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Vulcan!

scoolbubba

Brett327 gargles ballsacks
pilot
Contributor
Most beautiful bomber ever built. Can you believe the same nation built the Lightning - possibly the ugliest jet fighter ever built.

talking about the JSF? if so, agreed. the thing is too ugly to fly...and therefore falls into the same category as helos... repelled by the earth out of sheer hideousness.

if not, what lightning jet are you referring to?
 

PropAddict

Now with even more awesome!
pilot
Contributor
I think he meant the original Lightning, the one made by English Electric.

500-English_Electric_Lightning_landing_Filton.jpg


As for JSF: you either dig the Trapezoidal wings technology, or you don't. Either way, it's not likely to go away anytime soon.

That is, if it ever gets here. . .:icon_tong
 

scoolbubba

Brett327 gargles ballsacks
pilot
Contributor
ahh but wasn't that lightning equipped with ludicrous speed for the time? my wiki zen fails me right now mostly because of laziness, but IIRC it had mach 2 or greater capabilities in the 50s and, when dead dinosaurs were easy to find. oh the days. and the over and under engines looked very different...in a badass, rocket ship kind of way.

doesn't look any worse the F-3, F-4, F-105, F-8 and could spank the pants off most of our fighters in the interception contests of the day.

but, this is a matter of taste. i submit that the modern lightning wins in the "fugly as sin" design criteria. hopefully its too ugly to get made, and we can just keep building new vipers and rhinos ad nauseum.


shoot me, i like sexy airplanes, which is why i chose P-3s :icon_tong
 

Pugs

Back from the range
None
ahh but wasn't that lightning equipped with ludicrous speed for the time? my wiki zen fails me right now mostly because of laziness, but IIRC it had mach 2 or greater capabilities in the 50s and, when dead dinosaurs were easy to find. oh the days. and the over and under engines looked very different...in a badass, rocket ship kind of way.

I had a skipper who had gone on an exchange to Empire Test Pilot school (Brian Moss for you A-6 types) and flew the lightning for one of his projects. He said it was a pleasant jet to fly and lacked a lot of the vices of the F-101 and F-104 but that fuel was the most critical issue as it was designed as a point interceptor.

He described one event where he was towed to the end of the runway for engine start, launched, arced out over the channel, accelerated to mach 2+ for a two minute dash, decelerated and back into the patter. 19 minute flight and landed with a low fuel light. :eek: Don't know if it had those funky overwing tanks on it or not.
 

Uncle Fester

Robot Pimp
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Read "Vulcan 607" for an account of the Black Buck raids on the Falklands during that splendid little unpleasantness.

Among other things, the account of them getting the Vulcans back to FMC status is pretty hair-raising. Bringing guys out of retirement because no one on active duty knew how to re-plumb the AAR system, pulled some AAR probes off Vulcans already on sticks outside airports, had to go banging on the wings to find the hardpoints for pylons so they could attach ECM pods, there was one (count 'em) qualfied Vulcan AAR instructor pilot still in the RAF. They decided an extra pilot would be good to fly the plugs on such a long mission, so they just crammed an extra guy in the Nav station (good thing nobody had to eject). Etc and so on.
 

Fog

Old RIOs never die: They just can't fast-erect
None
Contributor
I think he meant the original Lightning, the one made by English Electric.

500-English_Electric_Lightning_landing_Filton.jpg


As for JSF: you either dig the Trapezoidal wings technology, or you don't. Either way, it's not likely to go away anytime soon.

That is, if it ever gets here. . .:icon_tong

Thanks, Propaddict. It's the English-built Electric Lightning I was referring to. I feel sorry for anyone who thinks the Phantom was ugly. It was different & unique, but from most aspects it was a good-looking & intimidating a/c. Great story about the Vulcan crew on the Falklands mission. It was the 1st war shown in real-time on CNN - only time I've ever faked "sick" from work.
 

JT Eagle

Registered User
Flaklands "real time"?

It was the 1st war shown in real-time on CNN - only time I've ever faked "sick" from work.

Eh? The first pictures didn't get back for weeks after the wars started. It was nearly over by the time any moving images were shown on TV. The RN wouldn't allow any satellite time from their ships for TV reports. There's no footage from Ascencion Island (where the Vulcans flew from) at all, hence no footage of 'Falklands' Vulcans (I know, I've looked).
CNN was founded in 1980, so there's a chance you watched 'something' in 1982, but it wasn't live by any stretch. Sure it wasn't some other war?

From 'Hot Shots':
Admiral Benson: My eyes are ceramic. Caught a bazooka round at Little Big Horn. Or was it Okinawa? The one without the Indians.

JT
 

Fog

Old RIOs never die: They just can't fast-erect
None
Contributor
Eh? The first pictures didn't get back for weeks after the wars started. It was nearly over by the time any moving images were shown on TV. The RN wouldn't allow any satellite time from their ships for TV reports. There's no footage from Ascencion Island (where the Vulcans flew from) at all, hence no footage of 'Falklands' Vulcans (I know, I've looked).
CNN was founded in 1980, so there's a chance you watched 'something' in 1982, but it wasn't live by any stretch. Sure it wasn't some other war?

From 'Hot Shots':
Admiral Benson: My eyes are ceramic. Caught a bazooka round at Little Big Horn. Or was it Okinawa? The one without the Indians.

JT


Beg to differ, Dude. There was nothing on the Vulcan action, but there was coverage from the ships. If anyone knows how & cares, he/she can ask CNN if they had live satellite coverage from the Falklands. My memory is that they did & that I watched it the 1st day or 2 of the war. That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it.
 

JT Eagle

Registered User
There might have been some Argentine pictures (jets taking off, soldiers in Port Stanley) but if you think you watched any of the ship attacks or other gucci footage filmed from the receiving end the day (or week) it happened...

There were no CNN reporters or indeed any non-UK journalists embedded with the task force. There was so little space for media (so they claimed) that the UK MoD didn't send any of their own combat camera teams. All the task force footage (other than gun and missile tracking camera) you see in documentaries and so on belongs to the BBC and ITN.

There was a fair bit of 'task force departs' and so on that would have been shown more or less live and no doubt it dominated the news every day, but you would have waited a while to see any combat footage.


From: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2002/feb/25/broadcasting.falklands

"In the age of image, the Falklands war remained image-free for much of its length - no British pictures for 54 of the 74 days the conflict lasted - and image-weak thereafter."

JT
 
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