USS Enterprise, CVN-65, in 1/350 scale, Tamiya Kit #78007

Jeff Head said:

The F-8U Crusader III also carried the same BVR missiles. It was capable, like your last picture of the F-4 of carrying four Sidewiders (AIM-9) and four Sparrow (AIM-7). It was also going to be capable, like the F-8 Crusader before it, of carrying air to ground ordinance.

The F-8 U Crusader III and the F-4 Phantom II were competing against each other to replace the F-8 Crusader.

The Crusader III was not picked principally because the Navy wanted a dual engine dual pilot aircraft.

Well, now we have dual engine Hornets flying all over the place with single piltos, and we are about to make the largest purchase in the history of the US Military with a single engine aircraft. So...full circle.

Exacty, the F-4 Phantom was actually losing some dog fights because when it came to knife fighting range, it had no gun, and the gun was necessary...and it still is.

[The F-8U could have led to that same spot, IMHO. It was faster, higher flying and far more manueverable. It could carry the same AA missiles and was A2G capable. I remember the competition and after the loss, I remember my dad (who would move on to the very successful A-7 Corsair II competition) talking about it very directly. The Navy wanted a dual engine, dual pilot aircraft, and that was the deciding factor. Clearly the F-4 had to be adequate in the air to air role...but an aircraft that was masterful in it was turned away.

If you have ever wondered why there were so many similarities in the external design of the F-8 Crusader, the F-8U Crusader III, and the A-7 Corsair II, it was because my Dad was the lead dynamics engineer on all of them. He was also the lead on the XC-142A STOVL cargo aircraft for the Navy which actually won a competition but then was cancelled by McNamara back then. Another aircraft before its time. He was very involved on the F-7 Cutlass before the F-8 Crusader, but was not the lead at that time. He ultimately finished his career after Lockheed acquired Vought, in designing and producing hyper-velocity missiles for attack aircraft. Knetic energy warhead weapons to be used as tank killers and the like.

That program allowed for very accurate direct fire missiles, at hypervelocity speed, with shaped depleted uranium warheads that could cut through spaced homogenoeus tank armor like a knife through butter and spall off on the inside filling the compartment with hot plasma shrapnel. They debuted in the 1st Gulf War and were improved upon since.

Those units, which have the range and effectiveness of a Maverick missile, cost about $100,000 each instead of well over a million dollars each. Anyhow...he worked on some neat stuff and was constantly out in New Mexico at the various ranges testing it against captured Russian hardware provided by Israel and the CIA.

At any rate, back to the aircraft discussion....here we are many, many years later, and we we are back to many single pilot fighters, and going to a huge purchase of single engine aircraft...the F-35C for the Navy.

This does not mean the F-35 is bad in the least...no more than the F-8U III was. It just means that some of those "ideas" and conclusions that figured so heavily into decisions in the late 1950s and into the 1960s have been proven over the years, to not be as necessary as they though back then.

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Air Force Brat said:

Astronaut John Glenn set a coast to coast record in the F-8, and the F-8 was known as the last gunfighter, with her four 20mm cannons, and had the highest kill rate in Vietnam at 6 to 1, so it was a dogfighter, the F-4 was kind-ot a sled, and the poor showing against the Migs led to Red Flag and Top Gun, although the F-4s real trouble was inneffective air to air missles, a very bad deal, what was McCain flying when he got shot down?

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Air Force Brat said:

If we do have to take on bad guys again, the decision to drop the F-22 to save the F-35, will be understood as the stoopidity of the Political Clown Class, although as of tonight, I am honestly less concerned about it than I was two years ago, it is still ignorant to run second best in this horserace, although both the T-50 and J-20 have likely run into the inevitable hang ups that have slowed F-35 developement, these airplanes have the complexity of the aircraft carrier in a very small package, there are lots of potential "fun" areas that will require going back to the drawing board?

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Jeff Head said:

I believe McCain was flying an A-4E Skyhawk "downtown," when he was shot down.

Amen to all of that.

Well, we have, right now, 187 F-22s and over 60 F-35s. That's 250 fifth gen aircraft in inventory. China has four (3 J-20 and 1 J-31), and Russia is about to complete their fifth (T-50). Thats a total of nine prototype aircraft in the ROW. Neither of those models are ready for show time and will not be for several years.

By the time they are, we will have 187 F-22s and over 200 F-35s or almost a 400 aircraft edge.

In 2025 or so, when we peak at a 500 aircraft edge, we should see progress on the "Next Generation Air Dominance Fighter Program," and I bet by 2030 we are "officially" flying a 6th gen aircraft, preparing for produiction. You and I will be old men by then...but we may both live long enough to see it.

As a matter of fact, I believe we already have four to six 6th gen aircraft flying out of the skunk works as we speak.

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Air Force Brat said:

Yes, we should look very closely at the Raptor and all the supposed new fifth gens and build a Super Raptor, keep the man and the tail, and the mass centralization that really is the Raptor's secret weapon. Sorry for hi-jacking your thread Master Jeff BRAT

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bd popeye said:

Jeff check out this 1/350th model of the Nimitz. This look like 1975-79.

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B.I.B. said:

Nice work with the models Jeff. Have you ever constructed model aircraft? I know my nephew enjoys making models because he is forever making those Gundams or whatever they are known as.His birthday is coming up and I have been thinking about a model F35 as a way of maintaining his dream of piloting one of those birds inthe not too distant future. I was hoping that you could advise me on the brands that are worth considering

Thanks

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Jeff Head said:

I do build model aircraft as well. 1/72 scale. I find them big enough to do significant detail, but also small enough to display them reasonably and at a reasonable cost.

There is an excellent F-35B 1/72 scale model of the Joint Strike Figher by Fujimi. In fact, it is the only decent 1/72 scale model of the JSF out there, but they are hard to find.

I am in between ship models now and will be building this model this week. Here are some pictures o

But, as I say,these Fujimi, 1/72 scale models are hard to find, and so their price is higher than they would nomrally be.

Now, there are also some good 1/48 scale out there. I would suggest using Free Time Hobbies Aircraft Store online, or a Hobby Town brick and mortar Store if it is near you (you may have to order it in in either case).

Here are some links:

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