Arthur's Military Interest Index
http://www.arthurhu.com/index/militry.htm
My computer clippings on aviation and miliary interest. I was a big
fan of military and aviation when I was growing up (my dad worked for
Boeing and brought home all of the Aviation Weeks being tossed
there). This is where I keep my military notes. Some of the articles
are mine, some are pointers to the rest of the internet.
Highlights of My Stuff
Tanks on Display at Fort Lewis Military Museum |
Best Weapons of the Vietnam War |
Most Produced Aircraft of All Time|
All Time Ranking of Casualties due to War and Genocide
Contents
Aircraft | Armour / Tanks | Ships
Links
General References
@@ABM
NUCLEAR ABMS OF THE USA
markp@tpgi.com.au
http://www4.tpgi.com.au/users/mpainf/missiles/index.html
Nike Zeus, Nike-X, Sentinel, Safeguard
@@Aircraft
General References
USAF Flight Test Center gallery
Boeing / Rockwell Aircraft
Guy Jackson FS5 Models
Paul's RAF Plane Page
Most Produced Aircraft of All Time
\doc\97\04\airprod.wk1 http://www.arthurhu.com/97/04/airprod.txt
Naval Historical Center
| Current Naval Aircraft
\doc\web\97\04\airprod.wk1 http://www.arthurhu.com/97/04/airprod.txt
Compiled by Arthur Hu 1996
Send any additional data to: arthurhu @ hufamily.com (no space)
Production runs or projected
37,000 Cessna 172 one of most popular airplanes
37,000 Ilyusion Il2 Stormovik #1 combat aircraft?
36,000 Antonov An-2 (Air & Space Feb/Mar 96), 1949-current #1 transport in world
33,000 ME/BF 109 (Peter Wraight)
24,000 Spitfire (Peter Wraight)
18,188 B-24 Liberator #1 bomber
17,200 Beechcraft Bonanza (1947-current)
15,683 P-47 Thunderbolt #1 fighter
15,575 P-51 Mustang
12,677 Boeing B-17
10,392 Bell UH-1 Huey #1 helicoper
10,000 MIG-21 estimate (Air & Space Feb/Mar 96) #1 supersonic fighter
10,000 Douglas DC-3 #1 Western transport
8,335 Bell 206 Jetranger #1 civil helicopter
6,209 MacD Harpoon
6,200 F86 Sabre #1 Western Jet fighter
5,600 MI-2 Poland #1 one model copter Marek Lyzwinski Plattsburgh NY
5,057 McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom #1 Supersonic fighter in west
3,527 Lockheed/Martin (General Dynamics) F-16 #1 production western fighter
2,960 McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawk
2,744 Boeing 737 #1 jet airliner
2,115 Bell Hueycobra
2,100 McDonnel Douglas DC-9/MD-80/90 #2 Commercial Jet
2,100 Lockheed C-130 (1995, Air & Space Feb/Mar 96) (1954-current)
#1 modern western military transport
2,000 Learjet #1 business Jet
1,735 Boeing ALCM
1,647 MacD Tomahawk
1,276 McDonnell Douglas F-18Hornet
1,243 McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle
1,190 Bell 212/214
%%Age
AVERAGE USAF AIRCRAFT 20, NAVY 16 YRS OLD IN 2000
Aviation Week Aerospace Daily: Aging Aircraft Aren't So Bad, CBO Says
By Aerospace Daily Staff
16-Aug-2001
the Congressional Budget Office says in a new report. The Air Force
and Navy aviation fleets grew significantly older over the past two
decades. The average age of Air Force aircraft rose from 13 years in
1980 to more than 20 years in 2000, while the average age of Navy
aircraft rose from 11 years to more than 16 years in the same period.
%%A-1 Douglas Skyraider
Korea- Vietnam era piston-powered carrier based attack fighter
bomber, a single seat replacement for dive bombers like the SBD had
more armour and carrying capacity than fighters like the F4 Corsair
and P51. It lasted until the Vietnam war in front line service, and
inspired the AX specification that led to the A10. It was nicknamed
"Spad" and also was famous for "Sandy" rescue helicopter escort duty.
It was later replace by the A7 and later A10 for this role.
It was credited with at least one MiG-17 kill over Vietnam, but was
later withdrawn from service over North Vietnam. The USAF needed a
low and slow attack fighter, so transferred them from the Navy,
adding jungle camouflage scheme, and gave many of them to the South
Vietnamese air force. Both single seat, and the side-by-side versions
were used.
Photo and specs
doc921:skyraid.txt
%%A-3 Douglas A-3 Skywarrior KA-3, EA-3 A3D
Nicknamed the whale, it was the largest carrier based operational
plane. It was subsonic attack bomber with 2 turbojets slung under the
wings. The Air Force version was the B-66 Destroyer. Detractors said
A3D meant "All 3 Dead" with no ejection seats, and at least one
article about a A3 crash said that the weakest pilots got assigned to
this plane (they of course disagree, and would rather have more fuel
than the weight of ejection seats). Initially equipped with twin20 mm
tail gun, it was replaced by Defensive DECM "duckbut" fairing.
It was designed to be a subsonic strategic bomber, to replace the
prop powered AJ Savage. In turn, it was to be replaced by the
supersonic A5 Vigilante (which didn't end up bombing either) In any
case, the nuclear strike role went to the USAF. It was tried briefly
as a bomber over North Vietnam, but its main use in Vietnam was as a
tanker, and as an electronics jamming platform until replaced by the
EA6A and EA6B as a jammer, and KA-6 and S-3 as a tanker. The KA-3
could deliever 29,000 lb of fuel at 460 miles, about 2.2 full F4J
tanks. The KA-6 only delivered half as much fuel, and the S-3 carries
even less.
A3 crews saved lots of planes and pilots by towing them back to
carrier. It was not completely retired until 1989.
It was still qused in 2000 by Raytheon which maintains its own small
fleet of A3s as a radar test platform because of the speed and
payload capability.
Wings of Fame Volume 9 "Bomber Skywarriors in Vietnam" is an excellent
article showing dropping bombs over N. Vietnam.
First Flight 1952 Service 1956 Withdrawn 1991
www.a3skywarrior.com Fan Site
A3 pilot defends his plane.
%%A-17 switchblade
http://www.area51zone.com/aircraft/switchblade.shtml
Popular Science article, based on US patent
5,984,231
%%A-4 Douglas Skyhawk
Very small simple high subsonic jet attack plane, it didn't need
folding wings, and the leading edge slats simply drop down when the
plane is flying slow enough. Its maneuverability kept it popular with
the Blue Angels when they moved away from extravagant F-4s, and for
Top Gun threat simulators. It was replaced by the Harrier in the
Marine Corps, and the A-7 in the navy which had more range and
payload (but was a crummy dogfighter)
%%North American Rockwell A-5, RA-5C Vigilante
Very sophisticated Mach-2 capable all-weather low-level bomber to
replace the A3, was switched to fast reconaissance to replace the RF-8
when the Navy lost the role of strategic nuclear attack. High wing,
angled box intakes, side-by-side engine configuration was also used by
the F-15 and Foxbat.
It had an unusual bomb bay tunnel where fuel and a nuclear bomb would
be ejected from the back between the engines, but it never worked very
well. F-14s with recon pods now do the job. It was never adapted to do
conventional bombing, even though it might have been better suited to
this is some ways than the F-4 Phantom, which was a smaller fighter.
Wing Span 53'. Length 73' 2 1/2". Ht. 19' 4 3/4". Max. Speed Mach
2.1. Power Two 10,900/18,000 Lb. General Electric J79-GE turbo Jets.
Cruise 1254 mph. Range 3,000 miles. Service Ceiling 64,000
Empty weight 37,498 lbs Gross 80,000
* all moving tail * heads up display * TV display * terrain avoidance
radar * titanium structures * fly by wire * variable intakes * 1960
world altitude record 91,451 ft
Bob Jellison
landed at 160 mph, supersonic over Vietnam, last to launch because of speed,
vulnerable to gunners as they knew to expect it aftr the bombers
Vectorsite Vigilante
15 min MTBF, not cost effective for bombing, hard to fix
Hasegawa 1/72 RA-5C Vigilante Picture
A-5 / RA-5 Vigilante Page
Boeing / Rockwell RA-5C page / picture
Pueblo Historical
Aircraft Society
Aviation
Enthusiast Corner
Flight Sim 5 Model
%%A-6 Grumman US Navy Vietnam - Desert Storm Medium Attack bomber
The ungainly looking A6 features a heavy payload, side-by-side
seating, and very sophisticated avionics for night and bad weather
low-level navigation for F-111 like capabilities. It relies on pilot
skill rather than terrain following radar to keep the plane out the
ground, which might explain a relatively high accident rate.
It soldiered on past Desert Storm, when its replacement stealth plane
was
cancelled, and the Navy opted to retire the plane and rely on
more glamourus, but in some ways less capable F-18E and bomb-equipped
F-14s which lack the turret nose mounted TRAM which was capable of
dropping precision weapons.
4 place EA-6B Prowler continues on, replacing the faster USAF EF-111.
It has a special marking on the nose to make sure catapaults are set
correctly for the heavier airplane.
\priv\96b\07\f18a6.txt F18E vs. A6 - actually should fly farther also
at http://www.confusion.net/~elmer/air/fa18_a6.html 7/96
http://www.seattletimes.com/extra/browse/html97/navy_022697.html
\clip\97\06\a6end.txt Wednesday, Feb. 26, 1997 The final flight: Navy
is retiring its A-6 attack jets by Stephen Clutter Seattle Times
Snohomish County bureau 86 Whidbey crewmen died flying the plane,
including 11 killed in combat.
%%A7 Ling-Temco Vought A-7 Corsair II
SLUF Short Little Ugly Attack fighter based loosely on putting a
turbofan into a rounded off F-8, has better range / payload than a M2
fighter. Adopted by USN and USAF, but not the USMC which kept the A-4
and AV-8. Navy kept it service until Desert Storm, but the USAF kept
it at home. Now F-16 has turbofan engine to handle the same job, but
faster.
%%A-37 Cessna Dragonfly
Cute attack version of T-37 Tweety Bird had better useful payload and
loiter than the F-100"Hun".
http://WWW.A-37.ORG/
%%AC-130 Spectre
Conversion of C-130 in to the ultimate gunship, the AC-47 was the
first version of this concept.
Spectre
%%EA-6B Prowler
Conversion of the A-6 into an even more unlikely looking plane with a
set of 2 back seats for more electronics operators. Plane has a
special marker on the nose so that catapault operators don't confuse
it with smaller A-6 attack planes. The Air Force is retiring it's
EF-111 fleet in favor of letting the Navy and Marines take over
electronic warfare escort duties.
\doc\95\15\ea6b.txt
%%Ejection Seats
http://www.bestweb.net/~kcoyne/f22.htm Ejection Site
http://www.bestweb.net/~kcoyne/oveject.htm OV-1 Animated GIF ejection
%%AH-64 Hughes / McDonell Douglas Apache
High tech follow-on to Army Cobra adds 200 mph performance, armour,
helmet mounted sights slaved to turret mounted nose sensors and laser
designator, Hellfire fire and forget missles. Originally designed for
close air support, also used in Desert Storm to penetrate enemy
territory and take out a air defence radar site.
doc921:apache.txt Cobra/Apache
Desert Storm: credited with 500 tanks killed, only one lost to enemy
fire p. 114 "The Armoured Fist" Time Life Books 1991
%%ALCM see missles
portal.608 ALCM with warhead removed
%%AV-8 Harrier
Small V/STOL Skyhawk-class attack jet developed by British, in
service with British Air Force and Navy and US Marines. It was an
effective interceptor against Argentine Mach-2 class aircraft,
considered, ironically, to be of unfair "advanced" technology against
faster, but older aircraft. AV-8B is a pumped up version with a larger
wing, more range, payload, and a raised cockpit for better visibility
harrier.txt
%%B-1 Lancer Rockwell/Boeing "Bone"
Supersonic politically maligned swing-wing bomber, essentially a plane
with the range / payload capability of the B-36/B-52 but as fast as an
F-111. The B-1A was designed for Mach 2 top speed, the B-1B
operational version has fixed air intakes for lower cost and radar
cross section but reduces dash speed to mach 1+, not a big sacrifice
considering most modern aircraft rarely fly at such speeds in actual
operations.
Like the B-52 and B-2, it is not fitted to deliver laser guided
weapons, but will be operational in 1998 with GPS based weapons and be
fitted with GPS navigation [which were used with great effectiveness
over Afghanistan as the most cost-effective platform]
As of 1998, they are no longer configured for nuclear weapons
delivery out of disarmament treaty considerations. They carry 40,000
worth of iron bombs for carpet bombing.
Boeing: B-1B Lancer Technical Specifications
B1 Used Over Iraq to deliver 500 lb
bombs.
z63\clip\2003\01\b1kill.txt Newsgroups: soc.culture.cuba August 1,
2001 Much-Maligned B-1 Bomber Proves Hard to Kill By JAMES DAO ""It's
a 20-year-old system," Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said in
recent testimony before the House. "It's not stealthy. It's designed
for the cold war. It has been headed towards expensive obsolescence."
"
%%B-2 Northrop B2 Spirt "Stealth Bomber"
Modern version of Northrop's Flying Wing is smaller, but can do much
of what the B-52 can do in terms of range and speed and a slightly
lighter payload. It does not carry laser guided weapons like the F117
or even F-111 though.
It was actually designed to drop dumb gravity bombs or SRAM missles
from a standard rotary launcher, but has been adapted to GPS aided
bombs and newer weapons that don't require laser designators. Two man
crew has two pilots trained to perform all functions instead of pilot
/ navigator, third seat is provided for future expansion.
It is based in special indoor shelters, flies across the globe to
Kosovo and back. 2 man crews are now being trained in different tasks.
Cost: $2 billion
Number: 21 operational
Height: 17 ft
Length: 69 ft
Wingspan: 172 ft
Ceiling: 50,000 ft
Thrust 17,300 lb per 4 engines GE F-118-100
range: 6,000 unrefueled (vs 6,000 B-52A, 12,000 B-52G)
Payload: 40,000 lbs (vs 60,000 B-52D)
Cost: 1.3B per plane
doc913:AFB2.txt - B2
%%B-17 Boeing Flying Fortress
Named by Aviation Week as the greatest bomber of WWII and all time,
the later B-24 was made in somewhat greater numbers and had had
better range and payload, but the B-17 had enough range to be the
main weapon against Germany, and flew somewhat better. The B-17G with
the chin turret was the ultimate version.
