"Shoot em if you got em"

[mthrockmor]

Any chance adding the F-18 to our lineup? I'd take the F-14D first but I know I need to split the baby on this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JnsxWrPUHN8

[puller]

Awesome 

[Nefarious]

Awesome video. Sharing

[Puma44]

Way cool! 

[danny76]

Those graphics are amazing, when is this going to be available?

[DaveBB]

America's most talented pilots, flying the losing competitor of the Lightweight Fighter Competition.  Look how many drop tanks they had to hang off that F/A-18 (4).  Design them right the first time.

[Nathan60]

I like this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWu8JIUngy8

[RotBaron]

 

[mthrockmor]

America's most talented pilots, flying the losing competitor of the Lightweight Fighter Competition.  Look how many drop tanks they had to hang off that F/A-18 (4).  Design them right the first time.

Hey, now you're just raining on our parade. 

And I read the F-22 is even worse. Now, the F-14D with its three hour loiter time, that's the ticket! This goes back to WW2 days. Gen Chuck Yeagar makes the classic statement of truth....'the P-51D can do all day what the Spitfire can do for 45 minutes.' Something like that.

Amateurs talk strategy, professionals talk logistics.

[Puma44]

America's most talented pilots, flying the losing competitor of the Lightweight Fighter Competition.  Look how many drop tanks they had to hang off that F/A-18 (4).  Design them right the first time.

How would you fix the drop tank design issue?

[GScholz]

  

[Karnak]

Hey, now you're just raining on our parade. 

And I read the F-22 is even worse. Now, the F-14D with its three hour loiter time, that's the ticket! This goes back to WW2 days. Gen Chuck Yeagar makes the classic statement of truth....'the P-51D can do all day what the Spitfire can do for 45 minutes.' Something like that.

Amateurs talk strategy, professionals talk logistics.

Well, not what the Spitfire could do, but for longer.  The comment I recall from an American Spitfire pilot who transitioned to P-51s was along the lines of "The P-51 won't do what the Spitfire will do, but it will do it over Berlin."

[DaveBB]

How would you fix the drop tank design issue?

The F/A-18, including the Super Hornet, have a design flaw in which the pylons are angled.  This is so that they can drop/jettison stuff off the aircraft without it hitting the aircraft.  This increases the drag massively.  The F/A-18's fuel consumption due to this drag is in the same range as the century series of fighters (closest to the F-101 Voodoo).

So basically, to fix it- (1) Redesign the pylons (2) increase the aircraft's internal fuel fraction. 

[Puma44]

The F/A-18, including the Super Hornet, have a design flaw in which the pylons are angled.  This is so that they can drop/jettison stuff off the aircraft without it hitting the aircraft.  This increases the drag massively.  The F/A-18's fuel consumption due to this drag is in the same range as the century series of fighters (closest to the F-101 Voodoo).

So basically, to fix it- (1) Redesign the pylons (2) increase the aircraft's internal fuel fraction.  

Interesting.  Any idea if off the shelf drop tanks are used on the Hornet?  That may have driven the pylon configuration vs designing a new drop tank.  What is internal fuel fraction?  Unfamiliar with that term.  The number of drop tanks carried on a fighter is irrelevant to a fighter pilot.  Any given fighter can obviously only carry so much fuel.  Any extra fuel that can be carried externally is a plus.  It extends loiter time, range, high speed dash, etc and when it comes time to fight, blow the externals.   For the fighter pilot, "speed is life" and speed is fed by fuel.  As a side note, in the 80s the USAF developed a high speed center line 600 gallon drop tank for the F-4.  The high speed had a hinge point at the rear end that would cause the tank to rotate down and away from the belly when jettisoned.