Only by extremely generous definition of "flying", which would have the F-35 "flying" in the mid-90s. (But that's turning out well)
First you have to remember the government is not going to tell the public everything about a new aircraft. Certainly during the Cold War period....
The F4 began mass production in 1958, and did not hide them from the public at that point...... You do know they test these aircraft for years before they mass produce them? It takes take time. Certainly in the 1950s.
I think the average test time for aircraft before they produce them is 10 years? I’m not saying it took that long with the F4 because that would put it at 1948 (probably when it was a blue print), but to say early 1950s is NOT..., a stretch of the imagination.
Now if you want to believe that we went straight into mass production of the F4 Phantom with less than 3 years testing, then be my guest. LOL!.... S.M.H.
So NO...., it’s not a generous definition of flying. As a matter of fact it was a tricky aircraft just to keep in the air because the F4 is really not made for flying. Its a flying brick. I understand it took McDonald Douglas a while to keep the F4 in the air because they kept crashing.
I can tell you too about the F-35 (aka the Joint Strike Fighter). I first heard of it in 1997. That’s when it was declassified to the public okay? Obviously you have never worked with aircraft to understand how it works. The aircraft they roll out today take probably 20 years on average test, produce, etc..
There is a lot of propaganda on the F-35 losing a dog fight to an F-15 the other day. Don’t get bait and hooked so easily. It’s the media telling you that too, and we all know how trust worth those rats can be.
Trust me the military did this test A LONG TIME AGO... LOL! Like I said I don’t know all the circumstances of the test were the other day against the F-15? Perhaps it was with all its computers shut down? I don’t know?? Please don’t just buy the propaganda because the media does not want this jet mass produced. You do know that the Air Force, the Navy and the Marines are all buying this aircraft? DO YOU REALLY THINK ARE THAT CLUELESS about aircraft?
I would listen to the military before I trust the media or some corrupt politician.
They were even test flying the F-4 in the early 1950s.
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Only by extremely generous definition of “flying”, which would have the F-35 “flying” in the mid-90s.
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E1 is right. I operated a catapult console in ‘61-’62 on a carrier and launched F-4H’s every day/night. That would not have happened without flight testing of the F-4 in the ‘50s.