12,677 were sent to war
640,000 tons of bombs dropped in 291,508 sorties, about 4,400 lbs per
sortie, and 25 sorties per aircraft
4,688 combat losses or 1.6% loss per sortie
Range was 1,850 miles with 4,000 lb payload, 16,000 lb maximum payload
%%B-24 Consolidated Liberator
Slightly more advanced WWII bomber design than the the B-17, produced
in greater numbers with longer range, B-24J featured enclosed nose
and tail turret. Served in Pacific where longer range was more
useful, but never was popular as the B-17.
http://www.nemac.com/collings.htm Collings Foundation restored B-24
Consolidated B-24J Liberator
Wingspan----------110 feet
Length--------------67 feet, 7 5/8 inches
Height--------------18 Feet
Empty weight-----36,500 pounds
Max. weight-------65,000 pounds
Powerplants-------Four 1200hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830-65 engines
Armament---------10.50 caliber machine guns
Crew----------------10
Performance------Max. Speed 290 mph,
Service Ceiling 28,000, Range 3,000 miles
Designed by------Consolidated Aircraft Co., San Diego
%%B-26 Douglas A26 Invader
The piston engined Invader was introduced in WWII as a light bomber
follow on to the A20. When the B26 Marauder and B-25 Mitchell were
retired, the A26 was renamed the B26 for use in Korea. The B26 flew
55,000 sorties, 44,000 at night as the primary night attack aircraft.
They claimed 40,000 vehicles, 35,000 rail cars, 406 locomotives, 168
bridges and even 7 aircraft shot down. It was also used in Vietnam
for slow attack and ground support roles.
%%B-29 Boeing Superfortress
Follow-on to the B-17, the B-29 was the most expensive program in
WWII, costing more than the atom bomb. A failure in daylight
precision high altitude bombing, it was decisive in leveling almost
every central Japanese city of an any size when switched by Curtis
LeMay to unarmed low-level incindenary attacks. It was the only plane
that could deliver the atom bomb to Japan. It was reserved for
service in the pacific since the B17 and B24 had enough range for
Europe. In Korea, they flew 21,000 sorties, dropped 167,100 tons of
bombs and shot down 16 migs and 17 other fighters. 16 were shot down
(.76 per 1000 sorties) , but 3 times as many crashed on landing.
The Superfortress is born Thomas Collison
$35 used 1945
z47\clip\2001\02\tu4.txt
http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/business/bombr25ww.shtml Soviet Union
copied Boeing bomber -- piece by piece Thursday, January 25, 2001 By
PAULINE JELINEK THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON -- They call it
reverse engineering. New details of how Soviet engineers copied the
Boeing B-29 Superfortress and renamed it the Tu-4 bomber were
released Thursday after a 12-year investigation by the Smithsonian
Institution's National Air and Space Museum
%%XB-35 Flying Wing
z40\clipim\2000\03\30\xb-35.mov Quicktime movie from Discovery
Channel
%%B-36 Convair B36 Peacemaker
Awesome 6 pusher piston engines plus 4 aux jet engines, and lots of
gun turrets. It set the standard for range / payload for the B-52,
B-1 and B-2.
\priv\95\11\b36.txt - Baugher article on B36.
Max speed 415 mph, 72,000lb bomb load
Don's awesome B36 page
www.B-36.net Don Pyeatt http://last.b-36.homepage.com/index.htm#top
Also see: http://www.flash.net/~bynumtc/museum/restored_b36.htm
This is part of a site addition being developed for
the Aviation Heritage Museum in Fort Worth.
%%B-47 Stratojet
Range: 2,014 mi, 4,647 ferry Norman Palomar "Strategic Air Command"
%%B-52 Boeing B-52 Stratofortress
The classic strategic jet bomber featured in Dr. Strangelove, it has
lasted from the 60's to beyond the year 2000. It was the final
evolution of the B-47 idea into a jet that could do what the B36
could do, fly 6000 miles with a 20,000 payload, or haul 40,000 lbs.
The same spec inspired the B-1 and B-2 designs. Originally designed
for high-altitude penetration, it was adapted to low-level tactics,
used for high-level carpet bombing in Vietnam against troops in the
South and industrial targets (so they say) in the north with
negligible losses except for Linebacker 2, even then it was only a 2%
loss rate with incredibly stupid tactics of bombing with regularity
of a train schedule.
In Desert Storm, B-52 launched conventional 1000 lb warhead ALCMs in
the first raids. Carpet bombing of troops demoralized the troops that
it didn't kill, though it wasn't effective against tanks.. Compared
to newer bombers, it is capable of hauling a spare crew for long
missions, where the 2 guys in a B-2 or 4 in a B-1 are pretty stuck to
their seats for the duration of the mission.
In Linebacker II, 729 sorties were flown, 15,000 tons of bombs were
dropped with 15 shot down (2% loss rate)(Aviation Week April 16, 1997
p. 121)
Cost: 9.2M new $1,183/hr
http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/b52/index.html There are
now 94 B-52H aircraft in service with three squadrons at Barksdale
Air Force Base, Louisiana and two squadrons at Minor Air Force Base
in North Dakota.
WEAPONS
The B-52H, with a weapons payload of more than 70,000 pounds, is
capable of carrying the most diverse range of weapons of any combat
aircraft.
The nuclear weapons capacity includes 12 Advanced Cruise Missiles
(ACMS), 20 Air Launched Cruise Missiles (ALCM) and 8 bombs. The
conventional weapons carriage capability is 8 AGM-84 Harpoon
missiles, 4 AGM-142 Raptor missiles, 51 x 500 lb bombs, 30 x 1000 lb
bombs, 20 Conventional Air Launched Cruise Missiles (CALM), 12 Joint
Stand Off Weapons (JSOW), 12 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) and
16 Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD). JSOW, JDAM and WCMD are
currently under development.
The B-52H can also deliver 51 x 500lb, 30 x 1000lb and 20 x 2000lb
navy mines.
%%B-58 Convair / General Dynamics B-58 Hustler
Convair did delta wing fighters, and the Hustler was based on the
same idea. Awesome delta wing 4 engine 3 man Mach 2 bomber with 3 man
crew and weapons / fuel pod and vulcan 20mm tail stinger. Crew members got
their own ejection capsules which would close up over the seat like a
pillbug shell. It could also haul bombs externally in addition to the
pod. It was a really expensive program to run, difficult to fly and
it never found conventional application, so SAC got rid of it in
favor of the FB-111. Today the B-1 is the
supersonic bomber with B52 range, though Mach 2 performance was
deleted for cost reasons. There is a refernce in "Wild Weasels in Action"
that the B-58 was to be deployed to Vietnam, but was replaced by the
F-111 for (FAC???) role.
Story any burp in any engine at M2
would spin the airplane and depart it into little bits.
Operational Dates: 1960-1970 Losses: 26 of 116 to accidents Cost:
$12.9M to build, $2,139/hr vs. 9.2/$1.183 for the B-52 (Aviation Week
4/16/97 p. 116)
z46\clipim\2000\11\02\b58\b58.htm
Aviation History excellent article B/W phots \clip\97\10\b58\b58.htm
Air Enthusiast Specs
%%XB70 North American Valkyrie
Perhaps the most technically awesome aircraft ever built, the Mach 3
Intercontinental Bomber had 6 engines, was made of steel and had
special aluminum impregnated tires, and used fuel to cool the delta
wings with canard.
The plane was nearly as fast as the SR-71, but a lot bigger. A very
high ladder gantry had to be used to get in the cockpit. The shape
was based on the concept of "compression lift" flying on its own
shock wave, and the wingtips tilted down at speed for stability. It
was hard to fly, and was involved in a famous crash where an F-104
rolled over and took out both tails.
It was meant to replace the B-52, but it was done in by a change to
low-level tactics, though it is said to have been the inspiration for
the Russian Foxbat interceptor and at at least one small-scale copy.
It was a good research aircraft for the SST program (which never made
it either). It had individual escape capsules for each crewman like
the B-58. Now the subject of a new AMT 1/72 kit (1997) They sure
don't build them like they used to.
Maiden of Death Awesome
XB70 history and photos
B70 landing at Edwards
\clip\96\04\xb70.htm extended pics \images\97\20\xb-photos.htm
%%BAC Lightning
50's 60's era Mach 2 British interceptor with severely swept back
wings, two engines stacked vertically, and funny aux tanks over the
wing configuration, replaced by the F-4 Phantom in the 70s and 80s.
BAC Lightning Zone
%%Camouflage
z42\clipim\2000\06\14\USAF_TechOrder_TO_1-1-4.pdf
1994 manual on USAF markings and camouflage for F15, F-4, Bronco, etc.
%%C-33 747 Freighter
http://www.geocities.com/cargo747airlift/
Cargo 747 "Air-Mech" of M113A3, 10.5-ton tracked AFVs for U.S. Army Transformation IBCTs
Page proposes using 747 to lift C-130/C-141 compatible cargo such
as M113 or M8 light AFV/tanks. Can carry up to 6 M113, but LAV or
Stryker will not fit. Needs new drive-on ramp.
%%C-130 Lockheed Martin Hercules
The C130 ranks among the most successful Vietnam-era military systems.
It remains the world standard in tactical transports, and is the most
and longest produced transport in modern history. The YC-14 and YC-15
were designed as replacements but not adopted.
\clip\97\07\c130\c130.htm
http://www-cgi.cnn.com/US/9703/03/iran.hostage/index.html
CNN article on how they converted a C130 with rockets for very
short take off.
Note on 2002 fire tanker loss - z56\priv\2002\06\c130.txt 30% or 15 of
50 C-130A airframes have crashed so far
%%C-135 Stratolifter / Stratotanker
Boeing tanker adaption of 707, the C-135 family differs in having a
[crew ladder], smaller diameter fuselage, no cabin windows, reduced
weight, and lower passenger capacity. All tanker equipment, including
an extendable refueling boom, is located on the lower deck in the
KC-135. 820 built, compared to 1,000 707s. Was initially numbered 717.
To improve performance, the Air Force equipped 163 KC-135s with
TF33-102 engines, which created the KC-135E; and nearly 400 aircraft
received new CFM56 engines and became KC-135R/Ts. The new KC-135R/T
can offload 50 percent more fuel, is 25 percent more fuel efficient,
costs 25 percent less to operate and is 96 percent quieter than the
KC-135A.
Expected to fly well into the 21st century, the C/KC-135 inventory
stood at 586 active aircraft as of November 2000, of which 546 were
tankers.
Tinker afb
http://www.tinker.af.mil/pa/archive/20010803/KC-135.htm
%%C-141 Lockheed Starlifter
Unspectacular but successful and long lasting turbofan jet cargo jet,
workhorse of MAC which could only afford so many C-5s. To be largely
replaced by C-17 in 2000s.
US Air Force fact sheet
http://www.af.mil/news/factsheets/C_141B_Starlifter.html
z47\clipim\2000\12\18\afc141\afc141
Fan page
http://www.c-141.com/
%%XC-142 LTV Tilt-Wing Transport
Popular
Science 4 Turboprop hi-wing tilt wing transport circa 1966 had
the potential to fly up to 400 MPH, much faster than the V-22, but it
was hard to fly and keep working, a few cracked up. Tilt wings are
harder to control than tilting rotors. Compare it to the X-22 (ducted
fan with 4 barrel "wings") \images\97\31\xc142\xc142.htm
%%CH-47 Chinook Boeing Vertol
Medium / Heavy lift tandem rotor helicopter.
http://www.flippers.net/ CH-47 fan site
Probably 2nd greatest helicopter of all time after the Huey, a
Vietnam classic, but still in production as frontline equipment, in
service throughout the free (or mostly free) world. Originally a
troop carrier, the Huey got the job because it was smaller and more
flexible and could unload troops faster, so the Chinook was used
mainly to haul cargo, and it succeeded over the unusual CH-64
Skycrane, which required an external pod for internal storage.
Upsized version of the CH-46 the CH-47D
Flew 2.6 million sorties in Vietnam, 1,182,000 flight hours, 8 1/2
million passengers, 4 1/2 million tons of cargo. Recovered 11,000
aircraft. 170 lost due to accident or combat, about 1/4 of 732
produced. Reputed to have the lowest helicopter accident rate, but
CH-64 crews are wary of having two rotors than can hit each other.
In 2000 there were stories of gears failing.
http://cbsnews.cbs.com/now/story/0,1597,190617-412,00.shtml
z42\clipim\2000\05\16\ch47\ch47.htm As the U.S. Army was preparing to
outflank Saddam Hussein's forces, a Chinook with 18 men aboard lost a
Speco-made gear and was destroyed by the resulting fire. That
Chinook was practically brand new and an investigation found that a
Speco-made gear installed by Boeing had cracks in it. The army is
spending an estimated $8 million to replace 143 sets of gears on the
Chinook. But for all its problems, the Chinook is still the workhorse
of every Army deployment. In fact, the Army plans to spend another
$2.5 billion dollars to keep it flying for 20 more years
CH-47D produced since 1983. L 50' 9" H 18' 7.5" empty 23,401 lb MTO
50,000 lb rotor dia 60 ft, first flight 1968, range 300 mi. 2 x 3,750
hp Lycoming T55-L-712 turboshaft, carries 44 troops, 33 seated
(carried 72 sometimes in Vietnam), cruise speed 160 mph, max 185 mph,
hover 17,000 ft. Payload 25,000 lbs, can carry two hummers internally.
Source: Modern Combat Helicopters George Sullivan Facts on File New
York 1993
cost y2000 $30m each
%%CH-64 Sikorsky Skycrane
Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane
--------------------------------------
Aircraft Specifications
WEIGHT
Maximum Gross Weight 42,000 LBS
Empty Weight 25,500 LBS
Useful Load 16,500 LBS
Useful Load with Full Fuel 11,000 LBS
Maximum External Load 20,000 LBS
PERFORMANCE
Service Ceiling 13,000 FT
Hover Ceiling,IGE 10,600 FT
Hover Ceiling,OGE 6,900 FT
Installed Horsepower 9,000 HP
Takeoff Power 6,600 HP
CAPACITIES - CREW ONLY
Standard Seating 3
High Density 5
ROTOR BLADES
Main 6
Tail 4
SPEED
VNE (Maximum Air Speed) 109 KNTS
Econ Cruise (Efficiency) 91 KNTS
RANGE
Maximum Fuel Range 219 NM
Endurance (No Reserves) 2.5 HRS
FUEL
Capacity (Standard Tank) 880 gal
Capacity with Auxiliary 1,320 gal
ENGINE
Manufacturer Pratt & Whitney
Model (2) JFTD 12A-5A
GO BACK
© copyright 1996 Jerry M Sullivan
CTH Surplus Helicoptes CH-64
%%Century Series fighters
http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/1win90.html
The Century Series:
From MiG Alley to
Blind Alley
With the exception of the F-100s, which owed enough to the swing-role
F-86 in origin that they avoided either of the two following extremes,
the Air Force's century-series fighters were either interceptors
(F-101B, F-102, F-104A, F-106) or, on the other hand, nuclear-strike
aircraft (F-l0lA/C, F-104C, F-105).
The value of the century-series aircraft to American defense in the
1950s and early 1960s is open to serious question.
