...To that special breed of sky devil...[/quote]
Heh heh Ryan, give us a break....I've been called an 'Air Pirate' in earnest, But 'sky devil'? lol
BzB
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What is (in your opinion) the BEST fighter plane that has EVER served in the Navy / Marine Corps?
- Thread starter TOPGUN1991
- Start date
Harrier Dude
Living the dream
"....known and feared throughout the world.....Marine.
To all squids and rust-pickers!!!!"
-excerpt from The Great Santini
The SH-60B entered operational service in 1984 giving the 60 28yrs of service to the Navy. If the 60R/S stick around as long as the 60B, then the airframe will have been in service for almost 60yrs.Yeah, it's called the F/A-18A-D. 27 and 30 years for the Phantom in USN/USMC service respectively. We are now at 29 years and counting for the Hornet in USN service.....same year of "birth" as meUSMC will have been flying Hornets for as long as they flew Phantoms next year. That's including the service the Phantoms gave purely in reserve squadrons, so operationally, their service life has already been exceeded by the legacy Hornet.
Overall service, obviously the Phantom still wins since the AF still uses them as drones, but since you specified USN/USMC
Hey, that Great Santini character was a Fox-Four-Phantom driver, just like this old 'Squid' was.
[And please in the future, always capitalize, "Squid."] Also I never picked nutt'n.... rust, nose, butt, nutt'n. I was better.
BTW, did that Santini dude ever bag a trap? I forget.
Hey Cat, hows come Santini was flying a 'Sader in the movie (or in the book, can't 'member which)?
BzB
Harrier Dude
Living the dream
Hey Cat, hows come Santini was flying a 'Sader in the movie (or in the book, can't 'member which)?
BzB
In the book it was Crusaders. The movie had Phantoms.
One of the all time best movies ever.
He upgraded.Hey Cat, hows come Santini was flying a 'Sader in the movie (or in the book, can't 'member which)?
BzB
The F-4 was one of the greater "unrealized potential" a/c in Naval Air history, IMHO. True, it was designed as an interceptor and became a good ACM a/c (if flown properly) and a good day air-to-mud platform. The shame is that the Navy (unlike the USAF w/ the F-4E) never put a multi-mode radar in its Phantoms so that they could become serious strike-fighters before we even used the term. Able to carry 12,000lbs of bombs, a supersonic, all-weather, air-to-air & air-to-mud Phantom would have been a wonderful return on our investment in this a/c. At the time, we were still stuck in the "fighter" & "attack" communities mindset, one that we could no longer afford by the 90's. FWIW.
Never did it, but I am pretty sure it could.
Would have burned a shitload of gas though, and probably flame out before reaching the target.
If we weren't speed limited by being part of an Alpha Strike, we ingressed about 500KIAS with 6 MK-82s, 4 'winders, and 2 Sparrows.... and egressed as fast we could go, and as low as we could go if in heavily defended areas.
How low are you talking Cat?
Until the RO started to scream. (and they wanted to be low, too).
I dunno, maybe 100 ft. over the flat rice paddies. We left rooster tails. (They didn't have telephone or light poles to worry about).