Macktheknife, well done! Yes, the T-38 Talon grew into the F-5 (variety of names), which itself grew into the F-17, which lost to the F-16, but then also grew into the F-18, which beat the F-16N for a naval fighter, which then grew into the F-18E. The F-5 also spun off the F-20 Tigershark, which never sold, again due to the F-16.
Ok, next question: as much as I can tell, post-WW2 US aircraft have made 2 kills without the use of cannon, rockets, or missiles. Both were in the same conflict. Name them.
I asked a question along similar lines awhile back so I know of an F-15E Strike Eagle taking out an Mi-24 Hind in Desert Storm as one of the kills. Not sure about the other on, but would say both were during Desert Storm.
Halfway there [:D] An F-15E dropped a GBU-10 while a Hind was dismounting troops on the ground. It made it about 800 feet up and the Strike Eagle crew was getting ready to arm Sidewinders when the GBU-10 actually impacted the Hind in the air.
The other i think was a dogfight in which (i think) an Iraqi Mirage F-1 engaged an EF-111 Raven. The raven dived down to the deck and burn and turned to try and evade the Iraqi. The manuvering dogfight ended with the Mirage crashing into the deck. I think that was the first and only time an unarmed aircraft won a dogfight.
Joe
Correct! It was also the only acknowledged aerial victory for an F-111 in US service. Question goes to you.
Which aircraft did the USAF Thunderbirds perform the fewest number of airshows in, and how many airshows was it?
That would be the F-105B Thunderchief. They flew it for only 6 shows, in 1964. They went back to flying the F-100 Super Sabre after the F-105 had some structural issues.
spot on! You’re up.
Alright, this was to my knowledge the longest-range fighter aircraft ever built. By longest range, I mean without in-flight refueling. Strangely enough, the original prototype of this plane couldnt even get off the ground at first. What is this plane, and what was the problem that caused the prototype to not want to fly?
Hands down the F-82 “Betty Jo” was the longest range flying non-stop from Honolulu-New York. But as far as the prototype not flying I have no idea, as I can’t fnd anything about it and knowthat North American usually didn’t have that problem, so I am assuming my answer is wrong. [swg]
I think you’re right, actually. IIRC the prototype originally had the propellers turning in opposite directions (toward the center) and it either made it too unstable or not enough lift. They reversed the direction and it flew. A similar thing happened with the P-38, but I think that was turning one direction vs turning different ones.
No, you got it. The Twin Mustang could fly for over 1,500 miles on internal fuel, but it could carry 4 110-gallon drop tanks at once, which gave the fighter an amazing range of 3,445 miles. That must have made for some very sore pilots…
The problem with the prototype was that the props spun so that in the center they were on the up-swing, and the resulting prop wash cancelled out the lift from the center section of the wing. So, the plane simply wouldnt come off the runway. It took them about a month to realize what had happened, and once they swapped engines and props the plane flew without incident.
Will go for an easy one off th etop of my head.
What was the sole aircraft that the whole design concept of the Mig-25 designed to combat?
The Mig 25 was designed to combat the XB-70.
LOL knew it wouldn’t take long!
Floor is yours Borg!
not sure if I agree with this one…especially since the original MiG-25 prototype was not a fighter at all, but a recon aircraft designed to compete with the Lockheed A-12. Also, the Russian AF set forth the need for the MiG-25 in 1960-1961, but the USAF in 1959 had already announced that the XB-70 was going to be a prototype only, and at the same time announced that most of the planned subsystems for the B-70 program would be scrapped and discontinued. At that point, it would have been known that there was no real direct threat from the XB-70 project. In fact, the original Soviet need for a new interceptor came from the fact that our U-2’s were only opposed by SAMs as their existing fighters couldnt fly high enough–and that was from the late 50’s, before the XB-70 was even being built.
Not to start an argument, but my own memory is that the YF-17 owes very little to the T38/F-5. The F-20 was really a pretty good product, developed during the Carter administration in answer to the call for an inexpensive but reasonably capable fighter to market to our poorer allies. Along came the Reagan administration, as you say much more open to export of the F-16, and Northrop ended up sucking up all of the F-20’s development costs with nothing to show in the way of sales. Folks I’ve talked to who worked with the F-20 say it was really a pretty sharp fighter, offering near F-16 capabilities for a fraction of the price, but between Reagan administration policiies on F-16 export, and the shear “sexiness” factor of that little aircraft, the F-20 never got a real chance.
OK, I am looking for a 1930’s design, that was used during WWII. And it was build under licence in Germany, Great Britain and France.
Not directly but the F-5 and YF-17 are connected in development via the Northop N-300 and P.530 Cobra