Vietnam the Air Force depended on the Navy-developed Sidewinder and
Sparrow, both of which--despite their own problems--significantly
outperformed the Air Force's own Falcon. Getting the Air Force to
consider Sidewinder at all, in fact, had required the personal
intervention of Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Trevor Gardner to
obtain a comparative flight-test evaluation;
%%CL-400 Lockheed Suntan
Extreme planes
M2.5 wingtip-mounted ramjet powered U2 replacement, taken over by SR-71
\clip\97\23\cl400\cl400.htm
History of Mystery Planes
\clip\97\23\mystery\mystery.htm
%%Cost
\clip\97\13\fprice\fprice.htm http://www.amf.org/r-9-4.htm
Cost of USAF fighters since WWII
\clip\97\13\bprice\bprice.htm http://www.amf.org/r-9-3.htm cost of bombers
Cost of desert storm aircraft
%%Dornier DO.31
Experimental jet transport with 2 pegasus (harrier) engines
http://www18.pair.com/tvam/html/dt/dtdo31e.htm
\clip\98\09\do31\dtdo31e.htm
http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~pettypi/elevon/gustin_military/ger/DO31DORN.html
Do 31, Dornier
Last revised: 25 May 1996
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Do 31 was an experimental VTOL transport. Two pods with lift
engines were fitted at the wingstips; two R.R. Pegasus engines with
swivelling nozzles were fitted under the wing. This thing actually
flew, but it was never used beyond the experimental stage.
Type: Do 31E-3
Function: experimental
Year: 1967 Crew: 2 Engines: 2 * 7000kg R.R. Bristol Pegasus 5-2
8 * 2000kg R.R. RB 162-4D
Speed: 650km/h Ceiling: 10500m Range:
Load: 36 seats
Written by Emmanuel Gustin
%%F-XX
http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/1win90.html Boyd,
Spray, and the others began arguing for a highly agile, single-engine,
and less-than-Mach 2 "austere" fighter, the so-called F-XX. They were
unsuccessful ingetting the Air Staff to redirect the F-15 program
again-a wise decision on the part of the Air Force. Instead, the
climate of thought that they proposed with the F-XX germinated at the
end of the summer of 1971 in the so-called lightweight fighter
program.
%%F3D / F10A Douglas Skyknight
Aviation
Enthusiast
Obscure Navy's first jet night fighter. It scored some of the first jet
victories over Korea, despite pretty dorky looks (perhaps the most
unlikely looking fighter ever built) and straight wing. "In
subsequent night actions, F3D-2s accounted for another Yak-15 and six
MiG-15s, with no losses to themselves, which gave the Skyknight an
overall 8-0 superiority in Korea. In addition, no Air Force B-29 was
ever lost on a F3D-2-escorted mission". It counted more air-air
victories than any other naval / marine type. It served only from
land bases in Korea.
That's a better record than any straight winged USAF fighter. The
USAF had no jet night fighters, only prop planes like the F-82 twin
mustang. Eventually was armed with the Sparrow when it became
available.
Used in Vietnam at the EF-10B as a radar jamming platform with the gray
/white paint scheme. Side by Side seating, featured an escape tube
instead of ejection seats.
This plane surfaced again in the straight winged Missleer concept,
which turned into the F-111B, the idea was to use a slow loitering
aircraft to launch Phoenix missles, but this turned into the F-14,
which in the end, never fired any Phoenix missles in anger.
http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/hist-ac/f3d-2.pdf
z47\clipim\2001\01\10\f3d.pdf - various articles, drawings, charts
Nice resin model kit:
http://www.collectaire.com/modelpages/f3D/f3d.html
%%F-3H (F2) McDonnell Demon
Single engine / pilot barely transonic predecessor to the F4 Phantom,
armed with radar-guided sparrow missles and 4 20mm cannnon, it didn't
last much longer in service than the F11 Tiger.
Baugher Essay
Gustin
AEC
%%F-4D (F-6A) Douglas Skyray
Unusually sleek carrier based trans-sonic delta wing interceptor. At
the time of introduction, it beat the heck out of subsonic USAF F-86D
interceptors, and really beat up straight winged planes like the F-89
Scorpion. It set a world speed record of 753.4 mph for a carrier
plane. But it was just at the time true Mach 2 planes like the F-8
and F-4 Phantom were on the drawing boards.
Type: F4D-1 Function: fighter Year: 1956 Crew: 1 Engines: 1 * 7300kg
P&W J57-P-8B Wing Span: 10.21m Length: 13.79m Height: 3.96m Wing
Area: 51.75m2 Empty Weight: 7268kg Max.Weight: 12300kg Max. Speed:
1210km/h Ceiling: 16900m Max. Range: 1930km Armament: 4*g20mm 1814kg
Wing span 33' 6". Area 557 Sq. Ft. Length 45' 8". Ht. 13'. Gross
Wt. 22,000 Lbs. Fuel Capacity 1,240 Gal with drop tanks Power Pratt
& Whitney J57-P-8B with afterburner. Max. Speed 695 mph at 36,000'.
Service Ceiling 55,000'. Armament Four 20MM cannon in the wings. Two
Sidewinder missiles. Two rocket pods with nineteen 2.75 MM FFar's.
http://www.pueblo.org/phas/f6askyry.htm Pueblo Historical aircraft society
http://www.dfrf.nasa.gov/PhotoServer/F4D/index.html NASA Dryden Photo gallery
http://www.totavia.com/~ACybriw/aviapix/PostWW2/Fighters/Pre-Vietnam/other/c22.jpg
Douglas F4D-1 "Skyray" (F-6A) (Pima Air and Space Museum, Tucson, AZ)
- John A. "Skytamer" Shupek, curator, Western Museum of Flight
%%F-4 McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
Possibly the 2nd greatest fighter of all time (after the WWII P51),
and certainly the greatest jet this Vietnam era plane is the
forerunner of all modern fighter aircraft, setting a standard of
armament of 4 sidewinder / 4 sparrow with long-range radar, Mach 2.5
speed, 16,000 lb bomb load, 2,000 mile range. MacNamara may have
screwed up the F-111 program for commonality, but telling the Air
Force to adopt the F-4 may have been his most brilliant directive.
The F-4 is in a generation by itself, exceeding the F-105 which was
the most capable multirole fighter bomber of the series, and the F-106
as an interceptor. It was the benchmark on which the teen series
fighters was built, Mach 2 with 2,000 mile range, 16,000 maximum
payload with radar missles. In Vietnam, the F-4 was the only American
fighter, like the F-86 before, which was blessed by being built with a large
wing and 2 big engines that could perform as well as the MiGs.
The main difference between the F-4 and F-15 is better electronics,
thrust and maneuverability, one-man crew, getting rid of the
air-ground role (until the F15E) and they put the gun back. (only the
last F-4E USAF model had an internal gun adapted to it) It was
produced in greater quantity than any other western jet. It is still
a contemporary aircraft in the 1990s in front line service when
nearly all of its contemporaries are long obsolete.
Although it wasn't that much newer than its contemporaries, it
eventually replaced the F-106 as an interceptor, the F-105 as a
tactical fighter, the RF-101 as reconaissance, the F-100 for the
Thunderbirds demonstration flyer in the USAF, and the F-8 in the
Navy, as well as a substantial part of the attack role. Only the F18E
may rival it for versatility as a lightweight interpretation of the
F-4 which will replace the F-14 fighter, A4, A7 and A6 attack planes.
http://www.horizon.nl/~klaver/ Fan Page
Joe Baugher
F-4 Preservation Society
Phantoms Phorever Home Page
%%f-4 victories
by Aircraft and Weapon
http://www.afa.org/magazine/sept2004/0904vietnam.pdf
Aircraft Weapons/Tactics MiG-17 MiG-19 MiG-21 Total
F-4C AIM-7 Sparrow 4 0 10 14
AIM-9 Sidewinder 12 0 10 22
20 mm gun 3 0 1 4
Maneuvering tactics 2 0 0 2
F-4D AIM-4 Falcon 4 0 1 5
AIM-7 Sparrow 4 2 20 26
AIM-9 Sidewinder 0 2 3 5
20 mm gun 4 0 2 6
Maneuvering tactics 0 0 2 2
F-4E AIM-7 Sparrow 0 2 8 10
AIM-9 Sidewinder 0 0 4 4
AIM-9/20 mm gun (combined) 0 0 1 1
20 mm gun 0 1 4 5
Maneuvering tactics 0 1 0 1
F-4D/F-105F 20 mm gun 1 0 0 1
F-105D 20 mm gun 22 0 0 22
AIM-9 Sidewinder 2 0 0 2
AIM-9/20 mm gun (combined) 1 0 0 1
F-105F 20 mm gun 2 0 0 2
B-52D .50 cal. gun 0 0 2 2
Totals 61 8 68 137
%%F-5
http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/f5_1.html
made possible by j85 quail engine. So Quail was the father of the Hornet?
%%F-8 / J-8 Chinese J-8 (Jian-8 Fighter aircraft 8) / F-8
Chinese front-line fighter which ran into Navy EP-3 in 2001.
Design work started in 1964 as enlargement of Mig-21 to take two
engines, produced since 1980. Resembles SU-15 Flagon, delta with side
intakes. "The J-8 and J-8II aircraft are trouble-prone aircraft with
a poor weapon suite and an inefficient engine. At best, the J-8-II
can be compared with an early model (1960s) US F-4 Phantom. " The
twin-engined Jian-8IIM is compared to F-16 and F-18 in speed and
maneuverability. "The Jian-8IIM fighter will probably be equipped
with Russia's or China's helmet sight and advanced PL-9 and P-73
missiles, with which it will outperform the F-16C in close-range air
combat. "
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/row/j-8.htm
z48\clipim\2001\04\13\j8\j8.htm
Builder Shenyang Aircraft Wing Span 30 ft in ( 9.3 m) Length 70 ft 10
in (21.6 m) Height 17 ft 9 in ( 5.4 m) Weight 21,600 lb ( 9,820 kg)
empty 31,500 lb (14,300 kg) normal takeoff 39,200 lb (17,800 kg) max
takeoff Engine 2 Wopen 13A-II turbojets @ 14,815 lbst thrust Maximum
speed 1,450 mph / 2,340 km/h / Mach 2.2
%%F-14 Grumman F14 Tomcat
Specs http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/f-14.htm
\priv\96\04\F14CRASH.TXT \priv\96\04\f14crash.txt 10 of 330 F-14s
have crashed in past 2 years, 32 since 1991 (about 6 per year). Some
blamed on under-powered, although F14 has highest power to weight of
any aircraft with the exception of the F-15, 16, and F-18. Details on
Hultgreen crash
HorridoEven the F-14 can perform the cobra.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/f14_8.html
compared with the best existing USN fighters, the Tomcat offered a 21
percent increase in acceleration and sustained g-force, 20 percent
increase in rate of climb, 27 percent increase in maneuvering
capability, and a 40 percent improvement in turning radius. At a high
throttle setting, the Tomcat can hold a steady angle of attack of
about 77 degrees.
The aircraft can execute an 180-degree 6.5-g turn of 1800 feet radius
in 10 seconds without loss of speed. The Tomcat can hold 6.5 g at Mach
2.2, and can accelerate from loiter to Mach 1.8 in 75 seconds. Armed
with four Phoenix, two Sparrows, two Sidewinders, and two external
fuel tanks, the Tomcat can loiter on combat air patrol for 90 minutes
280 km from the carrier, or for an hour at a range of 470 km from the
carrier. Tactical radius with the same load on a deck-launched
interception mission is 317 km with a Mach 1.3 flyout.
F-14 not intended to be agile?
Hk40 Even the F-14 can perform the cobra.
http://www.worldaffairsboard.com/archive/index.php/t-2598.html
... I love the Tomcat in all that it is, however it was
not intended to be that agile in the first place - nor as I believe
the 14-D has no mds in that vien as well
video: F-14 flies by and explodes http://www.alexisparkinn.com/photogallery/Videos/f14aExplosion.wmv
http://www.murdoconline.net/archives/003831.html
saw a pilot write that the F-14 can out-turn just about anything in
the sky. He was explaining that a critical factor in how fast you can
SUSTAIN a turn has to do with wingspan. Apparently, at certain speeds
typical for dogfights, the F-14 can pull 9Gs continuously shile
maintaining speed and altitude.
http://www.fas.org/man/gao/gao9512.htm
"In defending the F-14 upgrade, Navy officials said F-14s have a
combat range and/or endurance approaching that of the A-6E, which is
considerably longer than the F/A-18."
doc922:ATF14.TXT - F14 Attack versions
Tomcat's Hangar
SUPER HORNET NICKNAMES
15th June 2004, 02:34
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:PkOaZlX-nOcJ:forum.keypublishing.co.uk/archive/index.php%3Ft-27005.html+kress+tomcat+hornet&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=6&client=firefox-a
AFAIF F-14 will be kept till 2008 before it is replaced by all Sewer Hornets
Super Borenet anyone?
Be the best damn tanker in the fleet too someday... well the only tanker anyway.
I bet the Subpar Hornet is better than the 1950's F3D-2 :)
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=27005
Join Date: Jan 2000 Location: Cuernavaca, Mexico Posts: 1,456 The
Tomcat is still an outstanding design. If it were to be redesigned as
a fixed wing FBW jet, it would vastly out perform the stupor hornet,
and be on par with the extreme AoA manuervability of the mig-29. Even
as a swing wing it already is equal to any 4th gen fighter despite the
extra structual weight it has as a swing wing.
http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=52622
.. a knife fight in an F-14 against an F-16 is not a good
idea, but the F-14 still is a great dogfighter against many other
planes. I was at the Oceana airshow this year and in my opinion the
F-14 outperformed the F-18 in many areas. Which is also what a Tomcat
driver told. He said he'd dogfight the F-14 (B & D model) against
anybody, including the Super Hornet, and probably win. He said the
only plane he was afraid of in a knife fight was the F-16.
http://forums.frugalsworld.com/vbb/showthread.php?s=ad4f5df456e077ef167c07133ddce60f&t=12446
Tomcat costs twice as much to operate, per flight hour, as a Super
Hornet. We just cannot afford the cost of maintaining that fine old
bird. Time to go out to pasture. Can the Super Hornet fill the
Tomcat's shoes? Sure as hell it can, but not in an identical manner.
Super Hornet vs Tomcat
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/8629/showdown.htm
the F-14
Tomcat is still the superior fighter because it is able to reach a
longer distance and engage multiple targets and destroy them
simultaneously (which is needed for the first line of defense in naval
warfare), in a time of war and the protection of the fleet.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3897/is_200206/ai_n9114018/pg_4
LCDR Alan D.Armstrong, who is the USN Safety Officer/Flight
Demonstration Team Leader in VFA-122. Armstrong: likes the Super
Hornet
"One statement in particular caught my attention; a Hornet pilot was
quoted as saying of his side-by-side comparison flights with the Super
Hornet that "... we outran them, we outflew them, and we ran them out
of gas. I was embarrassed for them." This "quote" was originally
authored by a Marine Corps officer in an editorial in The
Virginian-Pilot newspaper in the fall of 1999. It was supposedly
attributed to another unnamed Marine Corps officer from an F/A-18D
squadron with whom the Navy had participated in a "Red Flag" exercise
in Nellis AFB during OPEVAL in 1999. These side-by-side comparisons
never took place (I was there), and no Marine Corps aviator has ever
admitted to having made that statement."
