I really liked the looks of the proposed F-32. I had the pleasure of seeing the full scale mock-up (I didn’t take this photo).

This is a model that was built to the a theme by an average Joe. The theme was called “What if?”. Various plastic kits are modified to appear to have entered service or its mission profile is different. Like an F-16 modeled as if it was carrier ready, C-130 has the props replaced with jets, that kind of stuff. It was a contest and they even had a website, but it is down.

Good disscusion though 😀

F-14 Hotdog-you forgot to add potential FOD ingestion issues, potential head-on RCS issues, problems with the exhaust in VTOL mode, and a bunch of others. And what room for growth? The airframe was damn near packed as it was.

F-23 and F-35 more like. The F-32 might have been an acceptable F-18 and AV-8 replacement, but it would have had issues taking on some of the F-16s roles, such as air defense. More on this later.

SPACE/Room
The X-32 actually had a weapons bay the X-35 didn’t and clearly had no room.

The F-35 moved its main gear to a location like the X-32 and now it has room but I think the F-32 would have had much greater fuel capacity.

A2A
F-32 would have probably been lighter, after a fuel dump and it was to have thrust vectoring. The F-35 TV is an option that probably will never happen.

It was eliminated because McD didn’t follow the guide lines. It required the aircraft to use a single engine and McD added another for its lift fan.

Looks had NOTHING to do with it….until the X-32 🙂

The Bird of Prey was actually a McDonnell Douglas project (IIRC). The X-32 was a Boeing project and when McD was eliminated it became part of Boeing and as such picked up part of the X-32 project.

Anyone remember the McD entry? Very sexy little V-tail. Need a pic?

Well at least I got my EA-18G hat/cap 🙂

I heard that the F/A-18s flight computer can be overriden if the pilot feels he really needs too.