Posted on 04/30/2012 5:15:58 AM PDT by Kaslin
F-4's used to do that, too.
And C-5A's sounded like angry wildcats. Really, really, really big, deeply unhappy wildcats.
Saw F-111's exercising with British Buccaneers along the Tyne valley in 1989. I remember standing on the parapet of one of Hadrian's fortresses on his wall -- Birdoswald, I think it was -- and looking down at two of our bold countrymen roaring by in terrain-following mode. I was very proud of them, as they added a "then and now" military flavor to a military day.
FWIW, Dick Cheney had the jigs and dies for the F-14 destroyed, but drawings remain for two followon versions of the basic F-14. Pick one and run with it. The NAV needs a better aircraft than the F/A-18 for fleet defense, and the F-14 variant "Tomcat II"/"Super Tomcat" (actually two designs to pick from) is that aircraft. Slather some radar-absorbent coatings on it and go for it.
The carrier's rail gun, missile batteries, and Phalanx would get pretty warm, but it's doubtful that the opposing authority could organize such an atack sufficiently to keep his a/c from running into one another, and still achieve coordination sufficient to defeat the lightning-fast defensive weapons. (Which isn't even considering what the fighter cap could do.)
We also called the Vent Cleaners. During a Dependents cruise {in and out same day} they would do an airshow. A F-14 would come by at Flightdeck level about a quarter mile off port side full throttle. For about a week after we got trouble calls where the dust have come out of the vents LOL.
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