"As far as classical fighter performance goes, our aviators (many of
them ex-F-14 Tomcat aircrew) are always enthusiastic about fighting
the F-14 because of the F/A-18's superior maneuverability and high AoA
performance versus that of the Tomcat."
Kurt Schroeder, who besides having been a Navy fighter pilot was chief
test pilot for Grumman and project pilot on the F-14D. Schroeder:
Tomcat test pilot answers:
"LCDR Armstrong hasn't met any pilots in the F-14B squadron aboard the
Teddy Roosevelt deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Scheduled to give up their Tomcats on return to CONUS in exchange for
brand-new F/A-18Fs, they obviously did not support the above opinion
during an AP interview; that is, unless you interpret the following
quote as being supportive: "I hope the liberal, cross-dressing a-holes
who thought the Hornet could replace this aviation masterpiece rot in
hell.'"
In rough numbers, a Tomcat has about 4,000 more pounds of gas than an
F/A-18C during a similar mission profile (note: the Super Hornet has
that delta in its larger airframe). The thing that hurts the Hornet
most is excessive loitering, not flying distance. Unlike the Tomcat,
the Hornet likes high and fast profiles, and orbiting at low altitude
waiting to recover back aboard ship kills the gas mileage. With
variable geometry, the Tomcat can spread its wings forward and be more
efficient in this regime.
It is a bigger airplane with bigger engines, and the rumor is that the
range on internal fuel is not significantly improved. Additional range
possessed by the Super Hornet is primarily a result of the larger
external fuel tanks.
the range degradation is a fraction of that experienced by the
point-designed Super Hornet Thanks to variable geometry and the high--
bypass powerplant, the Tomcat is very tolerant of even low-altitude
loitering-a very important characteristic for a carrier-based
airplane.
[[f-18]] improved tamer-landing flying qualities, an area where the F-14
is not at its best The other was a reduction in maintenance man-hours
required to keep the airplane operational. I cannot comment personally
on the first, as I've never flown the F/A-18. I only remember how good
the F-4 Phantom was coming aboard the USS Kennedy-speedy and
directionally stable, two things the Tomcat wasn't Trusted individuals
tell me that the F/A-18 does have good carrier-landing flying
qualities. This characteristic should not be overlooked, as aircraft
that require high pilot workloads in the landing approach, such as the
F-14, present a higher level of concern regarding safety. We lost
several F-14s during night carrier landings, due in part to the F-14's
high workload in the power approach/landing configuration.
30 years later, the best NAVAIR can develop and field doesn't approach
the capability of an F-14.
Jim Foster, who not only had years as a U.S. Navy fighter pilot
(including the command of a group specifically charged with developing
Navy aircraft), but he was also part of the original governmental
committee that selected the F/A-18.
Foster: Super Hornet Is a poor replacement
the Navy, did "bad!" For purely political reasons, we decided to try
to "replace" the F-14 Tomcat with an "improved" F/A-18 Hornet and
Super Hornet. Wrong!
But as George Spangenberg-head of aircraft design in NAVAIRSYSCOM would
tell you, you will not be successful trying to "scale" aircraft
mission performance.
A key staffer for the House R&D Subcommittee wrote into the bill that
the Navy had to choose one of the USAF "Lightweight Fighter" program
aircraft as the next fighter to save R&D dollars
My sincere belief, based on lots of analysis and experience, is that
the Navy could have developed a better aircraft for the same cost, and
I said so many times to anyone who would listen As interested Navy
participants, George Spangenberg and I were "non-voting members" of
the Air Force Source Selection Board in the selection of two prototype
designs: the YF-16 and the YF-17.
http://www.danshistory.com/f14.html Total internal fuel capacity 9029
litres (2385 US gallons; 1986 Imp gallons). An external auxiliary fuel
tank can be carried beneath each intake trunk, each containing 1011
litres (267 US gallons; 222 Imp gallons). T-O weight: fighter/escort
mission: 29,072 kg (64,093 lb)
http://www.faqs.org/docs/air/avtomcat.html
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat
v1.0.1 / 01 jun 03 / greg goebel / public domain
In terms of payload-range in the strike role the "Super Bug" wasn't
quite in the same league as the A-6 or the advanced Tomcat strike
variants, but the Navy determined that the F/A-18E/F could well meet
their operational requirements. It was the future and there was no
prospect of building more Tomcats. However, as discussed in the next
section the notion of an attack Tomcat didn't go away.
It wasn't until 1992 that the Tomcat was even cleared to carry "iron
bombs" operationally
Tomcats also flew in the air-defense role during the Iraq strikes, and
on 6 January 1999, one fired two Phoenix missiles at two Iraqi MiG-25s
at extreme range. Both missiles missed. This was the first time the US
Navy had ever fired the Phoenix in anger, though it appears that the
Iranians shot off a few at the Iraqis during the Iran-Iraq War. Two
more were fired at Iraqi fighters in September 1999, missing again.
However, the blank combat record of the Phoenix is consistent with the
blank record of the Hughes Falcon series of AAMs in general.
Tomcats also flew in the air-defense role during the Iraq strikes, and
on 6 January 1999, one fired two Phoenix missiles at two Iraqi MiG-25s
at extreme range. Both missiles missed. This was the first time the US
Navy had ever fired the Phoenix in anger, though it appears that the
Iranians shot off a few at the Iraqis during the Iran-Iraq War. Two
more were fired at Iraqi fighters in September 1999, missing again.
%%F-15 McDonnell Douglas Eagle Eagle
Large USAF fighter to replace F-4 Phantom, role split with F-16
lightweight fighter.
http://www.af.mil/news/factsheets/F_15_Eagle.html
Empty weight: 27,000 lb (12247 kg)
Normal take-off, clean, with four AIM-7 Sparrow missiles: 41,500 lb (18824 kg);
Maximum take-off weight: 56,000 lb (25402 kg). C/D models = 68,000 pounds (30,844 kilograms)
Ferry Range Range: 3,450 miles (3,000 nautical miles) ferry range with
conformal fuel tanks and three external fuel tanks
Max speed (time limited): 1,875 mph
Mid-Heavy Fighters:
F-15C F-18C F-18E F-4C F-14D A-6 F-22
Thrust 46,900 35,400 44,000 34,000 54,000 18,600 70,000
Max Speed M2.5 M1.8 M1.8 M2.5 M1.9 648 M2.?
Empty Wt 28,000 23,050 30,500 30,328 40,100 25,630 30,000
Gross Wt 68,000 51,900 66,000 58,000 72,900 60,400 60,000
BombLoad 15,000 15,000 18,000 15,000 15,000 16,000 8,000
BombRange 680 1040 >1040 1,080SL NA
ComRadius 494/786
Range 2,400 1,089 1,275 1,750 1,842 2,000
Ferry 3,450 1,546 1,660 1,925 2,050 2,475
Length 63/9 56ft 60.3ft 58ft 62/8 54/7 62/1
Cost $29M $29M $40M $38M $71M
Missle Range 30nm 30nm 50mn 10nm 100nm 50nm
Light Fighters
A-7D F-16C F-104G
Thrust 14,250 27,000 15,000
Max Speed 663 M2.0 M2.0
Empty Wt 14,000
Gross Wt 39,325 37,500 25,840
BombLoad 15,000 15,000 4,000
BombRange 1,480
Range 3,044 2,425 1000
Ferry 3,044 2,187
Length 46/1 49 54.77
Cost 2.8M 26.9M
%%F/A-18 McDonell Douglas(Boeing) Hornet F/A-18E/F Super Hornet
%%F-18 Hornet
Started as relatively lightweight 80's 2-engine fighter based on
Northrop F-17 selected by Navy over the F-16 to complement the F-14
and replace the A-7 and F-4 in attack role with sub Mach 2 speed.
Carries 2 flush-mounted radar guided sparrow missles, unlike F-16
which is a day fighter. YF-17 was based on F-5 with leading edge
extensions expaned into cobra hood. Super Hornet is about the size
of the huge F-15 Eagle, only 10,000lb lighter than Tomcat as well.
Primary Marine Corps fighter which did not adopt the expensive F-14.
Criticized for relatively short range compared to types such as the
A-7, A-6 and F-14. However has longer range than F-4 it replaced, only
somewhat less than A-7
F-18 proved to be much more survible than the Harrier with exhaust
located at C.G. in Desert Storm with hits to the extreme tail because
of forward position of twin tails.
Super Hornet is sized up to fuel capacity and weight of a F-15C. Range
/ payload designed to replace the A6.
Enlarged F-18E/F is also intended by the Navy to replace the F-14D and
A-6 in light and heavy attack and fighter roles. Payload and range,
and missle range will be significantly less than retired F-14. Growler
version to replace the EA6B is also envisioned. With retirement Navy
desiring to retire S-3, it may also be used for refueling. Thus, it
will cover all but C-2 / E-2 roles on the carrier deck.
Super Hornet is presented as a huge increase in capability compared to
the F-18, however it falls significantly short compared to the Tomcat
in terms of range, payload and drag. F-14D can supercruise like F-22,
Super Hornet even clean cannot fly supersonic at low altitudes,
carries most stores under wings, Tomcat has clean wings even with full
load.
Specs comparison F-18C vs. F-18E
Performance Specs on the two Navy Aircraft.......
F-14D / Super Hornet / Phantom
Max Speed: Mach 2.4 /1.8 / 2.2
Max Cruising Speed: 550 Kts / 425 / 538mph
Sevice Ceiling: 56,000 ft / 52,000 / 62,250
Combat Range (Rad?): 2,000 nm / 1,200 / 367 nm
CAP Station Endurance: 1hr / 30 min
Deck Launched Intercept Radius (4XAIM54C 2XAIM7 2XAIM9): 134 NM@ Mach 1.5
Empty Weight: 40,104lb / 30,564 / 28276 -10,000
Carrier Trap Weight(bringback weight) 51,830lbs / 45,000 -6830
Max Take Off Weight: 74,000 lbs / 66,000 / 50341 -8,000
Thrust / 22000lb /17900lb
Cost $38M / $40M / NA
Tailhook
http://www.vectorsite.net/avhorn_2.html
The most direct thing to do was conduct a "fly-off" between the two
proposals, but then politics intervened in the form of a scandal at
the "Tailhook" convention of naval aviators in September 1991. There
was a drunken bash that resulted in several female participants
complaining that they had been muscled around and abused, and in the
howling public scandal that followed a number of top Navy brass were
accused of covering up the matter, leading to a series of
resignations.
The Tailhook scandal was a messy issue and discussion of its details
in a document on an aircraft is not relevant or useful. What is
relevant was that the scandal threw the Navy command structure into
confusion at a time when some important decisions had to be made. One
of the significant consequences was that Navy Secretary Lawrence
Garrett resigned, to be replaced by Sean O'Keefe, who was close to
Cheney and in the Hornet II camp. The result was that the Hornet II
faction won out, with the Navy committing to the development of the
machine without a competitive flyoff.
In another irony of the Super Hornet saga, an aircraft that had
started out as the YF-17 lightweight fighter was now only slightly
smaller than an F-15 Eagle heavy fighter
what was a bigger surprise was that the Super Hornet didn't meet its
performance specifications, being distinctly inferior in speed,
acceleration, and agility to late-build Hornet Is. A Hornet I pilot
who took on the Super Hornet in air combat exercises was quoted as
saying: "We outran them, we out-flew them, and we ran them out of gas.
I felt embarrassed for these pilots."
The statement that the Hornet I ran the Super Hornet out of gas is
particularly hard to swallow since the Super Hornet has a much bigger
fuel supply.
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.military.naval/browse_thread/thread/fa298c5e1875c6ef/b77f7a28ccaa7d33?lnk=gst&q=super+hornet&rnum=9#b77f7a28ccaa7d33
4/22/96 "While the Super Hornet will have increased range, that
increase is achieved at the expense of its combat performance. GAO
sez the estimate cost of the new ac is under-stated. Estimate based
on the total purchase of 1000 ac is $44M per ac. GAO sez for 660 ac,
it puts the number at $53M. Present ac is about $28M. '
F-18E intended to replace A-6 and F-14D:
Young, James A., Anderson, Ronald D., Yurkovich, Rudolph N.,
AIAA-98-4701, “A Description of the F/A-18E/F Design and Design
Process,” 7th AIAA/USAF/NASA/ISSMO Symposium on Multidisciplinary
Analysis and Optimization, St. Louis, Missouri, 2-4 September 1998.
PDF] Philip CoyleFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
These included S3, A6, A7, F14, and all variants of the F/A-18. ... are poor climb rates, poor sustained turn capability, and a low maximum speed. ...
armed-services.senate.gov/statemnt/2000/000322pc.pdf
OR required better turn rate
Subsequent, Navy directed would replace F-14
approach speeds are lower
3,400 lb bring back increase
resists departure
positive nose pointing to get first shot
unusual agility and control of pitch axis
* Low energy maneuverability Key PerformanceParameter (KPP) related to
energy maneuverability of the F/A-18E/F is a single value of
specificexcess power, Ps, specified at .9 Mach number and 10,000 ft
MSL altitude. The specified valueis Ps=600ft/sec. This value is low by
current fighter state of the art and reflects the modestenergy
performance demanded by the Navy for the Super Hornet. The OPEVAL
measuredvalue is 619 ft/sec. The consequences of low specific excess
power in comparison to the threatare poor climb rates, poor sustained
turn capability, and a low maximum speed.
* Low maximum speed to run away: Of greatest tactical significance is the lower maximum
speed of the F/A-18E/F since this precludes the ability to avoid or
disengage from aerial combat. In this regard, the F/A-18E/F is
onlymarginally inferior to the F/A-18C/D, whose specific excess power
is also considerably inferiorto that of the primary threat, the
MiG-29.
* At subsonic speeds the climb and turn rates and the
acceleration performance of the F/A-18E/F are comparable to those of
both the F/A-18C/D and the primary threat. At transonic and supersonic
speeds, the F/A-18E/F will experience large decelerations (airspeed
bleed-off) duringa maneuvering fight.
Maneuvering air combat in the
transonic/supersonic portion of the flightenvelope are not of high
tactical relevancy since any maneuvering engagement rapidly migratesto
the so-called "corner" of the flight envelopes (typically 0.6 Mach at
15,000 feet MSL). In thisregard, the F/A-18E/F has little or no
disadvantage. In fact, given that the unloaded subsonicacceleration
performance of the F/A-18E/F is excellent, the higher bleed rates
experienced by theF/A-18E/F may be considered an advantage since this
facilitates reaching the corner speed fasterand translates to positive
nose pointing in a dogfight. The principal consequence of
thislimitation as it bears on survivability is the inability of
F/A-18E/F to avoid or disengage(“bugout”) from a close-in fight. In
this regard, the F/A-18E/F is marginally inferior to the LotXIX C/D
and significantly inferior to the MiG-29. Many fighter aircrews and
air warfareanalysts believe that, with modern aircraft and missiles,
the probability of a close-in fightrequiring a disengagement is small.
