I didnt know about the fixed ramps. At an airshow in Omaha, an older f-14 was on display. Looking in the intakes, the aircraft there for some reason has mach numbers painted in the intakes. There were scrub marks that showed that the ramps went above mach 2.4.

If you want to talk impressive take offs, you should have see the Crusader III take off. Start to roll fire the burner. There was a huge boom and a huge flame. It then lifted off and the two ventral fins that were horizonal came down vertical as the gear went up. The Navy should have bought some of them too. They could fly rings around the Phantom. I saw the III fly several times at Moffett Field in 1960 give or take.

eagle

I have a little problem with your statement that Tomcats didnt launch with burners. There are a ton of pictures on the internet with older models of Tomcats in burner during launch. The D models with their GE engines had approx 30% more thrust, and were not prone to compressor stalls like the PW engines were.

BTW the GE engines had a special moan to them that just plain made the hair on the back of your head stand up. Again at Offaut at the air show a D model made a high G turn is full burner with about an 80 degree bank. The sound and the turn like I say helped the Tomcat steal the show at an AF base.

bring

Explain why you think the F-23 was a higher risk design please. BTW according to reciently released info the F-23 was a lot faster, and far more stealthy. An invisible aircraft doesnt have to manuver if the enemy doesnt see it comming and is shot down before they even know it is there.

pla

What applies to todays military is the fact that so many arm chair Generals try to order the fighting troops do their bidding. They come up with stupid ideas that just dont work.

The gentleman I was taking to among other things told that the backwater generals wanted the B-17s gunners to quit using tracer rounds, since most tracer bullets started going astray after they spent their smoke generating chemical. But———————this gentlemen pointed out what all the gunners knew. When Greman fighters saw all the tracers comming at them, they pealed off and didnt attack. The gunners on the B-17s didnt give a damn if the tracers didnt fly straight and true, the overridding fact was the fighters saw all those tracers and didnt attack. He said a non attack was as good as a kill.

That is not unlike approx 1960 the know it all backwater Generals decided that fighters didnt need guns. They “just knew” that missiles were all a fighter pilot needed. They of course were proved totally wrong by the guys that were actually engaging the enemy. So they had to hang a pod under F4s which of course slowed the plane down.

This bit of knowledge, I anyway had never heard before. That why talking to our heros that were there to me anyway is so great.