Aircraft Super Thread Mk.VII

[electric indigo]

I used my 1/48 kit of the MiG-21bis-D to recreate the cover shot of "Silver Wings" by aircraft photographer Katsuhiko Tokunaga.

More pics of the model on Flickr

[Knight26]

The book cover for comparison

[F-ZeroOne]

So, after a good degree of... um... thinking, Canada has decided on the F-35 as its CF-18 replacement.

I presume they will be getting the F-35EH variant. 😉

[Thom]

I see what you did there. Thinking you're funny, eh?

 

Thom (real account lost but almost found.)

[F-ZeroOne]

I try. 😃 Though having been there, quite why Canada needs an air force in the first place baffles me, I've seen the mosquitoes in action... (er, the insects, not the Wooden Wonder), 😄

[altermodes]

14 hours ago, F-ZeroOne said:

So, after a good degree of... um... thinking, Canada has decided on the F-35 as its CF-18 replacement.

I presume they will be getting the F-35EH variant. 😉

What a waste of time and money, they had selected the f35 before this re selection process 

[F-ZeroOne]

I can't criticise too much, my government delayed an aircraft carrier because it couldn't decide if it should have catapaults or not... 🙂

[Thom]

A bit understandabale, as catapults, esp if they are the newer eletromagnetic ones, are lot more expensive and maintenance hungry than a good old ski-jump. But then, a ski-jump is one-use real-estate and doesn't help getting a fighter up to speed, just off the deck.

[F-ZeroOne]

At the time, electromagnetic catapaults were still a bit... that'll be nice. Someday. And it wasn't just the means of getting the aircraft off the carrier, it was the aircraft itself, the choice of which also included a proposed naval Typhoon...

 

Today has been a good day for military aviation history buffs to have some fun:

 

[F-ZeroOne]

And:

 

[renegadeleader1]

Funny the Firefox was made the subject of an april fools joke. I just realized a couple days ago it made a cameo in the Area 88/UN Squadron SNES game as the F-200 Efreet.🤣

Edited April 1, 2022 by renegadeleader1

[M'Kyuun]

2 hours ago, F-ZeroOne said:

And:

 

I had the giggles all through this. Good stuff.

IIRC, while I was in middle school, on Christmas eve day before they let us out early, since there wasn't much to do, they always played a tv-friendly version of Firefox. I have no idea why that particular movie, and I never really paid much attention to it as most of us were BSing among ourselves or with the teachers. It wasn't until I was in the military that I finally saw it in its entirety unedited. It's hokey but fun- a great Cold War era film w/ good ole' Clint Eastwood. What's cool is that a full-sized mockup was actually built, and the landing gear were motorized to achieve the taxiing/takeoff scenes under its own power.

It's still a really neat looking design; I think the Cobra Raven took some cues from both it and the SR-71. I wonder what the Russians thought of the movie and the eponymous plane?

[F-ZeroOne]

Just to put an end to any future speculation, following recent events, the An-225 is definitely gone.

[Thom]

Yeah, I think only the engines were left.(?)

[AN/ALQ128]

 

[M'Kyuun]

13 hours ago, AN/ALQ128 said:

 

Meh- I'm rooting for Bell's V-280 Valor. This looks like the future. 

Ironically, or maybe not so ironically, Sikorsky went with a design that's reminiscent of Soviet helicopters, which often favor coaxial main rotors. It also looks like it crawled out of the 50's backlog of concepts.

[twich]

So I happened to be in Burlington, Vermont at the airport waiting to fly out and have known that the Green Mountain Boys (Vermont Air National Guard) have shared the runway with the Burlington airport.  I look out of the gate window into the hanger space I see several F-35 ( I assume to be the F-35A model), which kind of surprised me, as I did not know that air national guard units were getting the F-35.  I know that the Green Mountain Boys had f-16's for the longest time, but I am glad to see them with F-35's.  I know that on 9/11 they sent their F-16's into the air without any air to air missiles loaded as they scrambled so fast.

Twich

Edited May 26, 2022 by twich
Added photos

[wmkjr]

ROCAF F-16 returning from Arizona making an emergency landing without the front landing gear and tail hook deployed in Honolulu. Photo courtesy Trivagovirgo.

Edited June 7, 2022 by wmkjr

[electric indigo]

The J-35 is still a thing. Might go along nicely with the new carrier...

 

[F-ZeroOne]

So is the Chinese Sprey complaining yet that the J-35 isn't as good as the original MiG-21 yet? 😉

Edited June 19, 2022 by F-ZeroOne

[electric indigo]

How to peel potatoes in the Air Force:

https://twitter.com/exoticaviation/status/1539018287945752578

[Thom]

1 hour ago, electric indigo said:

How to peel potatoes in the Air Force:

https://twitter.com/exoticaviation/status/1539018287945752578

"Take that basket of potatoes to the flight line!"

"...what?"

 

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

Raider X showing off it's teeth:

[RHTT]

On 7/1/2022 at 4:12 AM, Valkyrie Hunter D said:

Raider X showing off it's teeth:

When I saw that pic, the Airwolf theme just started playing in my head.

 

[Sildani]

Reminds me of the enemy helicopter, the HX-1.

[electric indigo]

Comanche went on a diet.

https://twitter.com/MBeinart22/status/1546899186800594944

[Dobber]

3 hours ago, electric indigo said:

Comanche went on a diet.

https://twitter.com/MBeinart22/status/1546899186800594944

Cool looking chopper. 
 

Chris

[Axelay]

On 5/26/2022 at 2:45 AM, twich said:

So I happened to be in Burlington, Vermont at the airport waiting to fly out and have known that the Green Mountain Boys (Vermont Air National Guard) have shared the runway with the Burlington airport.  I look out of the gate window into the hanger space I see several F-35 ( I assume to be the F-35A model), which kind of surprised me, as I did not know that air national guard units were getting the F-35.  I know that the Green Mountain Boys had f-16's for the longest time, but I am glad to see them with F-35's.  I know that on 9/11 they sent their F-16's into the air without any air to air missiles loaded as they scrambled so fast.

Twich

 

 

My wife was just at that same airfield a few days ago, and she also sent me photos of the F-35s! I was shocked, to say the least. How does the Vermont Air National Guard have the budget to be able to field these? I was wondering if they were laying over or transferring, but looking at the date of your post, now I'm not so sure anymore.

[renegadeleader1]

My brother after two years of waiting finally got his warbird flight on the B-25J Mitchell "Maid In The Shade" yesterday. I bought him the ticket to fly two years ago, but it got cancelled due to bad weather, then covid happened and cancelled the tour for the next year.

Sorry to post his ugly mug, but you just can't replace that look of pure joy of an older guy getting in touch with his inner child. The real kicker once the flight ended a photographer friend of his that also took the B-25 flight experience bought my brother a ticket for today on the B-17G Sentimental Journey that accompanies the B-25 on it's tour.

[derex3592]

That's awesome! Looks like your brother is having a great time! 

[David Hingtgen]

This year, the F-35 demo team has a really neat coin, way better than any of the 22/35 teams of the previous couple years:

 

Nice patch, too:

[electric indigo]

Hehe...

 

[Big s]

Nice 

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

7 hours ago, electric indigo said:

Hehe...

 

🤣

[F-ZeroOne]

Bit rich coming from someone who used to fly a modified F-104… (one of the many designs over the years for the Batjet)… 🙂