Within this context, the reduced energy maneuverability of
the F/A-18E/F is not viewed as a major detriment to its overall
operational effectiveness. As theF/A-18E/F incorporates planned
improvements, specifically, the Joint Helmet Mounted CueingSystem and
the AIM-9X missile, these differences in energy-maneuverability will
pose even lessconcern to operational effectiveness in the air-to-air
role.Counterbalancing the poor energy-maneuverability performance of
the F/A-18E/F in theair-to-air arena is its extraordinary departure
resistance. The F/A-18E/F's flight control softwareand complex flight
control surfaces have resulted in an aircraft that is almost immune
tounintentional departures from controlled flight. The impact of this
to the tactical arena is likelyto be significant. During a close-in
air-to-air engagement, maintaining aircraft control typicallyconsumes
a large fraction of a pilot's concentration. By removing this burden
from the averagepilot, the pilot of an F/A-18E/F can concentrate fully
on winning the fight rather than "flying"the airplane. Since most
tactical pilots are by definition "average," this property alone
mayimprove the overall effectiveness of the F/A-18E/F fleet
significantly over that of its predecessor,or for that matter, over
most tactical aircraft in use today. Future tactics development for
theF/A-18E/F are likely to capitalize on this property to arrive at a
highly capable close-in fighter.
* Basic limitations: while .. brings other enhancing characteristics,
..maximum speed, transonic acceleration, and sustained turn rate...
constrained by the basic aerodynamics .. and thrust.. peformance
limitations must be lived with.
http://www.flightjournal.com/articles/f14f18/f14f18_1.asp
In a publication called “Inside Washington,” the Navy's director of
operational testing is quoted as saying that the Super Hornet was
superior to its earlier models “… in every category but three:
acceleration, maximum speed and sustained turning performance.”
aeroweb.brooklyn.cuny.edu/specs/mcdodoug/fa-18e.htm 09/02/2005 @ 12:05
Martin Prague, OTH It is clearly inferior in most (if not all) flight
parametres to Rafale, Eurofighter or Su-30 as jets of its generation,
not to mention 5th generation F/A-22. Super Hornet does not have T/W
ratio, speed, acceleration and sustained turn rate for fighter, is too
expensive and big for a strike (close air support) jet, and has no
range and stealthiness for bomber
http://avitop.com/cs/forums/3/2308/ShowThread.aspx
LACKLUSTER TURN PERFORMANCE
03-30-2005, 5:35 PM 2874 in reply to 2857
KenV
Re: Which is better: The F-16XL or the F/A-18E/F
The F-18E/F reliability and low maintenance time, high bring back,
ability to fly two carrier cycles per sortie, and many other features
enables the Navy to generate more than twice as many sorties per day
per carrier. That’s why the Navy, which has ALWAYS fought tooth and
nail against Congressional actions to reduce the size of the carrier
fleet, has now VOLUNTEERED to retire a carrier!! The Super Hornet
enables them to do much more with fewer carriers. You’ve gotta look
at the BIG picture.
As for the Hornet’s lack luster sustained turn performance, that is
much less a consideration in today’s air-to-air environment. The new
AESA radar and other sensors coupled with the new versions of the
AIM-120 make getting into a furball in the first place much less
likely.
http://www.strategypage.com/messageboards/messages/9-1650.asp
RE:F-14 Vs Mig 29 1/18/2005 6:05:41 PM The AFTTP3-1 shows that both
the F-14 and F-18 have very good (as in better than most other
fighters) instantaneous and sustained turn rates at low speeds
(~250-350 knots).
Displacedjim
http://www.afa.org/magazine/July2001/0701fighter.asp
The Three Fighters Air Force Magazine online
July 2001 Vol. 84, No. 7
The plain Hornet has also been infamous for its short range, limited
maneuvering capability against contemporary fighters, and relatively
small offensive payload.
Despite these shortcomings, the F/A-18 became the centerpiece of naval
aviation in 1991 because, at that point, the Navy had been hit, in
close succession, with cancellations of an F-14 upgrade, an A-6
upgrade, and the entire A-12 program. The Navy chose to "grow" the
F/A-18 design to allow it to replace the F-14 in the interceptor role
and to become a respectable bomb truck to carry the kind of heavy load
in which the A-6 Intruder specialized.
It carries more internal and external fuel and has a larger combat
radius-about 650 to 700 miles (compared to about 500 miles for the
plain Hornet)-depending on the mission. The aircraft overall is about
20 percent larger than the F/A-18C/D model.
"We're necking down to an F/A-18-only fleet, for all practical
purposes," Chanik said
In Fiscal 2001 dollars, the flyaway cost of a single Super Hornet is
"just over $50 million ... $52, $53 million,"
The F/A-18E/F Super Hornet is quite simply a stopgap airplane, ..It is
an upgrade of a 1970s design and must carry around the extra weight
necessary to endure repeated carrier takeoffs and landings; it lacks
the stealth and agility of the F-22 and JSF...The Navy itself
acknowledges the Super Hornet will have to avoid dogfights, because of
its lumbering turning ability vs. contemporary adversaries
http://boards.historychannel.com/thread.jspa?threadID=800002809&messageID=800113397
Mogzilla
Posts: 205
From: Milky Way Galaxy
Registered: 6/3/05
The Super Hornet is slower and has the same agility as the F-14. It's
ordnance is worse for air-to-air combat, but it can carry a more
diverse set of ground attack munitions.
gunny_Senoj
Posted: May 29, 2006
The Super Tomcat also cruises SIGNIFICANTLY faster than the Super
Hornet while loaded down with bombs. A Super Tomcat carrying 2 jugs, 4
2000 pound LGBs, a Phoenix/Sparrow, a LANTIRN pod, and two Sidewinders
can cruise at 650 knots at sea level without using afterburners, and
could hit Mach 1.35 at sea level (A speed almost unheard of at sea
level) using afterburners. A Super Hornet carrying a single jug, 4
1000 pound LGBs, a NAVFLIR pod, an ATFLIR pod, 2 AMRAAMs and two
Sidewinders would be hard-pressed to hit 500 knots in basic engine at
sea level, and might not even break Mach 1 with afterburners
Their handling is pretty evenly matched, except for the fact that the
Tomcat's long straight swing wings give it substantially greater
instantaneous and sustained turn rates than the Super Hornet in all
flight regimes, as the Tomcat's long straight wing is inherently more
efficient in terms of its lift/drag ratio than the Super Hornet's
short stumpy fixed wing. A Super Tomcat at low altitude can enter an
8.5 SUSTAINED G, 360 degree level turn (no diving to add energy to the
maneuver) at 350 knots and full afterburner with 40 degrees wing sweep
and exit the maneuver at nearly 400 knots. I described this capability
to a Super Hornet WSO at an airshow and he was pretty astonished by
it. A Super Hornet attepmtin such an absolute ballbuster of a maneuver
will end up seriously low on energy when he completes the maneuver.
In Afghanistan, the Super Tomcat was in its element because it could
carry both full fuel and ordnance with minimal tanker support, while
the Super Hornets went through tankers like water, and needed to be
refueled over Pakistan (which while nominally friendly was chock full
of people who were decidedly not so friendly), while the Tomcats could
be refueled over the Indian Ocean.
Based on F-5
http://www.topfighters.com/fighterplanes/f18/geninfo.html
"In 1966, Northrop began to conduct studies on a follow-on to the F-5,
with a team under Lee Begin JR, who had worked on the F-5, considering
preliminary configurations for a fast, agile, lightweight air
superiority fighter.
On the fight deck: the F-18 Scott Slaughter Abacus
http://www.abacuspub.com/freepress/The%20F-18%20Hornet.pdf
Nice history of F-18
http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/fighter/f18ef/index.shtml
Nice comparison
z57\clipim\2002\08\05\f18ef\f18ef
http://www.flug-revue.rotor.com/FRTypen/FRF-18E.htm
z57\clipim\2002\08\05\flugf18\flugf18.htm
$6,000 / hr flying cost!
National Defence Industrial Association
/4202_Wallace.ppt#321,6,F/A-18E/F Key Enabling Technologies
http://www.ndia.org/Content/ContentGroups/Divisions1/International/4202_Wallace.ppt#378,2,Strategic Transformation…
F-18EF super hornet
powerpoint
11 weapons stations
low radar cross section
short field
low support equipment
vs apg-65/73 2-3 times longer detect range
air-air + simul air-grond grack
hi-res maps at long range
all-weather bombing
3-5 times longer flir detection range
jhmcs - off boresight visual cueing helmet mounted sight joint helmet mounted cueing system
network centric
6 center
5/7 sparrow/amraam
4/8 fuel/amraam/a-s
3/9 ""
2/3 amraam/a-s
1/11 sidewinder
- planned for clearance 6 AMRAAM per side, 12 total
aim-9 amraam, amraamx2, amraamx2, amraam conformal
no angle of attack limit
no speedbrake, uses virtual opposed conventional controls
30 deg /sec nose pointing capability
slower landing speed
"highly maneuverable and safe to fly"
front cockpit
20 deg head up display
2 multifunction color displays with edge buttons 5x5
4x5 touch sensitve lcd
multipurpose color display center below 6x6
aft cockpit
dual hand controllers left /right
combat capable two-seat trainer
large 8x10 color advanced tactical display
top touch sensitive LCD
l/r 5x5 color LCD displays with edge buttons
CAP 380 NM radius 2.0 hr CAP no tank
4xAMRAAM 3 fuel tanks
2xsidewinder
Ship attack AGM-84 x 2 up to 1,135 NM mission radius
Maritime patrol (S-3)
300 NM radius
2.3/3.2 hr patrol time 3 fuel tanks
Every F-18E is tanker capable.
slow approach speed
steep glide slope
self-contained ladder
no LoX
42% fewer parts than c/d
neck-down replaces EA-6B, F-14, S-3
$1B annual fleet savings
internal fuel 14,950lb 2190 gal (vs 2385 gal f-14)
ext 16,380 lb with 5 480(1,820l) gallon tanks (vs 2x 267) 6.825 lb / gal
total: 31,330 lb
Payload 18,727 lb or 16,380 lb fuel
http://www.sci.fi/~fta/aviat-5.htm
Flying the F/A-18F Super Hornet"
(First published in May and June 2001 Australian Aviation.)
by Dr Carlo Kopp, PEng
Carlo.Kopp@aus.net
© 2002, 2001, Carlo Kopp
February 2, 2002
The core requirements for such a replacement aircraft were a combat
radius competitive against the 600 NMI class F-14/A-6 combination, and
CAP endurance in fleet defence operations competitive against the F-14
series.
wing, centre and aft fuselage, tail surfaces and powerplants are
entirely new.
an internal fuel (JP5) capacity of 14,700 lb, or 36% more than the
F/A-18C/E. This most closely compares to the F-15C, which has around
10% less internal fuel than the Super Hornet
Not surprisingly, the aircraft's empty weight is 8% greater than the
F-15C, reflecting the structural realities of catapult launches and
tailhook recoveries.
%%F-22 Raptor
Really expensive big fighter with stealth capabilities. Thrust
vectoring, internal weapons carriage. Renamed to FA-22 in 2002, to
gain political support?
http://aircraft-galore.20megsfree.com/f22spec.htm
Gives gross weight, speed as 1.6, 1.7 with AB
Powerplant:
Two Pratt and Whitney F119-P-100 turbofans each rated at 155.69kN
(35,000lb) static thrust with afterburning
Weights: Empty - more than 13,608kg (30,000lb)
F-22A - 27,216kg (60,000lb)
Maximum level speed 'clean' at optimum altitude - Mach 1.58 in
supercruise mode and, at 9,145 metres (30,000ft) Mach 1.7 in
afterburning mode
Service Ceiling - 15,240 metres (50,000ft)
z63\clip\2003\03\f22.doc
The F-22 PROGRAM FACT VERSUS FICTION "FACTORS FOR DECISIONS" Everest
E. Riccioni Col. USAF, Ret.
F-22 is a waste of money - marginal improvement over F-15. There is
no need for a new air superiority fighter, no conceivable threat.
%%F-35 Lightning II
http://www.ausairpower.net/Analysis-JSF-Thud-2004.html
Joint Strike Fighter = Thunderchief II?
In concept and
sizing, however, the JSF is very much closer to another early nineteen
sixties tactical fighter, the Republic AP-63 series F-105
Thunderchief.
"Both the F-105 and JSF are large single seat single engine strike
fighters, using the most powerful engine of the era (J75 vs
F135/F136), with empty weights in the 27,000 lb class, and wingspans
almost identical at 35 feet. Both carry internal weapon bays, and
multiple external hardpoints for drop tanks and weapons. Both were
intended to achieve combat radii in the 400 nautical mile class.
Neither have by the standards of their respective periods high
thrust/weight ratio or energy manoeuvre capability, favoured for air
superiority fighters and interceptors."
%%F-80 Lockheed F80 Shooting Star
The F80 was the USAF's first operational jet. By the Korean war, it
was hopelessly outclassed by the swept-wing Mig-15. It served fine as
ground attack, and did manage to bag a few Mig jets. It was the
basis for the F-94 interceptor, and the very successful T-33 T-bird
trainer which is still in service in some parts of the world.
doc934:f80.txt
%%F-84 Republic F84 Thunderjet
The Republic F84 Thunderjet was a jet follow-on to the Thunderbolt,
but with straight wings, it never gained the repuation of the F86,
which ended up being the only plane in the inventory in Korea capable
of coping with the Mig-15. So as always happens to fighters that
can't hack air-air, it was the main air-ground fighter bomber, which
it did better than the F80. The F-84F was a swept wing version which
soldiered on until the supersonics took over.
doc934:f80.txt
In Korea Sorties: 86,0000 Bombs: 50,000 tons Napalmn: 5,500 tons
Rockets: 22,514 Losses: 153, 18 to MIG. Mig Kills: 9 (that's a sad 1
to 2 ratio!) (Aviation Week 4/16/97 p. 102)
%%F-86 North American Sabre
The swept F-86 was the only American jet fighter that could compete
with the Mig15, all other designs being based on the straight wings.
The F86 was based on the naval Fury, which also had a straight wing,
and later switched to the swept wing. It basically defined the high
subsonic fighter class up to the Mig-17, A-6, A-7 and AV-8.
6,200 were built, making it the most successful western fighter
How many in Korea vs. MIg
doc934:f80.txt
%%F-99 Bomarc (Boeing) CIM-10A
Impressive ramjet powered long range M3.5=2275mph missle with nuclear
or 1000 lb high explosive warhead.
