Anyone know this guy?

[asise]

Just for the sake of playing devil's advocate ... it's possible that he did not write his online profile. I had one of those when I was a teacher and when you have someone else writing about you like that it's amazing how they can mess up something so elementary. Granted, those mistakes were pretty specific, and it doesn't help his cause that he continued the "embellishments" into the classroom. A good teacher is never afraid to admit that they're wrong ... of course a better teacher wouldn't be wrong in the first place.

 

[Carno]

They write their own profiles; several professors have told me.

 

[A4sForever]

They write their own profiles; several professors have told me.

I'm sure he did write his own stuff --- it's to aviation specific for a hireling to compose ... but: where there's one lie ... there's others. Makes me wonder how much of his overall "history" is B.S. and how many aero-ignorant people have swallowed his stuff, hook, line, and sinker over the years ...

 

[Carno]

Makes me wonder as well...

There are many ex AF pilots in the aeronautics dept. at my school (no Navy that I know of), and I wonder what they all think of this guy. He probably keeps his trap shut around them though and saves all his "glory days" for the classroom.

 

[gregsivers]

Makes me wonder as well...

There are many ex AF pilots in the aeronautics dept. at my school (no Navy that I know of), and I wonder what they all think of this guy. He probably keeps his trap shut around them though and saves all his "glory days" for the classroom.

Eh, they're AF, so who gives a sh!t?

 

[Death Rattler]

Of course this guy is lying..But here are a few facts about the"Last of the Gunfighters". Max altitude was 67,000 feet. That was not a sustainable altitude, but a zoom climb. I personally had one to 61,000( while wearing a full pressure suit). This was an exercise with U2`s (couldn`t get anywhere near him). The max speed that I ever saw was 2.0. That was a brand new "E" model, before the maintence guys got to it and trimmed back the engine. Canopy got almost too hot to touch. Crusader, fully loaded with fuel weighed 28,ooo pounds and in burner (J57-p20 engine) developed 18,600 puonds of thrust. At 3 or 4 thousand pounds of fuel remaining it was gettin` close to a one to one thrust to weight ratio and was really at it`s "fighting weight". I recall that the AoA for an on speed landing was 13 units. Yes, it had a nasty blind spot due to the canopy arrangement. Most guys flew looking back all of the time. The only aircraft that I know of that couldn`t be whipped all of the time was the "Double Barreled ****can" that is the F4 Phantom. In June of `63 I jumped out of an E model (it was on fire). I`m reaching back 43 years for all of this, so some of it might be off, but I don`t think so.BTW, the Crusader wasn`t my favorite flying plane, it was number two. Number one was the F11F Tiger.

 

[jg5343]

I wrote him already asking him to post his defense. Doubt we'll hear from him.

 

[MIDNJAC]

BTW, the Crusader wasn`t my favorite flying plane, it was number two. Number one was the F11F Tiger.

I didn't realize that there were USMC F11F's....care to ellaborate on your experience? It seems like that was a very historically overlooked a/c (aside from a brief stint w/ the Blues, if I'm not mistaken?)....definitely a nice looking jet

 

[A4sForever]

I didn't realize that there were USMC F11F's....care to ellaborate on your experience? It seems like that was a very historically overlooked a/c (aside from a brief stint w/ the Blues, if I'm not mistaken?)....definitely a nice looking jet

If memory serves: the USMC didn't ... unless 'Rattler is a former Blue. Frontline Navy squadron service was only from the middle '50s to 1960 or '61.

And ... with the obvious exception of Navy/USMC Naval Aviation STUDs/Instructors in Olathe, Kingsville, and Beeville. The F-11 was still flying when I first set foot in Kingsville in 1967; VT-26 I think. They were almost gone, but "advanced" stage STUDs were using them for ACM and air-to-air gunnery, if the memory will hold up until I can get this typed.

The F-8 Crusader was coming on line at about the same time as the Tiger and was supposedly a much more satisfactory gun platform and was "appreciably" faster, something like 200-300 KTS more at altitude.

This is all from a guy who never flew them, however.

The F-11 DID make history as the first "gunfighter" to shoot itself down with it's own 20mm. Quite a feat.

 

[Death Rattler]

I flew the F11F down at Chase field at Beeville, Texas. VT 26? I think thats right, maybe VT25...heck, it`s been 46 years ago. After Flying the Cougar a selected bunch of us got to finish up in the Tiger. They were almost new machines.Underpowered (J65), however on fam one my instructor and I did a two ship and went to 50,000 when the burner blew out, then nose down and got 1.3 mach out of it on the way down. we did 25 hours of nothing but tactics...just one big dogfight. My main instructor was an airforce exchange pilot (Bill Loyd)..he was a MIG killer (F 86`s) from the Korean war, and a good guy. The F11`s actually did a long tour with the Blues, about 10 years. BTW, the Tiger was supposed to be powered by the J 79 engine, lighter than the J65 and about twice the thrust. they actually built two "Super Tigers"..Mach Two at least, but the Crusader came along and got the Navy/Marine job and the F104 got the NATO contracts, so Bye-Bye Tiger. I got to fly the T45 (in the sim) at Kingsville in June and the F18 sim at El Toro a few years back. Nice machines. You boys are very lucky..enjoy your experiences..as my old LSO said.."Boys, these are the good old days".

 

[Catmando]

1st saw an F-11 as an AVROC in P'cola when the Blues were flying them. I think the F-11 made one of the best appearing diamonds of any aircraft they ever flew. Never did get a chance to fly it, as it was in the fleet for only a couple of years and long gone by the time I got there.

Nearly two decades later, I saw NASA had two of the prettiest test-bed F-11's at Pax River anyone would ever want to see – painted bright white with blue trim, and lots of highly polished aluminum….they were probably Super Tigers, with the J-79 instead of the J-65.

Thanks for the bit of personal history, Rattler. And here are a couple of interesting F-11 related links:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/f-11.htm
http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/f11_1.html
http://www.answers.com/topic/f-11-tiger

 

[Zilch]

I have to say I appreciate hearing all this stuff from people who actually flew these planes. It is infinitely better than reading a blurb in Jane's, Wikipedia, or anything like that. Keep it coming.

 

[Catmando]

.......Yes, it had a nasty blind spot due to the canopy arrangement. Most guys flew looking back all of the time. The only aircraft that I know of that couldn`t be whipped all of the time was the "Double Barreled ****can" that is the F4 Phantom.

Hehehe... the reason you F-8 drivers were "always looking back" all the time was because one of those "Double Barreled *****can's" - or as A4's likes to call them, "Old Smokies" was on your tail calling "Guns!" (if only we had guns )

 

[A4sForever]

Hehehe... the reason you F-8 drivers were "always looking back" all the time was because ....

'Cause .... this was what they'd see .....




a.k.a. ... TRACK ... TRACK ... TRACK .... GUNS KILL !!!!

 

[Catmando]

'Cause .... this was what they'd see .....

Great Pic'! Gave me the best belly laugh I've had in a awhile!
(Especially as long as it's at an F-8's expense.)

Your later model A-4 depicted may have been more than mere cannon fodder for a "real fighter" than earlier models... a more worthy opponent, but "I" certainly never saw one from that aspect …except at "the pass."

BTW, what's that ugly thing sticking out above the gun muzzle? Did that driver forget a folding a step? Or was it permanent? Or was that a "secret" and then, a highly classified, A-4 canard? :slaphappy