what fighter do you fantasize about flying and why?

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kcran567

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United States Air Force Chief of Staff General John P. Jumper said after flying the Eurofighter, "I have flown all the air force jets. None was as good as the Eurofighter."[

The Typhoon's combat performance, compared to the F-22 Raptor and the upcoming F-35 Lightning II fighters and the French Dassault Rafale, has been the subject of much discussion. In March 2005, Jumper, then the only person to have flown both the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Raptor, talked to Air Force Print News about these two aircraft. He said,
The Eurofighter is both agile and sophisticated, but is still difficult to compare to the F/A-22 Raptor. They are different kinds of airplanes to start with; it's like asking us to compare a NASCAR car with a Formula One car. They are both exciting in different ways, but they are designed for different levels of performance. …The Eurofighter is certainly, as far as smoothness of controls and the ability to pull (and sustain high g forces), very impressive. That is what it was designed to do, especially the version I flew, with the avionics, the color moving map displays, etc. — all absolutely top notch. The maneuverability of the airplane in close-in combat was also very impressive.


1.) Is this true? Is it his personal subjective favorite, or is it disinformation?


2.) Wouldn't you love the opportunity to find out which is you're favorite?


There are a few fighters I fantasize about flying: the T-50 Pakfa, F-22, F-35, and EF-Typhoon and F-20. Throw in the F-15 and f-16 and the x-32.


I guess I wonder which one I would "like" the best, much like you like the way a certain car feels or drives or you like its looks, interior and features.


I would imagine that the EF has a very good cockpit and is a pleasure to simply get into and fly. Even though I'm american, I have no biases here, I simply want to do the walkaround, get a good look, then get in and fly the darn thing and see which one is my favorite.


That said, If you held my arm behind my back and made me pick, I would pick the T-50 Pakfa based on looks, features, handling etc. I really want to climb in and fly it around and see what its like. And I would like to do the same for all the other aircraft I mentioned to get a feel for which one is my personal favorite. After flying all of them maybe I would have a new preference as to what was my top favorite. Maybe one of those others flies better and feels better to fly than the Pakfa would.


Any opinions? Anybody here actually get to fly one of these on my list?
 
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All of those planes are good choices, but I'd be more satisfied to ride in back and let a professional pilot take the controls.

At the top of my list, I'd go with an age-old favorite of mine and say the F-105 Thunderchief. Going supersonic near sea level would be a treat in that thing. The YF-12 would be nice for the view at high altitude (not to mention the pleasure of being able to say that I've gone Mach 3). Doing kulbits, cobras and the like in a supermaneuverable aircraft would be cool, if I can think of any two-seaters which I might ride in.
 
As a child, I saw a Buccaneer flying down one of the Scottish lochs with 'only the maker's name on the altimeter' - that looked rather like fun ;) Also, wind back a few years and the 'fun' of a catapult launch could also be incorporated into one's jaunt...

Lightning displays also looked rather spectacular. Harriers too. Oh and Typhoons look rather fun. Hmmmmm.... A pattern is emerging ;)
 
F-104 Starfighter. Speedy, high altitude capability, decent view.
 
Sundog said:
Airplane?: YF-23
Why?: Have you seen it? It looks awesome and had performance to match.
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Beat me to it.

Another good one would be MiG-25.
 
Although not technically fighters, unless you count the small number of night fighter conversions, my choice would be Lockheed's PV-1 and/or -2 in USN tri-color camo. Their lines are just wonderful and I'm a sucker for twin radials and twin tails. I wouldn't turn down a PBJ in tri-color either :D
 
kcran567 said:
In 2004, United States Air Force Chief of Staff General John P. Jumper said after flying the Eurofighter, "I have flown all the air force jets. None was as good as the Eurofighter."[96][97]
The Typhoon's combat performance, compared to the F-22 Raptor and the upcoming F-35 Lightning II fighters and the French Dassault Rafale, has been the subject of much discussion.[98] In March 2005, Jumper, then the only person to have flown both the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Raptor, talked to Air Force Print News about these two aircraft. He said,
The Eurofighter is both agile and sophisticated, but is still difficult to compare to theF/A-22 Raptor. They are different kinds of airplanes to start with; it's like asking us to compare a NASCAR car with a Formula One car. They are both exciting in different ways, but they are designed for different levels of performance. …The Eurofighter is certainly, as far as smoothness of controls and the ability to pull (and sustain high g forces), very impressive. That is what it was designed to do, especially the version I flew, with the avionics, the color moving map displays, etc. — all absolutely top notch. The maneuverability of the airplane in close-in combat was also very impressive.
Click to expand...

Unlike with chest thumping grunts and with Patton fantasies, it takes tact to be a good high level officer.
 
kcran567 said:
1.) Is this true?
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The quote is certainly true, it was widely reported in the aviation press at the time and Jumper had no reason to be so effusive, other than the fact he had just flown the Typhoon. He could simply have said 'it's a good aircraft' and no one would have been disappointed, but he chose to say something more.

There's another quote that goes well with it, one I heard myself from the Typhoon's chief test pilot during a briefing he did for the flight control team: "You can always tell the pilot who's just flown the Eurofighter for the first time; he's the one sitting in the corner, grinning to himself."

The thing to remember in assessing Jumper's reaction is Typhoon is a generation ahead of the Teen series aircraft, and put agility higher up the requirements wishlist than F-22 (and a lot higher than F-35), so you've got an aircraft with a thoroughly modern cockpit and systems, that's designed almost above all else to be a pilot's aircraft, and that's a unique combination. Not necessarily a better combination, what's 'better' varies almost from moment to moment with the requirements of the individual mission, but a combination that is going to appeal to its pilot.
 