Baugher story:
http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~pettypi/elevon/baugher_us/f099.html
zip32\clip\99\09\f099.html
Nice Canadian shot
http://www.achq.dnd.ca/archive/archiv59/bomarc.htm
\clipim\99\03\15\bomarc\bomarc
Canadian museum
http://www.aviation.nmstc.ca/exhibits/silverdart/sd020e.htm
Specifications Wing Span: 18 ft 2 in (5.5 m) Length: 45 ft 1 in (13.7
m) Height: 2 ft 11 in (0.89 m) Weight, Empty: Unknown Weight, Gross:
16,032 lb (7,272 kg) Cruising Speed: 2,134 mph (3,434 km/h) Max
Speed: 2,134 mph (3,434 km/h) Rate of Climb: Unknown Service Ceiling:
100,000 ft (30,480 m) Range: 440 mi (700 km) Power Plant: two
Marquardt RJ43-MA-7, 2,000 LB (5,440 KG), static thrust ramjets, plus
one Thiokol XM-51 50,000 LB (22,650 kg) static thrust rocket engine
USAF museum
http://www.wpafb.af.mil:15000/museum/outdoor/od4.htm
\clipim\99\03\15\bomarc3\bomarc3.htm
Ogden Utah
http://www.bertola.org/essays/airforce/homepage.html
%%F-100 North American Super Sabre
Supersonic follow on to the Sabre was the USAF's first supersonic in
level flight fighter, but not by much. Designed initially for air
superiority, it was mostly used as a nuclear strike fighter. In
Vietnam, it was used for close air support and ground attack over
South Vietnam, until replaced by the F-4 and A-7, and briefly a 2
seater was used for the Wild Weasel mission, later taken over by the
F-105F. It was also the main aircraft of the Thunderbirds
demonstration team during the 1960's until the F-4 took over in the
70s, except when the F-105 was tried and dropped after one year.
1/4 OF ALL F-100 LOST IN ACCIDENTS
Robert Coram - Boyd The Fighter Pilot "one quarter of all F-100s were lost
in accidents p. 82
Joe Baugher's F100 Page
doc938\f100.txt
F100 SCARED AWAY MIGS?
http://www.fun-online.sk/forum/viewtopic.php?p=110700&sid=0a28ce5b417bb69b1586958972a5cc68
Following the Gulf of Tonkin incident, USAF F-100Ds began to fly
missions over North Vietnam. These missions were generally of two
types--MiG-CAP patrols to protect strike aircraft from attack by
marauding North Vietnamese fighters and fighter-bomber strikes carried
out with iron bombs against ground targets. On April 1, 1965, F-100Ds
flew MiG combat air patrol for a strike force of F-105s that were
hitting the Thanh Hoa Bridge in North Vietnam.
During these strikes, the MiGs would try to sneak up on these packages
from the rear, make just one firing pass, and then flee. It was
assumed that the F-100D would probably not be an effective fighter in
air-to-air combat, since it lacked a powerful radar set and could not
carry advanced air-to-air weapons. However, every time the MiGs tried
to interfere with these strikes they immediately fled as soon as the
F-100s turned toward them. Encounters between F-100s and MiGs were
very few and far between, and I think that the F-100 fired its guns
and missiles against enemy fighters only on one or two occasions, with
inconclusive results.
%%F-102 Delta Dagger
Barely supersonic anti-bomber interceptor of late 1950s, saw light action
in Vietnam. Fat 2-seat side by side trainer version. Was subsonic without
area ruling.
GW BUSH FLEW F-102: 30% OF F-102 LOST IN ACCIDENTS KILLING 70 PILOTS
http://www.lincolnheritage.org/About_Us/Resources/Weekly_Magazine/New_Articles/
F-102__Vietnam___George_W__Bus/f-102__vietnam___george_w__bus.html
F-102 squadrons had been stationed in South Vietnam since March 1962.
While the F-102 had few opportunities to engage in its primary role of
fighter combat, the aircraft was used in the close air support role
starting in 1965. Armed with rocket pods, Delta Daggers would make
attacks on Viet Cong encampments in an attempt to harass enemy
soldiers. Some missions were even conducted using the aircraft's
heat-seeking air-to-air missiles to lock onto enemy campfires at
night.
14 or 15 F-102 fighters were lost in Vietnam. Three were shot down by
anti-aircraft or small arms fire, one is believed to have been lost in
air-to-air combat with a MiG-21, four were destroyed on the ground
during Viet Cong attacks, and the remainder succumbed to training
accidents.
Air Force Safety Center , the lifetime Class A accident rate for
the F-102 was 13.69 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours, much higher than
the average for today's combat aircraft. For example, the F-16 has an
accident rate of 4.14, the S-3 is at 2.6, the F-15 at 2.47, the F-18
at 4.9, and the F-117 at 4.07. Even the AV-8B, regarded as the most
dangerous aircraft in service today, has an accident rate of only
11.05 mishaps per 100,000 flight hours. The F-102 claimed the lives of
many pilots, including a number stationed at Ellington during Bush's
tenure. Of the 875 F-102A production models that entered service, 259
(30%) were lost in accidents that killed 70 Air Force and ANG pilots.
%%F-104 Starfighter
F-104 SHUT DOWN MIG ACTIVITY WITHOUT SHOOTING
http://web.tiscali.it/F104-Starfighter/Zip.htm
NVN MiGs avoided contact with USAF strikes being covered by F-104s,
and PRC MiGs gave the EC-121s a wide berth only two fleeting encounters
between F-104s and enemy fighters occurred.
F-104 MORE RANGE THAN F4 AT LOW ALTITUDE
low-altitude Weasel escort mission, the F-104C has approximately 1.15
times the range of the F-4C. In the medium-altitude strike escort
mission, the F-104 has approximately 1.05 times the range of the F-4C.
1F-104A-1 and 1F-4C-1-1.
%%F-105 Republic F-105 Thunderchief
The F-105 was the best tactical fighter of the USAF before
introduction of the F-4 Phantom, and its first Mach 2 fighter. Its
tiny wings made it very fast at low level, but not a great
dogfighter. It was optimized for low level delivery of nuclear
weapons from its internal bomb bay, but was used to dump B-17 size
payloads of iron bombs at low and medium levels while fighting off
more maneuverable Migs with cannon and sidewinders over North
Vietnam.
It received the nickname "Thud", which is either short for
Thunderchief, or the noise it makes when it hits the ground, and was
the inspiration for "Thud Ridge", and the book by the same name.
Towards the end of the war, two seat F-105Fs replaced the F100 in
Wild Weasel anti-SAM duties. Half of the F-105s built were lost in
combat.
The F-4 was just as good at carrying bombs, but much better in
air-air combat with radar guided Sparrows. It started out escorting
F-105s but ended up with all roles by the war's end, including
dropping the first smart bombs. The F-111 also took over deep
penetration, and was inspired by the F-105s deep nuclear strike role.
http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR939/MR939.ch5.pdf On
April 4, 1965, several North Vietnamese Korean War vintage MiG-17s
equipped only with guns shot down two sophisticated F-105s on a
bombing run against the Than Hoa Bridge. This incident shocked the
U.S. tactical fighter community and galvanized sentiment in the Air
Force for a new air-superiority fighter.
http://www.taskforceomegainc.org/d387.html The strike mission against
the Thanh Hoa/Ham Rong Bridge was filled with firsts in the American
air war over North Vietnam. For example, it was the first time a
series of major strike packages were combined and launched against
that specific target. While MiG's had been spotted on previous
missions and were known to be based at the Bai Thuong MiG base, this
was the first time they aggressively attacked American aircraft. A1H
Skyraider downed " On 4 April 65, MiG's striking from cloud cover
downed two USAF F-105's"
On 4 April 1965, another multi-flight strike package was scheduled to
attack the Thanh Hoa Bridge At roughly 1130 hours, and as other
flights were directed onto the Ham Rong Bridge, Zinc flight was jumped
by a flight of Soviet manufactured North Vietnamese MiG-17's. Zinc
Lead tried a breaking maneuver in an attempt to shake off the MiG off
his tail. At the same time, Capt. Magnusson, Zinc 2, was struck by
air-to-air fire.
http://web.tiscali.it/F104-Starfighter/Zip.htm
On 3 April 1965 three NVN MiG-17s attacked a USN strike on the Dong
Phuong Thong bridge, damaged an F-8 Crusader, and escaped unharmed.
The following day, two NVN MiG-17s attacked a flight of four F-105s
that were waiting their turn to bomb the Than Hoa bridge. The MiGs
approached without warning, shot down two of the F-105s, completely
disrupted the strike, then evaded escorting F-100s to escape unscathed
BOYD ONE OF JUMPED F-105S AT THAN HOA BRIDGE
http://www.codeonemagazine.com/archives/1997/articles/jul_97/july2a_97.html
April 1965 over North Vietnam. On that day, North Vietnam MiG-17s
attacked Thunderchief fighter-bombers making a bomb run on the Than
Hoa bridge. Two of the F-105s were immediately shot down. A third was
hit and smoking as it sought escape. The fourth, flown by a
command-level pilot, attempting to cover the crippled F-105 found
himself helplessly in the clutches of one of the MiG-17s. All efforts
to shake his tormentor were unsuccessful. One of the suggested
defensive maneuvers was to snap roll the F-105. The maneuver caused
his airplane to decelerate at such a high rate that the MiG-17
over-shot him, exactly what the captain had said would happen. The
American pilot found himself on the MiG'Õs tail. He was so surprised
by the result that he blew his chance to shoot down the MiG with his
20mm gun. The "idiot" pilot from Nellis was, of course, John Boyd.
SEE %%MIG-17
Totavia Pictures
%%F-106 Delta Dart General Dynamics
Fast elegant Mach 2 anti-bomber interceptor in 60s which never saw
combat. Based on F-102, which saw limited combat in Vietnam.
http://www.shinbiro.com/~mcgeep/F106/index.htm
comments on F106
Baugher F-106
\clip\97\19\f106.htm
Dryden / NASA
%%F-111B
Failed naval variant had to dogfighting capability, replaced by F-14
which was basically a F-111B that could maneuver.
http://www.tomcat-sunset.org/about_organization/history.php
The Tomcat's first Operational Decade (1974-1983)
March 27, 2006, 04:22:58 PM by Hey Joe
The Navy advocated side by side seating that was part of the F6D
concept and being incorporated into the Grumman A-6 Intruder and the
Air Force acquiesced
%%F-111 General Dynamics TFX "Aardvark"
Very heavy long range fighter bomber, part of a misguided effort to
force the Navy and Air Force to adopt the same fighter for entirely
different roles, the F-111B was to be Phoenix-armed fighter, but a
total dud as a dogfighter, deemed too heavy for carrier use, and they
went on to build the more agile F-14.
The F-111 as the Air Force designed it was a follow-on to the F-105,
also a great low-level bomber but not a very good air-air fighter.
Swing wings would give it the ability to operate from primitive
airfields (har har, yeah, right) and fly at speeds of up to Mach 2
(that's a laugh, you can't even swing the wing halfway back with
anything on the pylons).
Fortunately, the sheer size of the airplane and accurate all-weather
avionice still made it a great all-weather long range bomber. It was
the only USAF plane in Vietnam which could fly in singly in any
weather and deliver on target, earning the nickname whispering death
since there was no warning when it arrived.
Oversold as the most versatile fighter in the world when
it came out, this title actually ended up going to the Phantom, which
Defence Secretary McNamara had made the first case of standardizing
fighters ended up being the best fighter of the 60s. But as a medium
bomber, the F-111 was unrivaled even in the 90s until the advent of
the somewhat smaller F-15E (which is basically a pumped F-4 Phantom).
The F-111 experience eventually led to both the Navy and Air Force
stripping their top line fighters of bombing roles, even though they
made excellent bombers, and they are changing this strategy in the
90s with force reductions and the realization that once air
superiority is achieved, a pure air-air fighter is a plane that
doesn't have anything to shoot at.
The FB-111 took over the B-58 supersonic bomber role, though SAC
considered replacing the B52 with it as well with pictures of a model
laden with 8 pylons (4 fixed) with 6x750 bombs each. A stretched
F-111 was also studied as a B-1 substitute.
In Desert Storm, the F-111F featured a special gimballed targeting
sensor to deliver laser guided bombs, but the real trick was finding
that smaller bombs could be used against tanks which stuck out in
infrared. F16s using traditional dive bombing and B52 dropping
carpet pattern bombs weren't having great luck but F-111s ended up
"plinking" almost as many tanks as the A-10s that were designed to
take out tanks at low level. Measured by longevity, the F-111
remained as the 2nd oldest front line weapons system after the B-52
in the 1990s.
http://www.f-111.net/ Really huge fan page.
Extensive fan page pics,
movies, numbers, model kits, etc.
%%F-117 Lockheed "Stealth Fighter"
Janes Briefs July 1997: A bomb hit rate of between only 41 and 60 per
cent was achieved during Gulf War missions mounted by the F-117
Stealth Fighter, the US General Accounting Office has reported. The
findings have heightened debate over the use of precision-guided
munitions during the conflict.
\clip\99\10\f117.txt U.S. Forces Raced Enemy To Reach Pilot By Dana
Priest Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, March 29, 1999; Page A01
9/15/97 CNN: Stealth Jet Crashes in Baltimore with videos
http://www-cgi.cnn.com/US/9709/14/f117.crash.update/index.html
\images\97\76irs\f117\index.html
USAF Fact Sheet
(\images\97\76irs\f117\f117.htm)
%%HK-1 "Spruce Goose"
Captain Michael King Smith
Evergreen Aviation Educational Cent Spruce Goose Page
%%JSF Joint Strike Fighter
Projected replacement for F-16, F-18 and AV-8 attack fighters,
including a vertical landing version. Boeing direct lift,
controversial looks lost out to Lockheed shaft driven fan which had
more thrust.
\images\97\25\jsf.jpg Lockheed V/STOL version
z54\clipim\2001\11\08\jsf\jsf.htm
http://www.aviationnow.com/content/publication/awst/20011105/avi_news.htm
Boeing: Lift Fan Put LockMart Over the Top in JSF Competition
%%mig-17
http://groups.google.co.bw/group/rec.aviation.military.naval/browse_thread/thread/71c3d6a3f59a036c/87571395f85020ec
Arsenal
Carl O Schuster.
Vietnam.
Jun 2007. Vol. 20, Iss. 1; pg. 19-EOA
No one saw the two low-flying North Vietnamese MiG-17 fighters
approaching the large force of U.S. Navy and Air Force aircraft, which
was zeroing in on taking out the North's Than Hoa Bridge on April 3,
1965. Essentially an evolutionary improvement on the Korean War's
MiG-15, the MiG-17 was a subsonic, swept-wing fighter aircraft that
entered Soviet service in 1953.
The obsolescent MiG-17 fighter produced North Vietnam's first jet air-
to-air victories
No one saw the two low-flying North Vietnamese MiG-17 fighters
approaching the large force of U.S. Navy and Air Force aircraft, which
was zeroing in on taking out the North's Than Hoa Bridge on April 3,
1965. Visibility was good at high altitude, but hazy below 5,000 feet.
Flying at about 1,000 feet, the MiG-ITs closed in on a pair of F-8E
fighter-bombers that had just pulled up from bombing the bridge. When
the range closed to about 700 feet, lieutenant Pham Ngoc Lan opened
fire, scoring several 23mm cannon hits. One F-8 appeared to explode as
it dropped away, and Pham's wingman, Lieutenant Phan Van Tuc, opened
fire on the second F-8. While the North claimed two victories that
day, neither F-8 was actually shot down. However, the engagement did
mark North Vietnam's first MiG-17 intercept in what would become the
longest air war in American military history. The next day would see
two confirmed shoot downs of F105s by MiG-17s.
