The General Airplane Thread

[catamount39]

It's a ground attack plane...who would be daft...no...stupid enough to call it a fighter? I love, LOVE the Harrier to bits, but it's a plane that was made to be close air support as @wfooshee pointed out. Granted some very skilled pilots in the Falklands War managed to get in some combat with Argentinian planes.

It was built so that it could take off from emergency airstrips in Europe to take out Soviet tanks basically. I highly doubt that anybody worth their salt within the Royal Navy or Royal Air Force thought it could dogfight against fighters. Other ground attack planes probably, but not fighters.

 

[BobK]

Other ground attack planes probably, but not fighters.

So I wonder how it would stack up in a dogfight with the A-10?

 

[catamount39]

So I wonder how it would stack up in a dogfight with the A-10?

...that'd be interesting. 👍

 

[TVR27]

Heinkel He P.1079B/ II

In 1945, the German Air Ministry requested new designs for a new generation of jet fighters such as the Horten Ho 229 andFocke Wulf Ta 183. One of these designs was the Heinkel He P.1079. The initial design, known as the P.1079A, was a V-tail night fighter with wings that featured a 35 degree sweepback.The second and third designs were flying wings with a single vertical fin which replaced the V-tail of the P.1079A. The P.1079.B2 was a completely tailless flying wing. None of the three designs were ever produced, with development work ceasing at the end of World War II.

General characteristics

• 
  
  
  • Crew: 2
  • Length: 14.25m (46.752ft) ()
  • Wingspan: 13 m (42.65ft) ()
  • Height: 3.9m (12.8ft) ()
  • Powerplant: 2 × Heinkel HeS 011 turbojets

Performance

• 
  
  
  • Maximum speed: 950 km/h

Armament

• 
  
  
  • Guns: 4x30mm MK 108 cannons - pair in nose, one in each wing

 

[catamount39]

Heinkel He P.1079B/ II

It's scary what the Germans were planning during the war.

 

[TVR27]

It's scary what the Germans were planning during the war.

the Heinkel He P.1079B/ II looks good by today's standards.

 

[kolio]

Heinkel He P.1079B/ II

In 1945, the German Air Ministry requested new designs for a new generation of jet fighters such as the Horten Ho 229 andFocke Wulf Ta 183. One of these designs was the Heinkel He P.1079. The initial design, known as the P.1079A, was a V-tail night fighter with wings that featured a 35 degree sweepback.The second and third designs were flying wings with a single vertical fin which replaced the V-tail of the P.1079A. The P.1079.B2 was a completely tailless flying wing. None of the three designs were ever produced, with development work ceasing at the end of World War II.

General characteristics

• 
  
  
  • Crew: 2
  • Length: 14.25m (46.752ft) ()
  • Wingspan: 13 m (42.65ft) ()
  • Height: 3.9m (12.8ft) ()
  • Powerplant: 2 × Heinkel HeS 011 turbojets

Performance

• 
  
  
  • Maximum speed: 950 km/h

Armament

• 
  
  
  • Guns: 4x30mm MK 108 cannons - pair in nose, one in each wing

That is pretty damn scary looking.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Harrier...IT'S NOT A FIGHTER. It was never meant to be a fighter.

Not so, ground-attack recon and air-to-air ability were both crucial parts of the post-Kestrel specs.

800 and 801 were both naval fighter squadrons that converted from Phantom to Sea Harrier with the specific purpose of air defence. That's why during the Falklands war the Navy took on air defence while the RAF Harriers did the muddy stuff. Forget all the stuff about Black Buck/Vulcan, that put one bomb on Port Stanley's runway at the expense of millions of pounds worth of jet fuel. Harrier looked after the ground and sky as per spec.

 

[wfooshee]

Not so, ground-attack recon and air-to-air ability were both crucial parts of the post-Kestrel specs.

But the USMC didn't buy that.....

 

[TenEightyOne]

But the USMC didn't buy that.....

