a senior officer in West Germany's Luftwaffe, flying the F-86 and F-104; he was a vociferous critic of the -104.

The next 100+ places in the list of top aces of all time are also German pilots of WW2; at the risk of disrespect, let me move on to others; there were a total of 103 German pilots with 100 or more aerial victories in the war. And a partial explanation for the high scores: In Germany and Japan, pilots generally stayed in action until they were no longer able to fly due to being shot down or ill or whatever. This contrasted with Allied (perhaps excluding the Soviets?) policy which allowed a pilot a fixed number of missions or periods of combat flying, followed by periods of rest, training, etc. Those 100+ German pilots were the exceptionally skilled or lucky ones; most of their comrades were killed in action.

The top non-German ace of all time is a Finn: Ilmari Juutilainen fought against the Soviets during the Winter War of 1940-41, and continued to fight during WW2. He flew both the American-built Brewster Buffalo and the Bf 109G against Soviet adversaries and ended the war with 94 victories, ranking him as the top-scoring non-German ace of all time.

The next on the list is a bit fuzzy. The Japanese discouraged individual scores as what mattered was accomplishments of the unit. Nevertheless, two Imperial Japanese Navy pilots appear to come next: Hiroyoshi Nishizawa was an enlisted fighter pilot who claimed 86 or 87 victories and was killed in action in 1944. Tetsuzo Iwamoto ran his score to 80. Both IJN pilots flew the A6M type Zero fighter.

The next on the list hardly needs introduction -- Baron Manfred von Richtofen was the top-scoring ace of World War I with 80 victories. Most of those were scored in Albatross D.II and D.III fighters rather than the better-known Fokker Dr.I triplane. Richtofen was killed in action.

The top Allied ace of WWI comes next: Rene Fonck was a French Air Force pilot who scored 75 victories flying various models of the SPAD. He survived the war and was later a high-ranking officer.

The top British Commonwealth ace was a Canadian: Billy Bishop. Bishop flew Nieuport 17 and SE5 fighters and scored 72 victories. He later rose to high rank in the RCAF.

Stay tuned for more...

[Llarry]

I'm jumping around here a bit, but the top ace of the Korean War was a Soviet pilot, Nikolai Sutyagin, who scored 22 victories flying the MiG-15.

The top-scoring ace of the Vietnam war was a North Vietnamese pilot, Nguyen Van Coc (no photo), who scored 9 kills in a MiG-21PF.

The Israeli Air Force's top ace of the Arab-Israeli wars is Giora Epstein, who flew the French Mirage III fighter and scored 17.

So where does that leave U.S. aces? The highest-scoring U.S. ace was Richard Bong, who flew the P-38 in the Pacific theatre in WW2 and scored 40 kills against the Japanese. Bong was killed in a flying accident in a P-80 jet in 1945.

[Llarry]

Two Korean War adversaries making a section takeoff from Chino, California. North American F-86 Sabre and MiG-15.

[Llarry]

Another cool aviation shot: A modern Navy F/A-18F Super Hornet in formation with a Grumman F8F-2 Bearcat from around 1948.

[vreihen16]

Picture from 2019 of the Red Arrows, F22, and F35 demo teams doing a flyover of the Statue of Liberty. The USAF Thunderbirds (not pictured) were also part of the flyover. Note that the Navy Blue Angels were originally on the plans as well, but did not make it to the flyover due to some undisclosed operational issue. (The Blue Angels did perform with the Red Arrows a few days later at the upstate NY Air Show essentially in my back yard, FWIW.)

[Llarry]

One of the coolest aircraft ever. First flew in 1952 and still going strong. The Tupolev Tu-95; NATO reporting name 'Bear.'

[Lady Jane]

What engines could the B-17 use? Turboprop? Jet?

https://generalaviationnews.com/2021...-the-b-17-use/

[Llarry]

Here's an interesting proposition: At least for U.S. military tactical aircraft, aerial refueling has become a routine on just about every mission. So if the U.S is your adversary, just shoot down all the tankers and you will minimize the risk of attack; the fighters or bombers will take off on their missions, fail to rendezvous with their tankers and run out of fuel and crash having never reached the target, or if they reach the target failing to have enough fuel to get back home.

Thus the concept of a stealth tanker. The U.S. Air Force issued a request for proposals early in 2023; you can be assured that Lockheed Martin (pictured) is not the only interested company; I think Boeing is also working on a concept. Can Northrop Grumman be far behind? How much more than adapting an airline airframe like the Airbus 330 or the Boeing 767 will stealth cost and will it survive the budget process? All questions that will be answered in years to come.

[flybigjet]

Originally Posted by Lady Jane

What engines could the B-17 use? Turboprop? Jet?

https://generalaviationnews.com/2021...-the-b-17-use/


Attachment 3163163

Here's an interesting read for B-17 fans:

the XB-40. Great idea that didn't work-- basically a B-17 gunship with up to 30 guns. Sadly, it was too slow (11,000 lbs of extra ammunition and 4000 extra pounds of gun and armor plate will do that) and couldn't climb nor keep up with regular B-17 formations.

https://www.military-history.org/bac...40-gunship.htm

https://www.defensemedianetwork.com/...ake-the-yb-40/

[Llarry]

Originally Posted by flybigjet

Here's an interesting read for B-17 fans:

the XB-40. Great idea that didn't work-- basically a B-17 gunship with up to 30 guns. Sadly, it was too slow (11,000 lbs of extra ammunition and 4000 extra pounds of gun and armor plate will do that) and couldn't climb nor keep up with regular B-17 formations.

Consolidated did a version, too: the XB-41 Liberator with the same problems. They could more or less keep up on the way to the target but once the escorted bombers had dropped their weapons, the "escorts" became sitting ducks.

[Llarry]

Having listed the leading fighter aces, not many were U.S. pilots. So let me introduce the leading U.S. fighter aces.

Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was the leading U.S. fighter pilot of World War I, with 26 victories in 1918. He was also a pre-war race car driver and had a distinguished postwar career. His early victories were in a Nieuport (not pictured) but most were in a SPAD XIII.

I've already introduced Captain Richard Bong as the leading U.S. (and Army Air Forces) fighter ace of World War II. The top-scoring Navy ace was Commander David McCampbell who flew the F6F Hellcat and had 34 victories. The top-scoring Marine ace was Captain Joe Foss, who had 26 victories earlier in the war flying the F4F Wildcat. Foss, by the way, went on to a very distinguished career after the war; among other accomplishments, he served as Governor of South Dakota.

The top-scoring WW2 USAAF ace in the European theatre was "Gabby" Gabreski, who had 28 victories flying the P-47D Thunderbolt. But Gabreski stayed in the Air Force and as a USAF Colonel, got 6.5 more victories in Korea flying the F-86 Sabre.

Gabreski was far from the leading ace of the Korean War, though; that honor belongs to Captain Joseph McConnell, who shot down 16 MiG-15s.

During the Vietnam war, three fighter crews flying the F-4 Phantom II achieved ace status. Since the F-4 had a crew of two, that meant that six flyers (3 pilots and 3 backseaters) were aces. In each case, the crew had 5 victories. Unfortunately, the Navy ace pilot went on to serve in Congress, was convicted in a bribery scheme and served time in prison. (No photos)