So even when the AEW aircraft were deployed in
support of U.S. strike packages, they were of limited value until the
MiGs rose above 2,500 feet. Moreover, the Fresco's jet engine emitted
no smoke, making the much smaller and lighter Soviet-built aircraft
very difficult to spot visually.
Below 5,000 feet, the MiG-17 enjoyed a much better roll and initial
turning rate than all of its American counterparts except the F-8E.
Below 200 knots, it also had a better initial climb and sustained
turning rate than the F-4 and F-105, regardless of altitude.
%%Mirage 4 bomber
http://www.btg.com/janes/cgi-bin/eisdata?jcmu-2402481-2411015
\image\95\09\mirage4.* (Janes)
%%Nike Nike Anti-aircraft missle
Take a guided tour of the site being restored near San Francisco. (I
went on this live!)
http://www.xs4all.nl/~erkelens/120sqn.html Dutch Nike webpage
%%OH-58 Bell Kiowa
Bell lost the first round LOH competition to Hughes Helicopter OH-6,
but added a nose to its entry and successfully dominated the civil
market as the famous JetRanger. Bell won out the second time, though
many feel the 4-blade rotor OH-6 had better performance and was more
nimble (indeed, the Army purched more specially equipped Hughes
helicopters in the 80s for special forces)
%%OV-1 Grumman Mohawk
Vietnam Era Army fixed wing observation plane
http://www.ov-1.com/ - not much info now
%%P-3 Orion
z49\doc\web\2001\04\p3.txt April 2001
Reprinted from the Taiwan Daily Gazette by staff writer Wun Wing Lo
In a heroic dogfight fought over international waters off the
mainland China coast, A 60's era American built Lockheed Electra
propeller airliner with 24 US Navy passenger/observers aboard chewed
up one of China's best state-of-the-art supersonic fighter aircraft.
z50\clipim\2001\07\16\p3.gif
US Customs service advertises for P-3 pilots from $77k up to
potential to $118,000, under age 40, can retire after 20 yrs
at 50.
%%SH-3 Sea King
Canadian Helicopter Pilots
Sing “Sea King Song”
We've had joy, we've had fun,
We've had Sea Kings in the sun,
But the engines are on fire,
and the Sea Kings must retire,
%%Sidewinder AIM-9
Developed by the Navy in the 1950s, the sidewinder inspired Soviet
copies and remains the front-line short range missle feature a very
simple infrared guidance system which homes in on tailpipes. In
Vietnam it was much more successful since engagements were restricted
to visual range and the radar guided missles, some of which still had
tubes inside weren't very reliable when people drove them over bumpy
airfields. It was also adopted by the Air Force, which ended up
retiring its own equivalent Falcon missles. There are also radar guided
variants, and the newest models can be fired from any approach angle,
not just the tail.
In Desert Storm, 31 victories went to the radar guided Sparrow vs.
only 9 for the shorter range IR Sidewinder (AWST 4/15/97 p. 132)
%%T-3 Firefly
FAILED UNSAFE TRAINER TO BE SCRAPPED, GROUNDED FOR DECADE
http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,113243,00.html
Officials Announce T-3A Firefly Final Disposition
Air Force Print News | September 12, 2006
http://forums.military.com/1/OpenTopic?a=dl&f=672198221&s=78919038&x_id=113243&x_subject=Officials%20Announce%20T-3A%20Firefly%20Final%20Disposition&x_dpp=Y&x_link=http://www.military.com/features/0,15240,113243,00.html
Critics charge that the T-41 had no fatalities, and program for
enhanced training was midguided. Caused deaths of 3 instructors and 3
students. Also still in use by Canada.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1699683/posts I-Team: Air
Force to scrap controversial flight trainer KENS 5 Eyewitness News ^ |
09/11/2006 | Barry Davis during the little more than three years the
T-3A's were used and about 5,000 pilots were trained, then three
crashes at the Air Force Academy in Colorado, 3 cadets and three
instructor pilots died. "Every accident in that airplane was because
of pilot error. It had nothing to do with the capability of the
airplane," he said.
According to the Air Forces’ own investigation the crashes were caused
by pilot error. An online search for the same model of the airplane
shows they sell anywhere from $49,000 to $120,000 a piece.
The engine would be repeatedly started and stopped (they are
trainers). During the summer, the engine would vapor lock. The T-3's
engine had failed 66 times at takeoff or landing (pressure and temp
differential and changes in manifold pressure possible exacerbated by
altitude).
What would prevent it from happening in the air? It probably did
during the three fatal crashes although two were attributed to pilot
error and one to an "out of envelope" excursion.
The predecessor T-41 had no fatal accidents in 30 years of flight, it
just wasn't as aerobatic.
I bid on the destruction of the t3-A's at Hondo (106) and (4) in
California the aircraft were purchased to replace the old Cessna's
with planes that could withstand aerobatic maneuvers. each plane cost
about 230,000 dollars and the contractor that got the distruction bid
was (total metal re cycler) and their bid was 12,000. Our govt at
work.
%%Tornado Interavia (BAe, MBB, etc.)
An attempt at a European F-111, it's like a smallish Phantom with
swing wings. They got a smallish strike fighter, a bit better than
the F-4, but nothing like the F-14 or F-15 as a dogfighter. Tasked
with delivering an anti-airfield munition that required flying
directly over an airfield, something so nutty the USAF declined to
buy into it. They took heavy looses in Desert Storm, more so than the
Jaguars they flew with. The ADV air defence version carries 4
sidewiners, and 4 sparrow equivalent sky flash like the phantom, but
with better avionics and better endurance.
\images\97\25\tornado.txt
http://www.janes.com/public/defence/gallery/jpict.html
\images\97\25\tornadv.jpg Saudi ADV version.
%%Mi-2
Mi-2 helicopter is missing from the list.
There were approx. 5600 units made by PZL-Swidnik in Poland. Also
data on Bell 206 are not correct.They include both Ranger and Long
Ranger which are the different helicopters and shouldn't be combined.
Also there are different models of UH-1. Many independent sources
give MI-2 number one place in ranking production runs among
helicopters because it is a pure one model, not several combined.
Marek Lyzwinski Baltimexml@@aol.com
AA Baltimex, Inc.
PO Box 1685
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
%%UH-1 Bell Huey / Iroquois
Number 1 produced helicopter of all time, most famous weapons system
of the Vietnam war, it defined the "helicopter war" as the primary
troop transport of the US Army. It spawned numerous imitators such as
the Westland Lynx, and the Sikorsky Blackhawk which has nearly
replaced it. It was the basis for the AH-1 Hueycobra.
It was one of the first successful gas turbine powered helicopters.
Of 10,000 Hueys built, 8,000 were UH-1D or H extended models. 5,000
were lost in the Vietnam war. 1st delievered in 1959, arrived in
Vietnam November 1962. Source: Modern Combat Helicopters George
Sullivan Facts on File New York 1993
%%X-Planes
Dryden X-plane pictures
\images\97\31\nasax.jpg
X-plane galleryUSAF Flight
Test Center
%%X-22
Funny looking turboprop transport by Bell circa 1966 featured
"ring-wings" ducted fans which rotated vertically or horizontally,
resembling the barrel-wing paper airplanes.It worked OK but never
lead anywhere.
AEC
@@Aerobatic Teams
Red Arrows Official Homepage
@@Afghanistan
S-3 TANKERS ESCORT FIGHTERS ALL THE WAY TO THE BORDER
z53\clip\2001\10\f14fly.txt
Copyright © 2001 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com
For Carrier-Based Jets in Afghan Raids, a 'Long, Long Way' to Fly
Douglas Jehl New York Times Service Thursday, October 11, 2001
http://www.sky.com/skynews/storytemplate/storytoppic/0,,30200-1031969,00.html
'My Air Raid On Taliban' F-14
@@Apollo Moon Landing
Build Gulf Paper Lunar Module Model
original mint sheets sold 2/$25 in 2008, my wife threw my extras out.....
@@armour
[[General
US Marine Corps Fact File
with lots of pictures, video
Micro armour catalog
http://ns1.n-link.com/~gamestore/micronat.htm
[[Assault Amphibian Vehicle Personnel Model 7A1 (AAVP7A1) LVTP-7 AAV
USMC fact sheet
[[Advanced Amphibian Assault Vehicle AAAV
General Dynamics. Awesome space age hydroplaning amtrac that has
upgraded armour and 30mm canon like the A-10. Critic says it costs a
lot, carries less, favors upgrading the AAAV with a TOW turret and
ACAV like mounts.
CANCEL THE AAAV
http://www.g2mil.com/aaav.htm
z63\clipim\2003\03\27\aaav spec sheet
[[BMP
The BMP-1
HomePage Excellent Fan Site. Designed for capacity of 8 soldiers,
actual use has room for 6-7. Vehicle has 8 firing ports with fume and
cartridge extractors, but you cannot aim since weapon is locked into
place.
BMP:
The World's Best Infantry Combat Vehicle
\clip\98\07\bmp.htm
[[FCS Future Combat System After Abrams
z60\doc\web\2002\10\fcs.txt
TTK Ciar
"If anything can be learned from the history of practical engineering,
it is that ambitious projects which seek to develop radical, complex,
broad-reaching, cutting-edge systems are doomed to fail. It is the
projects which start simply, with achievable short-term goals, that
evolve into successful and practical "next-generation" systems"
[[LAV-III
z47\clip\2001\01\lav3.txt 1/2001 Armor Magazine announced that the
U.S. Army had selected LAV III variants to equip the new Initial
Brigade Combat Teams. Variants will include 714 infantry carriers,
321 reconnaissance vehicles, 252 command and control vehicles, 241
mortar carriers plus specialized versions as antitank vehicles, fire
support vehicles, armored ambulances, NBC reconnaissance vehicles and
an engineer support variant." In addition there will be 204 Mobile
Gun Systems (MGS) which will mount a pedestal mounted 105mm cannon.
The cannon will be a low recoil version of the L68 with an autoloader.
[[LAV-25
USMC light air portable wheeled APC. Few were lost in Desert Storm
except to friendly fire, when A-10 destroyed one. There are reports
of LAV-25 nearly or actually destroying Iraqi T-62 tanks. LAV's were
also used to draw fire and confuse Iraqis, and emerged unscathed as
they scotted across the desert floor. Not as tough as the M2 which
suffered friendly hits with survivors, the LAV is very lightly
armoured, so it swims better and can be seen slung underneath CH-53
helicopters. Separate vehicles carry 25 mm cannon or TOW missles
USMC facts
z46\clipim\2000\11\29\laviii\laviii
http://www.armee.mdn.ca/equip/veh/LAV-3_E.HTML
Canada army page
[[German WWII Tanks
z47\clipim\2000\12\28\germtank\German_tank_1.htm, germtank.htm
Alderley Ventures 2000
http://www.valourandhorror.com/DB/SPEC/tank/German_tank_1.htm
Panzer I trainer
Panzer II Ausf L 20mm gun
Panzer III Ausf N short 75mm gun
Panzer IV short 75mm gun workhorse
------ grant / sherman --------------------
Panther 75mm gun
Tiger 88mm gun
King Tiger 88mm gun
Alderley Ventures 2000
http://www.valourandhorror.com/DB/SPEC/tank/German_tank_2.htm
"the German tanks were far superior to anything the Allies had and
enjoyed a kill ratio of 1:10. In 1943-44 the US produced 47,000
tanks. Germany produced 29,600 tanks and assault guns. Britain
produced only 5,000 tanks in 1944. Because of this the British
depended on the American Sherman as their main battle tank. "
[[Leopard
Medium weight postwar NATO german tank. 46 ton Leopard 1 Canadian
Main Battle Tank...Airborne (leaping into the air) ***
http://dragon.acadiau.ca/~910318b/army/armour.html
[[M-1 Abrams Main Battle Tank (General Dynamics / Lockheed)
Front Line Main Battle Tank of the 1980's. Gas Turbine powered,
composite armour, original version had 105mm tank from M60, later A1
versions had 120mm guns. Considered best tank in world, or one of
them.
http://www.militarycity.com/member/armor.html
** http://147.238.100.101/ - small picture of M-1
[[M-2 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle (FMC / United Defence)
M-3 Calvary Fighting Vehicle
Picture of M2A2
Heavily armed Infantry assault vehicle with 25mm chain gun and TOW
missle launcher. Original version had 4 firing ports for modified M16
rifles, removed for uparmoured A2 version. A1 carried 7, A2 carries 6
men. Original has curtains to enable it to swim, though some have
sunk in exercises. A2 uses inflatable pontoons on nose and side.
(M113 floats without curtains). M3 trades personell for more ammo,
loses the firing ports. Only 3 were disabled in combat out of 2200
used in Desert Storm.
A development of the M113 towards turning it into a personell carrier
that was also a full-fledged figthing vehicle with enough armour to
ward off small cannon, and enough firepower to take out tanks, and
sophisticated vision systems which worked even in oil fire smoke. It
was criticized for expense and vulnerability to hits, and often
compared with the smaller USMC LAV series, but it performed well as
light tank in desert storm even when hit by friendly fire. Unlike the
LAV, it incorporates both cannon and missles in one turret. Whereas
LAV hits by Mavericks were all hands lost, every M2 hit had many
survivors.
US Army Technology - Excellent detail with many pictures
Picture of A3 Bradley
Dominate the Battle
\clip\98\07\bfvs\bfvs.htm Over 6700 built.
USMC
Data Page
Crew 3
Infantry Dismounts 6
Length 21'2"
Width 10'6"
Height 9'9"
Weight 50,000 lbs
Road Speed 45 mph
Range 300 miles
Engine Cummins VTA-903T water-cooled 4 cycle diesel.
Armament 25mm cannon (Chain-gun) ; 7.62 mm coaxially mounted machine gun; TOW missile
launcher with twin tubes.
Photo:
http://www.militarycity.com/member/armor.html
AF Colonel Cary Elwes vs. the Army in Bradley Roast
http://www.hbo.com/bin/supersched.cgi?vid=53874&request=VID&; See HBO
Movie comical treatment of the story of Colonel Title: THE PENTAGON
Cast: OLYMPIA DUKAKIS, CARY ELWES, KELSEY GRAMMER Description: Truth
is stranger than fiction in this satiric comedy about an honest Air
Force officer's attempt to expose a case of government spending gone
mad! How could the government spend 17 years and $14 billion
developing a simple troop carrier? Colonel Cary Elwes (Liar, Liar) is
determined to find out... and Pentagon general Kelsey Grammer
(Frasier) is just as determined to stop him! With Olympia Dukakis
(Moonstruck). [story claims the Israelis bought a modified version,
but they stuck with the old M113, horror stories about aluminum, also
used on successful M113]
[[M-2
http://www.valourandhorror.com/DB/SPEC/tank/USA_tank_1.htm
1st American attempt at tank with lots of itty bitty machine guns was
quickly withdrawn and turned into the M3 with addition of sponson
mounted 75mm anti-tank gun. In had 4 machine guns in traversing
sponsons around the hull, plus two more on the turret sides firing
forward. Production ceased after the Battle for France made it
apparent that the German tanks were far more advanced. 94 M2A1's were
produced before shifting to production of the M3.