Well... they did. They may have added hardpoints and altered the cockpit stance but the dual-control system and overall platform spec remained. Some fighters are made to climb after Foxbat, some are made to fight in the weeds. Harrier was the latter.

 

[Exorcet]

So I wonder how it would stack up in a dogfight with the A-10?

I'd want to be in a Harrier if it had the radar. If it's AIM-9 to AIM-9 and visual combat only, the A-10 may get a chance to shoot depending on the situation. Guns only, the Harrier would control the fight.

That is pretty damn scary looking.

I wonder how effective they would have been. The compactness of flying wings means they need to generate larger control forces to maneuver. The lack of a vertical tail and proper rudder could compromise aiming in a dogfight. Jets were just coming on the scene and going transonic and beyond. The flying wing has trouble at higher speeds due to a lack of stability and drag if it has a large wingspan.

Also with Germany near collapse, it probably would have been better to be more conservative and focus on making Fw-190's or something.

 

[R5]

It lives!

 

[GTPorsche]

It lives!

"Page not found" is what I get.

 

[R5]

"Page not found" is what I get.

Ah, it was a video of the Bugatti P100 reproduction taking it's first flight.

 

[GTPorsche]

It was damaged during landing, unfortunately.

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/Bugatti-Flies-But-Damaged-On-Landing-224726-1.html

 

[Carlos]

Dutch F-35's training with KDC-10 & F-16's

Dutch Arizona F-16

 

[GregTheStig]

This is pretty neat. Some F/A-18s captured with high-res thermal imaging.

 

[wfooshee]

From the people that did the images and video:

Clicky thing

 

[Carlos]

More Dutch F-35

And F-22's are being deployed to Spangdahlem, Germany. I want to go there, it's a 4 hour drive but they don't fly in the weekends and during the week I have to work

edit;
And nice video of our Dutch fighters training in the US


edit2;
MOARR coolness

 

[catamount39]

OH MY GOD! A-4's!

What's with the Arizona motif on the tail of the Dutch planes may I ask?

 

[Venom800tt]

OH MY GOD! A-4's!

What's with the Arizona motif on the tail of the Dutch planes may I ask?

Dutch training squadron based out of Tuscon, AZ. Similar to how the Luftwaffe and RAF have squadrons at US airbases. IIRC Canada also has a training squadron or two based in the US.

 

[catamount39]

Dutch training squadron based out of Tuscon, AZ. Similar to how the Luftwaffe and RAF have squadrons at US airbases. IIRC Canada also has a training squadron or two based in the US.

Ah okay, thanks. 👍 That's pretty cool, never knew that.

 

[Carlos]

Dutch training squadron based out of Tuscon, AZ. Similar to how the Luftwaffe and RAF have squadrons at US airbases. IIRC Canada also has a training squadron or two based in the US.

I'm not sure they are all manned by Dutch pilots though, the planes belong to us but are operated by Arizona Air National Guard's 148th Fighter Squadron who trains Dutch/RNLAF (Royal Netherlands Air Force) pilots.

And those A-4K's are indeed very awesome. They are privately owned (!!) and fly with APG-66 radars like our F-16A/B's, new modern heads up display, better HOTAS, radar warning receiver, digital data-bus, glass displays and the ability to carry an array of jamming pods. I believe they play the role of the bad guys.

 

[catamount39]

It's pretty cool to see A-4's still flying, I love those things. 👍 And completely modernized too, which is very impressive.

 

[Rage Racer]

T-50 in the air, preparing for the MAKS 2015 airshow.

 

[Carlos]

10 minutes of military porn

 

[Carlos]

Damn

 

[Pupik]

A couple shots I've taken recently...











Not the clearest shot, but Antonov sightings are kind of rare in America...especially in your little hometown airport.

Edit: remove the -s from https:

 

[Carlos]

Nice shots Pupik! I would be very happy to see an Antonov

edit;
Nice show

 

[wfooshee]

That would have been fun to watch if the videography was anything like the aircraft.....