ArthurA colleague of J Boyle here. For some reasons my dramatic interviews (you know, orphaned refugees, teenage girls with multiple sclerosis, stuff like that) always turn out to be pretty good. Perhaps because only in articles like that i know exactly what the right dose of irony is – for the rest i usually prefer a bucketload of sarcasm 😉
ArthurBeech L-23 Seminole, or Twin Bonanza if you will.
ArthurDhruv is a light helicopter designed to handle hot and high operations. I haven’t read that the Israelis really need aircraft for that reason, but maybe HAL wants to get the aircraft out to foreign users to help build an export market for it. They gave Nepal a few last year, if I remember correctly.
From what i know, the Dhruv won’t actually be part of the IDF/AF. In stead, the helo will be owned by IAI which will lease the Dhruv to the Israeli military. I personally see it more like a political/economical construction to help slap on some nice marketing slogans on the Dhruv than an actual need within the IDF for the ALH.
ArthurGood find Niels – that’s the one i was looking for. On a sidenote, that pic nicely shows the gun turret with which you can identify the H-5. Soviet-built Beagles have a perfectly round gun turret, Chinese-built ones are more rectangular and identical to the tailsting gun of the Tu-16/H-6.
ArthurWould you expect any better from either Wilson or the Subpar Hornet????
At least Gene Hackman has done a few tremendous acting jobs (must mention The Royal Tenenbaums and The French Connection), but i don’t think either Wilson or the YF-17-III have ever proven their value.
ArthurNope, a Matra R530 air-to-air missile. Semi-active radar homing. Quite an interesting pic actually, you don’t see them that often and most certainly not under a Moroccan F1.
ArthurSeen making quite a number of missed approaches…
Wouldn’t those be overshoots instead?
ArthurPraise the Lord there’s landing lights – those pictures are actually quite nice. Special too, considering the circumstances.
ArthurWell, let’s not forget that the F-14 was no longer in production at this point while the Hornet was. MD could offer the improved Hornet, even if it was a 70% change in structure, and do so more economically and likely quicker. Northrop Grumman would have had to do some redesign work to the ST and then restart production. MD could offer the redesign and count on a trained workforce which could quicly switch to E/F production without much issue….which is what happened.
The last F-14D rolled out from Calverton in early 1992, which was about a year after the cancellation of the A-12. Funnily enough, the USN wanted to keep on building F-14D’s in series until at least 1998, but the powers that be (a certain mr. R. Cheney) axed the funding and ordered all F-14 production jigs and tools destroyed after the last delivery. (This is by no means a standard way of closing down a production line btw. For example, it was absolutely no problem when eight years after the ‘last’ RA-5C was built by North American the production line was re-opened. Usually, type-specific production material is put in desert storage in a similar fashion as AMARC). Dirty politics? You bet 😡
From Joe Baugher’s excellent on-line encyclopaedia on US combat aircraft at http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/f14_5.html :
The first production aircraft was rolled out on March 23, 1990. Grumman had hoped to deliver at least 12 “new-build” F-14Ds to the Navy every year through 1998, while also remanufacturing many of the earlier F-14As to F-14D standards. However, in 1989 Secretary of Defense **** Cheney had decided that the entire F-14D program should be terminated in an economy move. Newspaper and TV advertisements did nothing to persuade Cheney to change his mind. However, the Navy still wanted more F-14Ds, and Secretary of the Navy H. Lawrence Garrett issued a strong appeal for at least 132 “new-build” F-14Ds from 1992 onward. Secretary Cheney turned this proposal down flat, and went a step further in March 1991, and deleted all F-14D production funds from the FY 1992 budget. This was a catastrophe for Grumman, stopping Tomcat production in its tracks and forcing massive layoffs at the company.
As for “politics”….what were the political reasons that the Super Hornet was chosen over the ST? Are we talking internal USN politics where the Navy had decided against the ST because they felt it was dated, less likely to meet production and cost projections??? Congressional politics?
As you can read above, it wasn’t Congress (although it can be argued that they overlooked to keep the Secretary of Defense in check, but i would only worry if that wasn’t just incidental :diablo: ) nor the Navy. It was the oh-so-pro-military SecDef who set up the USN with airborne mediocrity.
ArthurFlex, those Ugandan MiG-21s photographed inside a hangar are still in Poland (i believe they were prepared for delivery at Deblin). Those are the MiG-21bis and UM Uganda got from Poland in the mid-1990s. The wreck at Entebbe is an -M or -MF (probably the latter).
ArthurDamn – that Boeing sailed through the Kostverlorenvaart. I used to live there on a fourth-floor apartment. Would have loved to see that.
