Well, I have read from mags & users on the AK-47 that after this weapon is buried in the sand for some time, you could literally just recover it from the sand and fire..no problemo.

But if the Iraqis (of pre-OIF) felt that MiGs (or even Sukhois) could be applied likwise, you know recover it from the sand and fly the jet…..errr….I think that’s really pushing it! 😀

IMO, seems like the US soldiers there have turned Indiana Jones!

I think sferrin meant Israel handing the tech to China NOT Europe giving it to China.

Oops! My interpretation mistake, my apologies.

Allow me to rephrase that, no matter who handle the F-35 whether in production phrase etc. Let’s hope nothing (esp where some components of the F-35 have ‘civilian’ application) ends up in China where perhaps 2-4 years down the road (after any transfer to the Chinese), one may see pics of a Chengdu or Shenyang J-35 (chinese F-35) on some website.

JC. Why is it people always reach for the “it must be photoshopped”? :rolleyes: People DO actually know how to take pictures you know. If you want to check though you’re welcome to talk to the USN who took the picture.

http://www.navy.mil/management/photodb/photos/021023-F-2034C-020.jpg

I apologise if I offended you sferrin. It is not that I’m implying that you’re lying but it’s just that when I saw the pic, I was like ‘Wow! That is close. Or was sferrin dumped by someone who passed him the pic?’

I had originally shared the same opinion as expressed by JFrazier (that the Tomcat is probably at a lower altitude than the Viper), but due to my limited camera & tech skills as compared to some of the readers here, this ‘height difference’ was not obvious to me.

Woah…thanks Canpark. 🙂

I don’t think he was real, but the pilot who engaged Cunningham and Driscoll was no doubt one of the better flyers in the VPAF at the time. I imagine the guy they engaged was likely an ace, but I doubt his name will ever be revealed.

I have the book ‘MiG-17 and MiG-19 units of the Vietnam War’ and it didn’t reveal anything on the ‘true identity’ of this pilot ‘COL Tomb’. Anyway, there is wild speculation that if this pilot does exists, wouldn’t Hanoi then would have exploited this chap for propaganda purposes?

Now, this begs the next question, if this fictitious pilot is not identified by the Vietnamese, I always wondered, what happens if this ‘COL Tomb’ is a Soviet (‘volunteered’?) pilot? Of course, it is in Hanoi’s (& possibly Soviet) interest not to identify this ‘ace’ pilot wouldn’t it?

Comments anyone?

The plane in the background is not a Phantom, it’s A RJAF Casa C-101 light attack aircraft…

It isn´t Phantom but Jordanian C-101

…then what’s the Iraqi MiG-29 doing in Jordan (or vice versa)? Some Air Show in Jordan?