'OK465' "...Spaz, have you ever been supersonic with two wing tanks?"
Originally Posted by
megan
I should add that the figures quoted were for a clean machine. Never flew them, but I know Spaz and his mates likely searched the corners of the envelope, as all good fighter pilots do of course.
heheh. I was waiting for you to ask that question 'OK465' - you must know something that I do from long ago. The NATOPS limit with drop tanks is M0.9. After my OFS (Operational Flying School) later in 1970 I managed to reach M1.1 - almost - in a VERY STEEP DIVE chasing a Miracle from the RAAF with the well known author Dave Robson trying to zoom back into the sun (which he did). Closing the throttle briefly, instantly, got the A4G back under M0.9 allowing me to bring the nose up to attempt to keep up with the Mirage IIIO but boy the initial odd gyrations were something else at M1.1
Thank goodness the two 300 gal (2,000lb) drop tanks were empty (my SP was not that cruel) and they did not split apart like banana peel. No damage whatsoever but almost a minute or so later the Miracle was out of fuel so we had to return to NAS Nowra. It must be said the Mirage IIIOs were experiencing undercarriage problems at that time so their SOP at Nowra was to have enough fuel to get back to RAAF Willyton - just in case.
After the debrief Rob expressed amazement at my rejoin before entering the circuit. He was going slowly south of Nowra at low level whilst I was high, going fast for rejoin so I had to do a tight barrel roll at idle, speedbrakes out, with undercarriage going down and back up again - to stay behind for the quick join up. He said he had never seen anything like it. I agree.
Later that day I went up in the rear of the two seater Mirage IIIO with Dave to be amazed at what it was like in a reheater vehickle. The Miracle was rock solid with great acceleration but it landed ever so fast!
To do ACM in the tandem seat trainer TA4G Skyhawk was a dispiriting experience. Trying to haul the nose around (compared to the A4G) was heart breaking. NATOPS max speed clean is Mach 1.1 (our SOP)
AFAIK.
