errrm… could hot air balloons, dirigibles and helos fly at 600mph+??????

Since there hasn’t been any real innovation in aviation since 1937

So let me see….

The B-29?

The Lancaster?

The Me 262 and Gloster Meteor, not innovative as the worlds first operational jet fighters?

The B-47 as the first swept wing heavy bomber?

The Comet as the first jet airliner?

The YB-49 flying wing?

The almost equally impressive Vulcan?

The Tu-95 series swept wing turboprop bomber?

The YB-70?

The SR-71?

The Harrier?

The XF-10 Jaguar as the first swing wing jet?

The F-111 as the first operation swing winger?

Concorde?

The Mig 25?

The B-2?

Of course more could be added, but you get the picture????

[/QUOTE]If the Soviet bomber threat was still around, the F-14 would still be around[QUOTE]

Or perhaps more likley the SH would be equipped with a Pheonix replacement, albeit smaller, lighter and simpler.

Raspberry Ripple Grippen

Aint this a tounge twister…..??? 😉

Good lord!!!! That F/A-18!!!! Is it taking off or landing???

The Crusader outlasted all of the other J-57 engined jets

When were the last Canadian F-101’s retired? Sure they lasted well into the 1980’s like the last RF-8’s. That said the French kept the F-8 into the 90’s.

A few observations:

Just more than a little suprised to see how massive the F-105 is compared to the F-15E, F-4, F-111 and Mirage IV.

The F-117 seems big too…

Also the A-6 Intruder should read EA-6B Prowler.

Mind you looking at that pic from Migman, you can easily see how a non aviation enthusiast could mistake a Flanker for a Tomcat or vice versa.

Shared features:

Twin Fins,

Two widely spaced engines

Bubble cockpits

Sloping necks

Wedged air intakes

Similar undecarriage layout

Of course the Tomcat has swing wings and the Flanker has a big fixed wing but both have a superficially simimilar layout.