2g1lsv15.32o.jpg

This, bacause this :)
 
Unsung hero of Britain's darkest hour, determined tankbuster in North Africa, lonely guardian catapulted into the North Atlantic night, rugged fighter bomber right up until the end of the war, Hawker Hurricanes did it all and got little of the glory. I always liked them, but Paul Gallico's The Hurricane Story sealed the deal. That would be my choice without hesitation.
 
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I'd like to fly wing for Steve Pace.

I'd say AH-1 Cobra, but it is neither a fighter and I already got to fly one (a lot). B)
 
F8U-3 - It's HOT, and I want to fix it, and I want to go M3 in it! It has fairings for missiles (fighter).

NF-104 - It has an exo-atmospheric flight control syste, and a rocket, and a turbojet! It has a fairing over its cannon port (fighter).

An X-15 with a properly integrated scramjet. I'll bring an unloaded pistol (fighter).

:)
 
shockonlip said:
F8U-3 - It's HOT, and I want to fix it, and I want to go M3 in it! It has fairings for missiles (fighter).

NF-104 - It has an exo-atmospheric flight control syste, and a rocket, and a turbojet! It has a fairing over its cannon port (fighter).

An X-15 with a properly integrated scramjet. I'll bring an unloaded pistol (fighter).

:)
Click to expand...


There is a video here somewhere from youtube where the test pilot said the F8U-3 was unbelievable performer by far one of the best of its time and would have easily beat the f-4 in every way. Also mentions that the bird wanted to keep accelerating through mach 3, the only thing stopping it was a melting canopy or something like that.


No one mentioning the f-5/20 or F-4?

View: http://www.youtube.com/embed/t6V8kvI6vrA
 
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Well, if we can choose more than one, then I would have liked to fly the F8U-3 as well. However, more so, one of it's contemporaries that actually was a fighter, as compared to the plane that won the competition, the F-107.

BTW Yasotay, which variant(s) of the AH-1 did you fly? I've always liked the Cobra and imagine it was fun to fly. I'd rather fly it than an AH-64, aesthetically speaking. Of course, helo wise, I would have loved to have flown the original S-67 Blackhawk, the Cheyenne, and the Commanche as well. And the XV-15 (Tommy!), and X-2, and X3....I'd better stop now.
 
If I can cheat a bit, my fantasy would be to fly to New York on a BOAC Boeing SST, first class of course.
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Steam Workshop::Boeing 2707-100 BOAC

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Flying to New York even on a 777 is a fantasy at the moment.
 

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Not a fighter, too much like hard work. If pushed a Gloster Gladiator but the ultimate would be the original Enterprise. Yep, the Shuttle that never got to space.

Sorry, forgot the 'why', well in a world of digital, I really do prefer analogue responses. Possibly why I still have my early 70's VW.
 
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The first fighter jet I had the audacity to dream about flying was the magnificent F-106, when I was about 7. I drew a pilot's view of the cockpit with the characteristic triangular windscreen and then chopped up some glow-in-the-dark stickers I had been given to make luminescent instrument dials. And yep - the vertical tape indicators were in there :D

Today's favourites are the Su-35S (powerful and sleek) or, when listening to appropriately-paced music, the Streak Eagle & P-42! Possibly the fastest-accelerating vehicles ever made in which the occupant still has a large measure of say about the trajectory - that had to be one hell of an exhilarating ride! I would probably have keyed the mic off and giggled like a child!
 
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MiG-21 looks like a hoot. F-16 looks like fun too. MiG-21 for the speed. F-16 for the view.
 
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Pure fantasy would be the proposed ASF-14 with thrust vectoring GE F120 engines, but that is unfortunately fantasy.

More realistically it wouldn't be a single plane, since I'm more interested in how they compare. So, again fantasy, a production F-23 vs. an F-22, to see if I'm correct in thinking the wrong plane was chosen. Or the F-14D vs. an F110 engined F-16, since I read recently that they were very similar in performance, since the Tomcat had twice the engines, weighed twice as much, and carried twice the fuel. I'm curious about how accurate that is.

However, what I'm really curious about are the F8U-3 vs the F4H, and the F11-1F Super Tiger vs. the F-104, and how they all compare with the MiGs. Am I right in thinking both the Crusader III and SuperTiger would have dominated as the F-4 and F-104 couldn't? Flying them could answer the question.

On a slightly different note, there are the "nope, we aren't going to let you fly that because we don't want to be embarrassed" cancellations. Again the F8U-3, with the glass canopy, to see how close it could get to Mach 3. Also in this category are the CF-105 with the Orenda Iroquois engines, which was ready to fly when the cancellation order came down, and the HA-300 with the Brandner engine, which was also ready to go when it got cancelled. I think each would have been much harder to cancel had their full performance been a matter of record.
 
I'd like to fly in the student's seat of Lightning T4 (ironically its wider cockpit improved its area-ruling making it faster...) as I wouldn't trust myself to land an F6. I also want to fly in a Victor and find out just how maneuverable it was at altitude; all I have at the moment are the reminiscences of K2 crews. And to round it off, a very low-level flight in a Buccaneer.

SRJ.
 
i would say..... either a fully loaded F/A 18 Super Hornet. or A10 Warthog/Avenger


OR..... Supermarine Spitfire MK IV or P51B mustang just sayin
 

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