That ejection sequence is crazy… they eject through a fireball… try patricks avaition site for the video, i think i got it there.

A1- Patrol Squadron 21
A2-Wright R-1820 and GE J31
A3-USS Lexington and they flew Furies (FJ-3D)
A4- VA-212 from the Bonne Homme Richard, also briefly flew in Blue Angel colors
A5- Satan and Mithras…

Hope at least some of these are right!

If i remember the early F-104 ejected downwards, with later ones upwards. This caused some serious and fatal issues with pilots familar with the older style ejection sequence….

If i am not mistaken niether Sweden nor Switzerland allow militia pilots anymore… The Hunter was the last aircraft that allowed milita pilots in Switz, not sure in Sweden. I think now they are all professionals. There is also an age limit in Sweden, older pilots are transferred to transport units i believe, have to check my sources though…

These are great! Please keep them coming!

Whats wrong with you? Why cant you explain your position and educate us in an polite form? You made a good point in there but it was lost and no one will now listen.

What you just did was horribly emabarrasing for all who frequent this board.

There are still 700-800 missing soilders from the Korean war, you don’t hear about that on the news, so that should explain to you that IT IS possible to cover up losses, for years.

These are not covered up, families of the soldiers have been notified that they are missing in action- presumed dead, as that could be no corraboration on their death and no body could not be recovered. There are no families that are sitting at home going “my brother/father/son went to war and did come home, no one told me what happened”. The US gov told them they were MIA. The issue with the MIA’s in Vietnam has nothing to do with a US coverup, but rather with the belief that the N. Vietnamese gov did not return all prisoners during the 1973 exchange. (<– very very short version of the issues revolving around this)

Straight from the Air College and Air Chronicles… “The resulting F-15 design was everything the Fighter Mafia advocated, with a TW at combat load of 1.4:1, good cockpit visibility, and other ACM features, including a gun.”

http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/cc/jim.html

The orginal F-X (actually it was VFX project, as the F-X spun off that, as that was the start of the Mafia) project was what the Fighter Mafia objected too, not the end result. I suggest you famalirize yourself with what the USAF orginally wanted out of the program, a heavy complicated, swing wing aircraft much like the F-111. It was through “personal” contacts at MD that, in part, led to the design of the F-15, heavily influenced by Boyd.

I do find it mildly amusing that ppl on the board are slamming one of the most influential groups within the Air Force in the last 25 years! (actaully its a little frightening)
$11 million per copy is a low and ridiculous, but not the point. The Fighter Mafia always advocated a high low mix i.e quality and quanity are both important. Look at the makeup of the USAF fighter force, (in 2002) 54% of tactical aircraft were F-16’s while 27% were F-15’s, a hi/lo mix. This is what the Fighter Mafia was advoacting with low cost fighters, the ablity to field both types of aircraft, quality and quanity.

They were simply objecting to the huge rising cost of aircraft and the problems assocaited with a much smaller force (they do address the increased capablity, but that only goes so far i.e if you dont have enough aircraft you cannot be everywhere you need to be)

SOC- I am shocked you have not read some of this stuff more, I’ll be more then happy to pass some stuff on if you’d like, personally I like you’d find it very interesting. I have seen you argue some of the same things that Sprey, Boyd and Ricconi were up too…