Heads Up! Fighter Pilot: The Real Top Gun
Equally strange that we refer to the new ac as the F35 rather more than Lightning (or Lightning II) yet the Typhoon is the Typhoon, almost never the FGR4.
The II has indeed been dropped by the UK
IIRC it was some time after the Typhoon entered service that it received its FGR4 designation, so maybe the Lightning's will come later also.
IIRC it was some time after the Typhoon entered service that it received its FGR4 designation, so maybe the Lightning's will come later also.
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Slight thread creep....
that F35 , can our version do fully conventional landings or does it always have a bit of lift fan and vectored thrust.
Just wondering as it doesn’t have much wing so the app speeds maybe high ?
that F35 , can our version do fully conventional landings or does it always have a bit of lift fan and vectored thrust.
Just wondering as it doesn’t have much wing so the app speeds maybe high ?
Always thought it a great pity they didn't name it after one of those interwar RAF aircraft...
The Grebe ... or the Welkin... or even the Knuckleduster....................
The Grebe ... or the Welkin... or even the Knuckleduster....................
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-RP
I reckon if we did give the JSF a proper designation it would have a much better chance of being called Lightning, but since we seem to be using the American name that's what's stuck.
Consistency seems to have gone out of the window recently. Hercules, Phantom, Sentry and Poseidon get British military designations, but not Globemaster or Lightning. Not sure about Rivet Joint or Reaper!
Always thought it was a bit silly having the same aircraft with different names in service with allies TBH................... tho the US has to some extent accepted "Dakota" and "Catalina"
The Canadians are wore tho - they change the name of EVERYTHING they buy
The Canadians are wore tho - they change the name of EVERYTHING they buy
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I remember being in a debrief at a CQWI when a certain Sqn commander announced that as a result of his teams’ efforts that very day...some of which had been CQWI related, that the Typhoon would henceforth be the FGR4...the news was delivered very much in the way one might announce the end to world hunger. I think everyone in the hangar thought something along the lines of: ‘Oh’ or possibly ‘Does anyone have the ‘Irrelevant Button’ to hand?’
The Canadians are wore tho - they change the name of EVERYTHING they buy
Still, could have been worse - they might have called it the Shag!
I thought the program was very well done, especially the segments that conveyed the stress and pressure that the students were exposed to during training. As a Yank Air Force heavy driver I was also curious about why some of those students took 8-9 years to get to that point in their training. Are they counting 4 years of University? I entered the USAF in November 1985 and was awarded my pilot wings in March of 1987. If I had tracked fighters, it would have been about another year of various training until I hit an operational squadron, but 8 or 9 years seems excessive. Congrats to the two guys who got their F-35 and I would have given my first born to fly a jet like the Typhoon, so Danners should feel quite lucky.
Hello Chieftp. Have a look at the thread “UK MFTS on or off the rails”. Basically, all has not been well with the UK flying training system resulting in some outrageous delays between courses.
Which is nowt compared to the annual bunfight between MoD(PE)'s Air System and Sea Systems. The former managed the sonar winch; the latter the winch cable, as it got wet. Until the fraud case and triple billing......
I remember being in a debrief at a CQWI when a certain Sqn commander announced that as a result of his teams’ efforts that very day...some of which had been CQWI related, that the Typhoon would henceforth be the FGR4...the news was delivered very much in the way one might announce the end to world hunger. I think everyone in the hangar thought something along the lines of: ‘Oh’ or possibly ‘Does anyone have the ‘Irrelevant Button’ to hand?’
I do seem to recall the F3 mates looking furtively at each other, obviously thinking 'WTF did we sign up to that........?'
General Atomics call the Predator B the MQ-9 REAPER, whch is both the US and UK desig.
However the P-38 did see active service with the RAF - a P-38J was loaned from the USAAF and used in the master bomber role, later being updated to 'Droop Snoot' two seat configuration.
Most early US fighters lacked things such as self-sealing tanks, cockpit armour etc etc plus they were very MG oriented just as the RAF were looking at cannons IIRC