[[M-3 Grant Lee Tank
Australian Grant Lee page
http://www.hyperscale.com/anzacsteel/Armoured%20Vehicles/m3ph_1.htm
z47\clipim\2000\12\28\m3grant\m3grant.htm
The US M3 Medium Series in Australia Part One - Gun Tanks by Paul D.
Handel
http://www.probert-encyclopaedia.com/access/F5A.HTM M3 Lee medium
tank of the Second World War. It went into production in 1941 by the
Rock Island Arsenal. 27-tons 75 mm gun mounted in a side sponson, a
37 mm gun plus co-axial machine gun in a small rotating turret, It
had a crew of six, armour plate up to 57 mm thick and could achieve a
top speed of 26 mph and had a range of 193 km.
In desperate battle:
http://www.valourandhorror.com/DB/SPEC/tank/USA_tank_1.htm
page with M2 and M3
z47\clipim\2000\12\28\m2m3\m2m3.htm
world of tanks
http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Quarters/1975/g_tnkusa.htm
Tank interiors
The American M3 Medium Tank was a direct descendent of their M2
design, and the speed at which the vehicle was designed, developed,
and produced was probably one of the fastest in the history of AFV
design.
US/British M3 Medium Tank, "Grant", Part 1
http://www.kithobbyist.com/AFVInteriors/grant/grant1.html
[[M-4 Sherman Tank
Most important US medium tank of WWII, it said to be superior to most
of the panzers common at the start of the war, but outclassed by
Panthers and Tigers near the end of the war. Employed by Israeli army
in 1967 war modifed as "super" shermans.
Super Sherman was upgunned
diesel M4 with french 75 based on gun used in Panther, then 105mm gun
used by Israelis until replaced by the Merkava in the 1980s!
[[M24 Chafee Light Tank
Late WWII light tank
Photo of M24 at Ft Lewis WA
Claus Bonnesen, Danmark Excellent M24 Description and History
[[M42 Duster SPAA
Open top Twin 40mm SP anti-aircraft gun used in Vietnam against
ground targers, based on M41 Bulldog light tank. "Mowing the Grass".
Vietname Memoirs
M42 Duster Details
[[M48 Patton Main Battle Tank
Successor to the M47, it had a dome-shaped turret and 90MM gun.
Compared to the M60, it has a curved front "bow", and a muzzle thingy
at the end of the barrel. This was the main tank used in Vietnam as
the M60 was reserved for Europe. The "best" tank of the war was
actually the M113 APC.
[[M50 Ontos (Greek = Thing) Tank Destroyer SPAT
Funny little "tank", a tank destroyer with 6 nearly 106mm fixed
recoilless rifles, was used by USMC in Vietnam. 8.5 tons, not
amphibious, vulnerable to mines. 240 made, crew of 3, 18 rounds of
ammo 145HP, 30mph, first in service 1956, served in Vietnam 1966-67.
picture
Nice summary page:
http://homepages.go.com/homepages/m/a/f/mafva/ontos.html
[[M55 SP Howizer
Photo of USMC M55 in Vietnam
[[M56 Scorpion
90MM SP anti-tank gun, used in Vietnam, exposed crew, rubber tires,
replaced by Sheridan.
Picture
[[M59 APC
This vehicle looks like the M113, I believe it was a steel bodied
alternative to the M113, it featured a completely closed cupola for
its 50 cal machine gun. (The M113's was open, but an open turret was
later added for the ACAV variant)
[[M-60 Patton / Cheyanne (A1) / Starship (A3)
The M60 Patton was the last diesel development of M47/48/60 series,
and the last in a line of "conventional" tanks dating from the M26
WWII Pershing.. It used the british designed 105mm gun that was
later used on the first models of the M-1, and a straight-edge front
hull shape. Later A1 models adopted the needle-nose turret with more
volume, searchlights. It had the highest sihlouette of any tank of
its day, but performance and reliablity, armour and firepower made it
the superior of supposedly more advanced Russian tanks on the
battlefield. It is also has more room, and the gun can be depressed.
The A2 model was fitted with a shrunken shillelagh MBT-70 / Sheridan
missle launching turret. It was dubbed "Starship". A few were deployed
to Europe, but they didn't work out. Reportedly there was a "blind
spot" between the maximum rage of the stubby gun and the minimum range
of the missle, and had a small cramped turret. The commander had a
rotating self-contained cupola. Also firing shells would wreck the
electronics, as was reported for the Sheridan.
The A3 models added modern night vision enhancements, and the USMC
adopted the active "Blazer" armour panels that the Israelis
developed. Some crew say the A1 was simpler and could actually fire
more with a good crew vs pushbuttons.
In Desert Storm, the USMC retained M60A3 models, they were thought to
be death traps, but proved as effective as Army M-1s with no losses
to direct fire and two to mines. In use by Israelis, they have
usually proved to be superior to opposing Soviet tanks.
Re: latest 1997 Israeli M60's look like they have entirely new
turrets. From: mutarjm@aol.com Those IDF M-60s were
layered with reactive explosive (RE) boxes. Reportedly very effective
in defeating RPG-7 hits and similar rounds, based on use of M-60s in
southern Lebanon.
M60: M48 with rifled 105mm gun, straight line on hull front.
M60A1: Slab sided "needle-nose" turret and "night light"
M60A2: "Starship" with Shillegh horrible gun/missle system
"The U.S. operation to breach Iraq's much-feared mine fields.. and
other front line defences resulted in the destruction of just two
Marine Corps M-60 tanks" Wall Street Journal March 1, 1991 p. A12
"Iraq Moves Towards Accepting Bush Terms".
Opinion that A3 was better than A1,
A2 could not fire missles after firing shells
Picture of ESCI
model kit
M60A3 A1 with
upgraded target systems USMC versions have version of Israeli
"blazer" armour.
<../97/03/m60t72.txt">M60 vs. T72 In desert storm, no M60's were
lost or even hit by enemy gunfire, but might have been destroyed when
M-1s used by the Army were hit by gunfire. The M60 was thought by
many to be dangerously outclassed, but proved nearly as effective as
the M-1 in terms of kill ratio.
M60A1 Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge (M60A1 AVLB)
[[M88A1E1 Hercules Recovery Vehicle
Tow truck for M1 based on M1 chassis
M88A2 HERCULES (Heavy Equipment Recovery Combat Utility Lift
and Evacuation System)
http://www.udlp.com/news/graphics/pictures/index.htm
USMC facts
There is a Micro Machines model
[[M93 Fox
http://www.militarycity.com/member/armor.html
\doc\96\06\m93fox.txt - M93 Fox NBC Reconnaisance vehicle is a German
vehicle based on Henschel Transportpanzer
[[M108 SP Howitzer
picture
[[M-113: WORLDS' MOST SUCCESSFUL ARMOURED VEHICLE
[[M113
"Zelda" Armoured Personell Carrier (FMC United Defence)
The M113A3, produced by FMC, is the latest version of the venerable
M113, the most widely used and produced armoured vehicle in the west
since the Vietnam area, with 80,000 built in 40 variants in 50
nations since 1960. It is still being produced for front line
service as a basic low-cost APC (like the Hercules M16 and Huey),
compared with the expensive M2, which serves only with the US Army.
Original vehicles had space for 11 troops plus driver and commander.
It ranks with the Huey, Phantom, Hercules, and M-16 rifle as the most
successful weapons of the Vietnam era, if not all time. Although it
is not a "tank", it was the most widely used armoured vehicle with
enough armour to defeat small arms, would even come back after RPG
hits. In Vietnam, the heavily armed ACAV variant was one of the
inspirations, along with the BMP for the M2, it had a turret-like
shield for the main 50 cal gun and 2 30 cal shield mounts for convoy
use. The Israelis call it affectionately "Zelda", and have not
replaced it with a more modern (or expensive) vehicle. During the 60s
and 70s it was commonly teamed with the M47 and M60 in the armoured
calvary. The A2 features more spaced armour, and "spall" shields inside.
M113 Family of Vehicles (20)
M113A3 - Armored Personnel Carrier
M113A2 - Armored Personnel Carrier
M1068A3 - Standard Integrated Command
Post Vehicle
M1068 - Standard Integrated Command Post
Vehicle
M113A3M/R - Maintenance Recovery
Vehicle
M1064A3 - 120mm Mortar Carrier
M1064 - 120mm Mortar Carrier
M577A3 - Command Post Vehicle
M577A2 - Command Post Vehicle
M58 - Smoke Vehicle
M1059A3 - Smoke Vehicle
M1059 - Smoke Vehicle
M125A3 - 81mm Mortar Carrier
M125 - 81mm Mortar Carrier
M106A2 - 4.2 inch Mortar Carrier
M901A3 - Improved TOW Vehicle
M981 - Fire Support Team Vehicle
M548A3 - Cargo Carrier
M548A1 - Cargo Carrier
M730A2 - Chaparral Carrier
http://www.geocities.com/equipmentshop/m113combat.htm
M113 Gavin
M113 GAVIN AIRBORNE ARMORED FIGHTING VEHICLE IN COMBAT
z70\clip\2003\09\b52m113.htm
http://www.rense.com/general26/gavin.htm
Newer Is Not Always Better -
USAF B-52 & The Army's M113A3 'Gavin'
The Army has 17,000 M113A3s that already meet the requirements for the
Strike Force vehicle. Known today as the 'Gavin,' the M113 weighs in
at 10.5-13 tons, well below the 24-ton weight of the Stryker. The
Gavin is the Army's equivalent of the rugged, dependable 'B-52.' Now
in the A3 version, it has been re-tracked, up-engined, and modernized
so it can go in any terrain: jungle, mountain, desert and urban. Most
importantly, it can be loaded into a C-130 without any modifications,
and offloaded at the danger point ready-to-fight
UNITED DEFENCE OFFICIAL WEB PAGE
http://www.m113.com/
http://www.geocities.com/equipmentshop/m113combat.htm
M113 GAVIN AIRBORNE ARMORED FIGHTING VEHICLE IN COMBAT
M113A3 IS 2X FAST AS M113A2
http://www.uniteddefense.com/www.m113.com/m113a3.html
It is capable of sustained speeds of 41 mph on level roads and
accelerates from 0 to 35 mph in 27 seconds (this compares to 69
seconds for the M113A2). In 1984 a decision was made to incorporate
the RISE package, improved driver controls, spall liners, external
fuel tanks and provisions for installation of an external armor kit on
an M113 chassis. Additionally, a bolt-on armor kit providing 14.5 mm
ballistic protection was developed and tested. Except for the mounting
provisions the external armor applique was not incorporated for
production
The increase in horsepower also allows installation of an external
armor kit (which increases the gross vehicle weight to 31,000 pounds)
and provides mobility comparable to currently fielded vehicles such as
the M1 tank and M2/M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicles.
\doc\web\98\06\m113kit.txt comments on M113 model kits
\clip\98\10\m113apc.hm
History
from M75 to M113
United Defence
Corporate Home Page
Survey of APCs in Desert Storm
M113 beats Stryker? (new wheeled LAV-like vehicle]
http://www.g2mil.com/Stryker.htm
M113 ACAV has more heads and guns pointing out, fits in
C130 without disassembly, can roll out and fight.
Treads more survivable.
[[M114 Command and Recon Scout
- Was totally outclassed in performance by large, less specialized
M113 even though the M114 was supposed to be small, nimble scout tank.
Perhaps the worst flop of the Vietnam war.
Picture
of test vehicle
[[M163 VADS Vulcan Air Defence System
text
Vietnam era M61 20mm Gatling gun (commonly used in USAF aircraft)
with simple daylight radar range finding system mounted on M113 APC
chassis, also effective against ground targets by Israelis. Was
paired with Chapparal SAM during 70s, 80s, Sgt York was slated to be
the replacement, but cancelled. Reported to be withdrawn from service
as of 1997.
Fires at only 3000 vs. 6000 RPM of aircraft mounted gun because
barrel would run too hot.
Replaced by Hummer mounted Avenger with stinger / 50 cal mg, but it
has weaker guns and no armour. DIVAD was a sophisticated 2x40mm M48
mounted gun that flopped, most studies show that a gun doesn't
actually have to hit a target to do its job if it makes the aircraft
have to maneuver out of the way of radar-directed fire. US Army
apparently doesn't pay much attention to AA since it has always had
air superiority after WWII.
[[M551 Sheridan Armoured Recon (It's not a tank...)
Controversial mid-60's light recon / tank, not a total failure, but
close. Aluminum armour was thin enough to be pierced by heavy mg,
air-drop capable, swims with curtains, armed with ill-fated
combination 155 mm gun / Shillelegh anti-tank missle launcher (also
used on cancelled MBT-70 and unsuccessful M60A2 "starship"). Some
were fitted with 76mm gun.
The missle remained in production until 1971, by which time 88,000 had
been produced. (why???????)
In vietnam, it was used towards the end of the war with M113s. It was
vulnerable to mines, gun would foul with caseless ammo, gun firing
would mess up missle electronics and make entire vehicle jump.
Missles were evidently never used in anger. Turret shield was added
to commander position. Was the first "tank" deployed in Desert Storm
because of light weight, retained as the only airdrop-capable tank,
and also used to simulate threat tanks. Dumped off of New Jersey
shore to create an artificial reef. Retired a few years after desert
storm.
In Panama, it performed well, using HEAT, high explosive, and
fleshette rounds to remove obstacles, take out cars and buses, and
against troops. 1 C5 flew in 4 Sheridans, ammo, 2 hummers, trailer
and 25 people (vs. just 1 M1 tank). Airborne still love it, they
believe it is still the best light tank in the world.
1,562 M551s were built between 1966 and 1970, 88,000 missle rounds
were manufactured (doh!) not a single shot was used in combat!
From: DynmicPara@aol.com 25 Feb 2001 I agree with most of your
findings, but you overlook the fact that the M551 Sheridan light tank
was the first tank to be parachute dropped into combat and it kicked
down the door to Noriega's Panama in 1989.
Details:
www.geocities.com/equipmentshop/lighttanks.htm
We sorely miss a light tank in U.S. Army service and the LAV-III road bound,
SUV-tired death trap you might have seen in the Ft. Lewis area ain't it!
www.geocities.com/equipmentshop/wheeledbooboo.htm
We already have the greatest AFV of all time, all we have to do is upgrade
it---I think you already know this!
The upgraded tracked M113A3 is a far better vehicle than the wheeled LAV ever
will be.
I'm also referring to the M8 Armored Gun System (AGS) replacing the M551. Its
a FACT that the M551 was airdropped into combat in Panama and it was very
effective. You can read troop praise at the ARMOR magazine web site in the
1996 issue articles.
http://147.238.100.101/dtdd/armormag/
1996
http://147.238.100.101/dtdd/armormag/so96indx.htm
Operation Just Cause: The Armor-Infantry Team in the Close Fight
by Major Frank Sherman
http://147.238.100.101/dtdd/armormag/so96/5panama96.pdf
1997
http://147.238.100.101/dtdd/armormag/jf97indx.htm
A Sheridan Memoir: The Early Days
by Lieutenant Colonel Burton S. Boudinot (Retired)
http://147.238.100.101/dtdd/armormag/jf97/