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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

F-15 flys home with one wing


peter richards

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Apparently as well, the US Navy had a problem with F-14 pilots and navigators after flight. More often then not, thay had a seemingly overwhelming desire to get oiled up and play homoerotic games of beach volleyball for most of the early evening, as opposed to spending time with their wives and girlfriends. Consequently, they were always late for their tea (and didn't have time to have a shower either).

 

That is also true.

 

As with some Supra owners...

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The Typhoon is still hugely reigned in, wont be years until we see the true potential of that platform. Mainly software issues. But its already a generation behind anyway.

Plus dont you think the MOD had the pinnacle of S/VTOL in the Harrier? An aircraft that went through so many stages of development it was the default ground attack aircraft? Killed off for no reason I can fathom other than to make space for the F-35.

 

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So you havent seen the SU -37 then? Having been in a privelige position to get paid to go to airshows round the world, the -37 is just unbelievable to watch, basically it just defies physics. But again its from a bygone era of dog fighters, modern air power is all missiles from many miles away.

Dont forget the Chinese J-20 either

 

 

Absoloutely agree about the Typhoon, but IMO its still the best 4.5 gen for air to air, and is only set to improve. I wouldn't even include the Chinese stuff as its an unknown quantity, and the Russian Sukhois are very unreliable according to the Indian airforce.

 

The Harrier was fantastic, and we sold the whole fleet for the price of ONE F35! Utter madness. The airframes had loads of life left in them, and could have been used for all sorts of roles. We did the same thing with the Jaguar program, just after we spent millions upgrading the whole fleet.

 

Unfortunately, no one ever seems to be held accountable for these extremely expensive blunders. Last time we so flippantly reduced our defence capabilities, Argentina invaded the Falklands...

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We did the same thing with the Jaguar program, just after we spent millions upgrading the whole fleet

 

I miss working on Jags :( That whole engine upgrade programme was flawed from the start though. The engines were too powerful for the airframes so they had to get temperature limited, the reheat flame was too hot for the exhaust system so it melted the petals. Plus the Jag was just old, many of the frames were extended way past their life expired hours so were scrapped on flight safety grounds, the undercarriage frames started to crack really badly. Was a great little jet though :)

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I miss working on Jags :( That whole engine upgrade programme was flawed from the start though. The engines were too powerful for the airframes so they had to get temperature limited, the reheat flame was too hot for the exhaust system so it melted the petals. Plus the Jag was just old, many of the frames were extended way past their life expired hours so were scrapped on flight safety grounds, the undercarriage frames started to crack really badly. Was a great little jet though :)

 

It's strange to think that even 20 years ago we had a great assortment of frontline jets (Tornado, Jaguar, Harrier, Sea Harrier, Canberra and Buccaneer iirc, though even Hawks used to regularly carry sidewinders and cannon pods) and now we have Typhoon and a handful of Tornados.

 

IMO we should have bought Hawk 200 as a backup aircraft, I'm sure we could have even had it carrier capable (The US use the Goshawk) and had ourselves a great, INEXPENSIVE striker with similar conventional performance to the Harrier with a useful payload and great dogfighting capability.

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We do have the Hawk 128 which is very similar though, as most of the old T1 and T1A fleet are cooked. Having spent several years on the red arrows and nearly 10 years on Hawks in total, I know how patched up they are lol.

End of the day it's down to money, or lack of. If the RAF had just bought f15s many years ago when they were offered we might be in a totally different place right now.

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Today after cleaning my Supra i went inside for a cup of tea and found my fiancée reading this months flypast magaine.

She asked me if we could go to the RIAT and Duxford. I replied, "i guess so dear, but they're quite expensive, are you sure."

To which she replied "Its ok, I have some savings."

 

My god, I love my girl!

Looking forward to seeing the V-22 (if it doesn't crash) and Vulcan.

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Today after cleaning my Supra i went inside for a cup of tea and found my fiancée reading this months flypast magaine.

She asked me if we could go to the RIAT and Duxford. I replied, "i guess so dear, but they're quite expensive, are you sure."

To which she replied "Its ok, I have some savings."

 

My god, I love my girl!

Looking forward to seeing the V-22 (if it doesn't crash) and Vulcan.

 

I dragged my girlfriend to Duxford on my birthday last year. She didn't really appreciate the museum, but we went for a flight in a Dehavilland Dragon Rapide afterward and she loved that :D

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