Just a Nice Pic
- Thread starter Fatman17
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GoMig-21
Elite Member
Interesting story not very well-known.
When the F-16 and F-18 were competing for the next US air force light combat aircraft contract and entered the competition as the YF-16 & YF-17, the result was the YF-16 winning and the YF-17 then being taken by the US Navy ending up as the F/A-18 Hornet.
The reasons why the F-16 won the original competition was several factors. Its fly-by-wire tech was revolutionary and made it so easy to fly along with its bubble canopy, its 30-degree reclined pilot seat and single-engine. But the Navy liked what it saw in the YF-17 and wanted to begin acquiring the next carrier platform to the F-14 Tomcat which at the time was suffering growing pains and its maintenance was excessive.
So they asked Northrop to make the YF-17 carrier capable by reinforcing the landing gear, adding an arrester hook and a few other small customizations. The fact that it was a dual engine also made it appealing to the US Navy as that is one of its primary requirements for its aircraft, is they must be dual engine which makes the F-35C a little bit of a deviation from that philosophy, but that is another story for another day.
Those modifications to the YF-17 would become the F/A-18 Hornet (I don't know why it wasn't labeled the F/A-17 since that's what the original YF desigation of the aircraft was).
Once General Dynamics found out that the US Navy was thinking of selecting the YF-17, it decided to offer a naval prototype variation of the F-16 to the navy to steal the contract and have both! Essentially to monopolize the industry.
So they came up with a navalized, multi-role variant of the F-16 and this is what it looked like with a two-toned light blue & white naval camo.
Notice the pointy radome.
CGI
On May 2nd, 1975, the US Navy opted out of the F-16 program offer, favoring the aircraft derived from the YF-17, which eventually evolved into the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. Nevertheless, an interesting story that had a profound effect of the history of both those venerable fighter jets.
When the F-16 and F-18 were competing for the next US air force light combat aircraft contract and entered the competition as the YF-16 & YF-17, the result was the YF-16 winning and the YF-17 then being taken by the US Navy ending up as the F/A-18 Hornet.
The reasons why the F-16 won the original competition was several factors. Its fly-by-wire tech was revolutionary and made it so easy to fly along with its bubble canopy, its 30-degree reclined pilot seat and single-engine. But the Navy liked what it saw in the YF-17 and wanted to begin acquiring the next carrier platform to the F-14 Tomcat which at the time was suffering growing pains and its maintenance was excessive.
So they asked Northrop to make the YF-17 carrier capable by reinforcing the landing gear, adding an arrester hook and a few other small customizations. The fact that it was a dual engine also made it appealing to the US Navy as that is one of its primary requirements for its aircraft, is they must be dual engine which makes the F-35C a little bit of a deviation from that philosophy, but that is another story for another day.
Those modifications to the YF-17 would become the F/A-18 Hornet (I don't know why it wasn't labeled the F/A-17 since that's what the original YF desigation of the aircraft was).
Once General Dynamics found out that the US Navy was thinking of selecting the YF-17, it decided to offer a naval prototype variation of the F-16 to the navy to steal the contract and have both! Essentially to monopolize the industry.
So they came up with a navalized, multi-role variant of the F-16 and this is what it looked like with a two-toned light blue & white naval camo.
Notice the pointy radome.
CGI
On May 2nd, 1975, the US Navy opted out of the F-16 program offer, favoring the aircraft derived from the YF-17, which eventually evolved into the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet. Nevertheless, an interesting story that had a profound effect of the history of both those venerable fighter jets.
GoMig-21
Elite Member
I know this isn't just a nice pic, in fact, the pics are nothing special but the story behind the two aircraft is terrific.
