Sunday, January 30, 2022

Given enough power even a brick can fly

 


16 comments:

  1. Is that an F4 Phantom? It looks like it from the rear.

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    1. Yes, an F4, with windtips raised. The wing of the F4 was actually not as heavily loaded as the that of the F104 Starfighter...now THAT was a situation of pushing a brick through the sky with a bmf engine...!

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  2. F104 Starfighter - also known as "Widowmaker".

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    1. No.
      F-4 PHANTOM.
      See above.

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    2. I was responding to Ron K's post. Sorry for the misunderstanding. i am well aware of what an F4 is, having worked the flight decks of USS Enterprise (CVN-65), USS Eisenhower (CVN-69) & USS Nimitz (CVN-68). If my understanding is correct, the F104 was used by NATO for a while and had a less than stellar safety record.

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    3. Germans used them.....seems their aerobatic team followed the leader in a loop that wound up with all 4 in the side of a mountain.....Puerto Rican Air Guard flew them in the early 70's.....the people called them "Los Banditos"....

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  3. Phantom II may offer the best backseat ride in the world.

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  4. Some say the F-4 was great because you could spank and your GONE it responded well, WAS FAST......ME?....IDK.

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  5. Great photo. I used to work on those during the Vietnam "war". When they crash the fire is incredible.......

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    1. They don't need to crash to do that. There is photo/video? of one off N. Vietnam that the RIO punched out of, and that apparently ignited leaking fuel in the cockpit. Pilot never moved again. You could see him sitting there inside a torch...
      Think he was a Brig Gen?

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  6. Only saw F-4 up close once, they were going out when our new A-10s were coming in to replace them in England. My favorite first era jet.

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  7. Phantom burned 1000 pounds of fuel per minute in full burner. I have about 600 hours in Navy Phantoms. It was an incredible aircraft. World's largest distributor of Mig Parts.

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  8. Got up close and personal once. I was landing a Cessna 150 at PDX, and a couple of F-4's were impatiently waiting for me to get down and out of their way for takeoff. I blew a nosewheel on landing, but managed to limp off the runway to the first taxiway. Ground told me to stay in the aircraft, they'd send a truck for me. It was a hot day, so I threw the doors open and those bad boys took off not twenty yards behind me, full afterburner. One of the louder noises I've ever heard.

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  9. I was painting the runway at Beaufort MCAS in SC back in the late 60's.....these guys would sneak up on you coming in for landing....in those days, we weren't so safety conscious and they'd land right beside you....two of them decided to execute a touch and go....never saw them until I heard that sound....once you've heard it, you'll never forget it....

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    1. I've said before the only thing louder was watching an SR-71 takeoff. That or a particular Bachman Turner Overdrive concert. Could be why I have this raging case of tinnitus today.

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  10. Actually, The Mig-25 (Foxbat) is the poster child for bricks flying... As an intercepter, it could get up there fast - but it burned so much fuel it couldn't stay there very long.

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