Vanity - Military Jet History

[newbie 10-21-00]

Admin Mod, if this is in the wrong place please move it to the correct place. Thanks

I'm trying to help my son on a school project. We are trying to consolidate what the most important jets in US military history and need some strong resources. For instance, I think the F4 Phantom is important as it evolved into the F15 or F16 (I think) but need to find someplace to verify. Also what does the "A" dsignation, as in A-10 stand for? Any guidance will be greatly apprceiated.

[cmsgop]

Don't forget about the F-86 !!!

[MEG33]

Have you tried google?

[Mr. Blond]

"A" denotes a ground attack role.

[Poohbah]

"A" designator = Attack.

The F-4, F-15, and F-16 share almost no relationship, aside from being airplanes.

The F-4 Phantom II was originally the F4H Phantom II, built for the US Navy. Its mission was fleet air defense and strike. The Air Force bought it as a multirole aircraft; its original designation was the F-110 Spectre.

The F-15 Eagle was designed as a single-role air superiority fighter--the motto during design and development was "Not a pound for air-to-ground!"

The F-16 was designed as a lightweight, low-cost fighter.

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

F-117. Changed aerial warfare.

[OneTime]

Doesn't the B-52 have the longest service history?

[MediaMole]

U.S. Air Force Museum

[Tailback]

I agree, F-86 needs mentioning. F-4 due to its long service and multiple variations (wild weasel etc.) also needs mentioning. B-52 should be in there definately. F-117 should get mention as first purely stealth design. SR-71 and U-2, very important historically.

[snippy_about_it]

Click on US Military Aircraft

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

no question the b-52 is without doubt the most important jet ever to be deployed by the us military!!



50 years old and still the workhorse of the us bomber fleet!

[JimVT]

Although it arrived late the P-51 Mustang saved a lot B-17 crews by bouncing ME-109s all over Germany during WW2.

[Phsstpok]

The A in a war planes designation means "attack" or ground attack. In pilot's lingo it's "air to mud." The F in war planes like the F16 means that it is a "fighter" or air superiority fighter. Most F16s are actually FA16s, meaning that they are suitable for both air to air and air to ground combat roles. Most F15s are F only, but there are FA15 type planes as well. B would be bomber, so the B2 and B1 bombers are obvious. The "aardvark" FB-111, is the swing wing fighter bomber of vietnam vintage. Then you have the F117 stealth "fighter" which is really a bomber, but exceptions prove the rule.

definitely check on the Sabre of Korea vintage, as well as the Skyhawk of Vietnam. The A4 Skyhawk was the last stick and rudder fighter, as far as I can tell, that was flown in the traditional manner. The F4 was the first of the more sophisticated planes of the type we have now, but it was a step removed for the pilot from the "old days."

The F104 was a significant plane in the development of modern aircraft design as well. My favorite fighter that never was is the YF71, the fighter version of the SR71 blackbird reconnaisance plane. It didn't have guns on it because it was faster than the bullets it would be firing and would catch up to them before they could hit the bad guys. Not a good plan. They developed the Phoenix missle for that test platform, which certainly would have been the ultimate high altitude interceptor. Russia dropped the high altitude bombers it would have gone after to there was no reason to develop it further. The Phoenix lived on, and as I understand it, they built the Navy F14 around the missle, rather than the traditional other way around.

[Paleo Conservative]

Don't forget the F-80 and the Me-262. Also the B-47 and KC-135 should be mentioned.

[newbie 10-21-00]

Google's first listings invariably give discount airline tix sights. Freeper's are much better. Thanks to all for the valuable info so far, keep it coming.

[Poohbah]

The fighter variant of the SR-71 was the YF-12A.

[atomic conspiracy]

Joe Baugher has written a series of highly informative monographs on US military aircraft. It's a good place to start.

[Paleo Conservative]

no question the b-52 is without doubt the most important jet ever to be deployed by the us military!!

Before the B-52 was built, Boeing built the B-47. If you look carefully at it, you will see the configuration of the engines mounted on pylons from swept wings is the prototype of most of the world's jetliners today.

[Pukin Dog]

Actually, there is quite a strong relationship between the F-4, F-15 and F-16.

The first relationship is that the F-15 only exists because the Air Force did not want to suffer the same commonality fate as they did when having to accept the Navy's F-4. The AirForce had originally failed to produce an effective replacement for their F-4E for long range interception. They were counting on using their "Eagle" long range missile, carried first by the A-12(SR-71 interceptor variant)which was being redesigned to be used on the F-111. They came very close to having to accept the Navy's F-14, upon the failure of the F-111 fighter variant for both services.

The F-15's performance(specifically time-to-climb) was what kept the Air Force from having to live with the AWG-9 Radar and Eagle(Phoenix)missile as an Intercept solution. Had the F-14 started life with better engines, there never would have been an F-15 as we know it.

The engines are also the reason for the relationship between the F-15 and F-16. The YF-16 won the AirForce's Lightweight Fighter Program over the YF-17 largely because it incorporated the F-100 engine used in the F-15, resulting in much lower procurement and operating costs for the Air Force.

The other relationship between the F-15 and F-16 is that they were both the product of fighter design specifications that took advantage of the Energy-Manuverability doctrine of one Col. John Boyd, who is now considered the "father" of both aircraft, although he was unhappy about the final versions of each airplane. Boyd felt that they had been loaded down or "gold-plated" with attack-version hardpoints and unnessesary complexity.

[Pukin Dog]

You are somewhat correct regarding the F-4; for the AirForce anyway. The Air Force's mission for the F-4 was that of primary interceptor, which became the primary role for the F-15.

The F-4 was originally designed for the Navy and was forced upon the Air Force by former Secretary Robert McNamara after the failure of the F-111 to perform in the fighter/interceptor role. The Navy moved to the F-14 for both Fleet Defense and interceptor roles.