ArthurI do agree that the similar looks don’t mean copied from the same design. But if Flex is pressing for the F-2’s relations to the Jaguar then it is also reasonable to look at the Jaguar’s likeness to the F-4.
Well, the T-2 was designed with the Jaguar in mind (the JASDF actually wanted to buy Jags in the late 1960s to replace the F-86es) by a design team which had been for a large part been found in France… Flex is basically right, the T-2 is little more than a Japanified Jag. Just like the Japanese T-1 was little more than a TF-86, btw.
The SH-5 is a pretty rare bird alright. Found only in the subtropical climes of the South China Seas 😀
Nonono… Northen Fleet. Qingdao is where i should be going for those. And don’t mention the local beer, because i already KNOW i should be going 😉
ArthurI didn’t take pictures myself – i saw 310 during a stop at Otopeni on the way back from China. It was one of those few occasions when i actually met Luck.
Here’s a profile: http://geocities.yahoo.com.br/alvmaia/Ilyushin/Il28/romania2.GIF (well, the profile is an Il-28 and not an H-5, but let’s be uncritical for once).
Two pics of the aircraft post-crash at Fetesti-Borcea. Note that the right wing has been removed. The right engine nacelle was crushed by the accident.
http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=275194&WxsIERv=SGFyYmluIEgtNQ%3D%3D&WdsYXMg=Um9tYW5pYSAtIEFpciBGb3JjZQ%3D%3D&QtODMg=RmV0ZXN0aQ%3D%3D&ERDLTkt=Um9tYW5pYQ%3D%3D&ktODMp=QXVndXN0IDI1LCAyMDAx&BP=0&WNEb25u=Sm9zIFNjaG9vZnM%3D&xsIERvdWdsY=MzEw&MgTUQtODMgKE=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%3D&YXMgTUQtODMgKERD=NDAyNw%3D%3D&NEb25uZWxs=MjAwMi0wOS0xOA%3D%3D&ODJ9dvCE=&O89Dcjdg=&static=yes&sok=V0hFUkUgIChwbGFjZSA9ICdGZXRlc3RpJykgIE9SREVSIEJZIHBob3RvX2lkIERFU0M%3D&photo_nr=4&size=M
http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=275193&WxsIERv=SGFyYmluIEgtNQ%3D%3D&WdsYXMg=Um9tYW5pYSAtIEFpciBGb3JjZQ%3D%3D&QtODMg=RmV0ZXN0aQ%3D%3D&ERDLTkt=Um9tYW5pYQ%3D%3D&ktODMp=QXVndXN0IDI1LCAyMDAx&BP=0&WNEb25u=Sm9zIFNjaG9vZnM%3D&xsIERvdWdsY=MzEw&MgTUQtODMgKE=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%3D%3D&YXMgTUQtODMgKERD=MTEwMw%3D%3D&NEb25uZWxs=MjAwMi0wOS0xOA%3D%3D&ODJ9dvCE=&O89Dcjdg=&static=yes&sok=V0hFUkUgIChwbGFjZSA9ICdGZXRlc3RpJykgIE9SREVSIEJZIHBob3RvX2lkIERFU0M%3D&photo_nr=5&size=M
A pic by Robin Polderman showing the crushed engine nacelle:
http://www.arrow-aviation.nl/h5-310.html
And finally a pic i nicked from a German buy-tour at http://www.skybird-ev.de/tour/romania/fe03—d.htm . There should be a few pictures around of 310 leaving the paint shop at Bacau, but i couldn’t find those unfortunately.
ArthurThe Super Hornet is in a tough spot here….
…snip…
Has it had a starring role in a Hollywood movie?
Yes it had, and if you thought that Top Gun sucked…
EDIT Sorry for bringing it up again, i couldn’t resist posting this before i read the entire thread.
ArthurThe Jaguar and F-2 use the same engine so of course they’ll look alike. But both planes have the rear section copied nearly identically from the F-4.
The downward canted tailpanes and the recessed engines with the divider angling out was unique to the F-4 at the time (circa 1958.) The F-4 was the first so it should be credited, not the Jaguar though there is little doubt that the Jaguar was studied by the Japanese.
Uhhh… similar looks don’t mean similar design. Just look at the jet nozzles of the F-101 or XF-88 (both McDonnel designs as the Phantom) and you might guess the Phantom has got it’s rear fuselage from those – but no! In stead, the F-4 was based on the F3H Demon, with two engines in stead of one.
A rear fuselage like the Jag, Phantom or Voodoo combine a normal CG but puts the tail surfaces well aft to give them as much momentum as possible. Nothing more, nothing less.
Here another bit of Asian engineering. Still want to see one.
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