And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
Au contraire. The F-22 was to be built in the home state of the long-serving head of the Senate Armed Services Commitee. That is the primary reason the Air Farce picked the second-best plane in that competition.
Like the YF-17 that eventually became the F-18, they should dust off the blueprints of the F-23 and start making them. It would still beat anything flying.
Lockheed cleverly destroyed the tooling and blueprints for the F-22, so there will never be another one made.
Yeah they chose poorly, at least they could have ordered a squadron of YF-23's, it was that good a fighter I think it scared a lot of legacy aerospace power brokers, make too many current planes obsolete over night. Look at the SU-57, its a pretty close copy but with great Russian innovations, if I was a Russian designer, would have taken one look at the YF-23 and start prototyping variants. What they built is one of the most beautiful jet fighters ever produced.
Ditto. The F-14 was a very big fighter. The F-15 was big like the F-14, much bigger than the F-16. A Hornet / Super Hornet comparison to scale would be really interesting. Maybe even throw in the YF-17 to see the evolution of the Hornet.
Shame about the YF-23. If you're going to include the F-16XL, then yes, the F-15E should be up there. Love that they used "Fighting Falcon" that's gonna piss off the F-16 guys who prefer "Viper".
the ones not entered should have been the ones chosen.
ReplyDelete$ is and was the only decision maker…
DeleteYep.
DeleteAu contraire. The F-22 was to be built in the home state of the long-serving head of the Senate Armed Services Commitee.
DeleteThat is the primary reason the Air Farce picked the second-best plane in that competition.
Like the YF-17 that eventually became the F-18, they should dust off the blueprints of the F-23 and start making them. It would still beat anything flying.
Lockheed cleverly destroyed the tooling and blueprints for the F-22, so there will never be another one made.
Could also have noted the "Not Chosen" F-17 became the F/A-18.
ReplyDeleteYeah they chose poorly, at least they could have ordered a squadron of YF-23's, it was that good a fighter I think it scared a lot of legacy aerospace power brokers, make too many current planes obsolete over night.
ReplyDeleteLook at the SU-57, its a pretty close copy but with great Russian innovations, if I was a Russian designer, would have taken one look at the YF-23 and start prototyping variants. What they built is one of the most beautiful jet fighters ever produced.
F-22 is the only one that is exclusive to the USAF - no foreign buyers allowed.
ReplyDeletethe FA-111 was a great bomber platform. IMO
ReplyDeleteNot so much for the Navy. We didn't make another multi-service plane that bad until the F-35 Thunderjug came along.
DeleteWish they had pictured them to scale
ReplyDeleteDitto. The F-14 was a very big fighter. The F-15 was big like the F-14, much bigger than the F-16. A Hornet / Super Hornet comparison to scale would be really interesting. Maybe even throw in the YF-17 to see the evolution of the Hornet.
Deleteyep - the F4 is massive big compared to the F16
DeleteThis should mention the F-15E Strike Eagle, a truly great aircraft still in service.
ReplyDeleteShame about the YF-23. If you're going to include the F-16XL, then yes, the F-15E should be up there. Love that they used "Fighting Falcon" that's gonna piss off the F-16 guys who prefer "Viper".
ReplyDeleteOr Lawn Dart?
DeleteDad really liked working on the F-16. Only thing he did not like was how much stuff they hung on the wing.
ReplyDeleteHe did enjoy working on the F-16 CCV
Delete