After a few “Hail Kelly’s” Bill Burke and Tom Henichek flew over France without Permission I love this story!One of the most entertaining stories about flying the Blackbird comes from Lt. Colonel William Burk Jr., who shares about a particular mission he flew [according to SR-71 pilot Stormy Boudreaux, Tom Henichek was Burk’s RSO for that mission] over Lebanon back in 1982 in the book Skunk Works by Ben Rich. In the fall of ’82, I flew from Mildenhall on a mission over Lebanon in response to the Marine barracks bombing. President Reagan ordered photo coverage of all the terrorist basis in the region. The French refused to allow us overfly, so our mission profile was to refuel off the south coast of England, a Mach 3 cruise leg down the coast of Portugal and Spain, left turn through the Straits of Gibraltar, refuel in the Western Mediterranean, right turn into Lebanon and fly right down main street Beirut, exit along the southern Mediterranean with another refueling over Malta, supersonic back out the straits, and return to England. As we entered Lebanon’s airspace my Recon Systems Officer in the rear cockpit informed me that our defensive systems display showed we were being tracked by that SA-5. About 15 seconds later we got a warning of active guidance signals from the SA-5 site. We couldn’t tell whether there was an actual launch or the missile was still on the rails, but they were actively tracking us. We didn’t waste any time wondering, but climbed and pushed that throttle, and said a couple of “Hail Kellys.”We completed our pass over Beirut and turned toward Malta, when I got a warning low-oil-pressure light on my right engine. Even though the engine was running fine I slowed down and lowered our altitude and made a direct line for England. We decided to cross France without clearance instead of going the roundabout way.‘We made it almost across, when I looked out the left window and saw a French Mirage III sitting ten feet off my left wing. He came up on our frequency and asked us for our Diplomatic Clearance Number. I had no idea what he was talking about, so I told him to stand by. I ask my backseater, who said, “Don’t worry about it. I just gave it to him.” What he had given him was “the bird” with his middle finger: I lit the afterburners and left that Mirage standing still. Two minutes later, we were crossing the Channel.
Written by Dario Leone of aviation geekclub.
After a few “Hail Kelly’s” Bill Burke and Tom Henichek flew over France without Permission I love this story!One of the most entertaining stories about flying the Blackbird comes from Lt. Colonel William Burk Jr., who shares about a particular mission he flew [according to SR-71 pilot Stormy Boudreaux, Tom Henichek was Burk’s RSO for that mission] over Lebanon back in 1982 in the book Skunk Works by Ben Rich. In the fall of ’82, I flew from Mildenhall on a mission over Lebanon in response to the Marine barracks bombing. President Reagan ordered photo coverage of all the terrorist basis in the region. The French refused to allow us overfly, so our mission profile was to refuel off the south coast of England, a Mach 3 cruise leg down the coast of Portugal and Spain, left turn through the Straits of Gibraltar, refuel in the Western Mediterranean, right turn into Lebanon and fly right down main street Beirut, exit along the southern Mediterranean with another refueling over Malta, supersonic back out the straits, and return to England. As we entered Lebanon’s airspace my Recon Systems Officer in the rear cockpit informed me that our defensive systems display showed we were being tracked by that SA-5. About 15 seconds later we got a warning of active guidance signals from the SA-5 site. We couldn’t tell whether there was an actual launch or the missile was still on the rails, but they were actively tracking us. We didn’t waste any time wondering, but climbed and pushed that throttle, and said a couple of “Hail Kellys.”We completed our pass over Beirut and turned toward Malta, when I got a warning low-oil-pressure light on my right engine. Even though the engine was running fine I slowed down and lowered our altitude and made a direct line for England. We decided to cross France without clearance instead of going the roundabout way.‘We made it almost across, when I looked out the left window and saw a French Mirage III sitting ten feet off my left wing. He came up on our frequency and asked us for our Diplomatic Clearance Number. I had no idea what he was talking about, so I told him to stand by. I ask my backseater, who said, “Don’t worry about it. I just gave it to him.” What he had given him was “the bird” with his middle finger: I lit the afterburners and left that Mirage standing still. Two minutes later, we were crossing the Channel.
Written by Dario Leone of aviation geekclub.
GoMig-21
Elite Member
? Already posted?
GoMig-21
Elite Member
What do you mean by null set? The last pic of the C-17 isn't showing up for you?
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