Thank God For Air Shows
 

was just talking to my boss about this guy, what a legend!! wikipedia has a good write up on him but the book " The blonde knight of Germany " is excellant ( according to my boss).

he was the only pilot to shoot down 4 P51's in one day. They didnt shoot him down, he ran out of gas and force landed!!

there was more to the maint crews, families etc that surrendered to the american troops. the americans had to hand them over to the russians. 30 troops loaded them up in trucks and took them to the russian forces and unloaded them. the russians unbelieveably started butchering and raping the women and children, the us troops raised their guns but were forced to back down due to being heavily outnumbered and withdrew. the chaos didnt stop until a high ranking russian officer arrived who tried to stop it. it finished when he shot a russian soldier in the head. that night whole german families committed suicide...

also in west germany after the war he was involved in the F104 project. he heavily advised against the frame, saying it was flawed (iirc), but he was ignored. he was a straightshooter and disgusted with the amount of politics involved in west germany airforce. he was forced to retire in 1970 as a colonel. he was a major during the war.

Dont let the large number of German kills fool you. Most of Hartmann;s kills came on the eastern front fighting vastly inferior planes. Heck the Poles and the Russians were throwing Bi-Planes at BF109's!!! Russian had huge supplies or crappy planes flown by crappy pilots. Not to mention the German pilots were close to the front lines so the could flt several sorties a day. Germany had a "fly till you die" policy with no limitations on how many or how long the sorties were.

A very cool plane, but I've reead that the pilots hated them as they flew differently.

Mig 29 OVT Mortal Kombat
 

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6041518491539563055&q=mig+29&total =1348&start=10&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

Dogfight
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6041518491539563055&q=mig+29&total =1348&start=10&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

Sophwith Camel and before that an Eindecker..were all widow makers...

No F15 has ever been shot down by opposing aircraft (according to the History channel). The F22 is light years ahead of everything.

same applies for the F-14, except in Iranian hands...which in my book doesn't really say anything about the plane...

Here is the real widow maker although not a jet.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1185753763.jpg

Oh the Comet!! Horrible flying machine - volitile rocket powered - 3 passes (max) and then they had to glide helplessly back to earth, with no landing gear at that. P51's just waited for them to run out of fuel then slaughter em!

Even if you didn't get shot down during the glide home I understand the Me 163 Komet had a nasty habit of exploding during landing if there was any traces of fuel left on board.

A friend of mine is the son of former USAF Korean war ace and ex-thunderbird Hoot Gibson(still alive) Hoot is the third US jet ace in history. Hoot also has the distinction of shooting down two enemy aircraft in one mission (Mig-15s), without the benefit of a functional gunsite. Hoot loved the F-86, and so do i. ;)

The F-15 is the most dominant combat proven fighter aircraft of all time though. It's not even close.

I wish they wouldnt do this...
 

http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2007/07/27/1_dead_in_crash_at_eaa_show/

This sucks!.....Those are the greatest fighter planes of all time! IMO... Anybody want to argue? Just ask any Eighth Air force Bomber crewman.

Bob

My personal favorite has always been the F-16. It has that interesting feature of the center of thrust being ahead of the center of gravity. This means it could fly without its wings. It's diminutive size and beautiful shape, combined with this interesting performance feature, has kept it in the #1 spot on my list.

My personal favorite has always been the F-16. It has that interesting feature of the center of thrust being ahead of the center of gravity. This means it could fly without its wings. -Superman...


Supe- Maybe you can fly with no wings..But trust me, The airplane cant fly with no wings. As beautiful as an F-16 is it needs its wings.

If you dont mind me asking...Where did you hear that? The intake nacelle forward of the c/g will negate the need for wings...I cant help but ask...

You need to blast to Long Beach and have a beer with us. Bring Lois....

Bob

I'd enjoy the beer and company.

As far as your question goes, the principle of the center of thrust versus the center of gravity is fairly central to rocketry. Model rocketeers pay attention to this when they design a model rocket. If they fail, and the center of thrust is behind the center of gravity, the rocket will not go straight. Another incorrect but sometimes helpful way of thinking about this is the notion that with COT ahead of COG, the rocket engine pulls the rocket, even though it is located in the tail. If not, the engine is pushing and the rocket may spin and lack control. Rockets have tail fins, but not wings. And frankly, the tail fins are not for control as much as stability.

I have heard from several sources that indeed, in theory, the F-16 could fly without wings. Then again, so could the F-15. For the same reason. Thrust is greater than weight.

Supe,

I understand but, you should have quantified that with flying like a ballistic missile. What I meant was controlled flight. Actually most of our jet fighters will do this. Anyway-Not to argue.

When you commin out for a beer.. BTW I checked your signiture and other key players in the forum to wrestle up a happy hour. Is BOINKING what I think it is?

I'm saddened that nobody mentioned F-105, the "Thud". While not an outstanding fighter, it carried lot's and lot's of iron to northern Vietnam and was faster on deck than anything else.

Technologically best piston fighter? Probably Do 335 "Pfeil" or Hawker Tempest.

http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/aero...ornier_335.jpg

shocking that we don't agree ;)

I think the FW-190 was a better fighter.

http://www.taphilo.com/jg26/FW-190-D...-of-Flight.JPG

The Z-Stoff Rocket fuel was known to MELT Pilots of the Komet ME 163 if they got it on them. The Komet had apx 3 to 5 minutes of fuel on Board.