It even amazes me how people bigs up non stealth designs like the Typhoon and Rafale as better in A2A than the F 35 😡

Stealth is just one piece of the puzzle, there are alot of other, very important factors. Not just “he is invisible nonsence”. But, no denying, it is very handy

Especially if you consider that at the time the Russians started fielding SU-24 and TU-22 with stand-off missiles. A Lightning was more or less useless against those. With the RAFG the Lightning still could have had a role as a daylight interceptor, but even there MiG-23 with its radar guided missiles would have made their job demanding.

The main reason for the F3

Ah, I see. So we have no way to check your sources against reality. How convenient for you.

For gods sake stop acting so childish, just because he cannot post internet links, for whatever they are worth anyways, means he’s lying? Get a grip.

Oh and calling the RAF’s professionalism questionable, lets be honest, is downright silly.

And I think this pointless RAF slating should end here, its not the place, nor even the topic!

Anybody know whether it will attend any UK airshows again? Ideally, my plan is to catch both the Raptor and the Vulcan at the same show for my airshow fix this year 😉

tbh, I carnt see it not attending RIAT this year, I dont think the RIAT organisers will stop at anything to get it back again. 😀

[B]. The Tornado’s development was certainly influenced by what had been achieved with the F-4 ten years prior to the Tornado even flying, as was the development of many other airplanes.

I dont think common goals can be “invented” by the phantom. Its common sense that a low level strike platform would enjoy two engines, long range vs payload capacity. If anything the Tornado’s developement had learnt alot from the TSR-2 programme, the phantom maybe not.

The phantom is a huge plane, the Tornado concept was very different (apart from being designed for a completely different role), make it more effective than the F-111 or anything else in that role, but in an airframe not much bigger than an F-16. Its not often appreciated how much of a complex weapon system/aircraft the Tornado is.

guess the phantom chaps took notes from Sea Vixen crews re.range/twin engine/large carrier aircraft etc…

Didnt the same type of incident occur in a typhoon recently?, the typhoon going vetically, downwards, and breaking the sound barrier 😮

Let’s put it directly on keypublishing to enrich the “rafale” database !

stop boasting arthuro! 😀

The Eurofighter isnt too far behind in development 😮

The whole planform of the F-16 generates lift, assuming pure wing area is very simplistic. However, if its the same dimensions, as with all F-16’s, and the weights go up, you can therefore simply compare the wing loadings.

I have found this video, and it still seems very agile to me, compare it to a block 50 demo at le Bourget/Farnborough; (again its an airshow demo, but it does give an impression);

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LwtXI4xfN7k