The mouse still roars

[SmokeyDave]

Interestingly regarding fast aeroplanes, the sr-71 Blackbird has to be built with such wide engineering tolerances that it openly leaks fuel on the ground... You see when it's traveling at over Mach 3 the whole body heats and expands..... Scary stuff.

They were a sight to behold, saw one a good few times in the 80's at Mildenhall airshow.

My favourite memory from an airshow was an F-15 that went for a time to height record, standing on runway to 40,000 feet in a few minutes. Being one of the first planes to have thrust greater than weight it just went vertical from rotation. That and the Lightning squadron scramble at the last airshow at RAF Binbrook

[ValeTudoGuy]

But isn't plane warfare governed by two simple rules.

1. Catch them by surprise on the ground.

2. Catch them returning to their fields when they are short on fuel.

Time either of those right and poorer equipment can take out the best.

1. You need to be able to detect them.

2. You need to be able to get within 20 miles of them.

The one thing that Russia has that's pretty devastating is surface to air capabilities.

But you are absolutely correct, a technically superior force can often be bested by technically better strategy. History has many many examples of this.

[SmokeyDave]

Clever tactics always win, in the Gulf War the US used EF111 Ravens to hunt the Iraqi radar, the Iraqis learn't the Ravens call signs and would shut off the radars when they heard them coming. So the US got wind of this and set all the attacking planes to use the Raven callsigns, they duly shut down the radars thinking a missile was on its way and let the flight whizz on by

[Edamski]

The get me when they're low on fuel is the strategy used by us/ze Germans when we where up against the far superior jets at the time.

Is very scary stuff about the ill fitting sr-71 as typhoon is at .25mm at it's biggest tolerance haha usually closer to .05 and less than that in certain areas.

Yeah the stealth card is always a good one to have that's the f-35's trump card as well although they're being quite quiet about it.

Regards to the F-22 and communication, are you implying that the Americans will work in harmony with each other? more like target each other haha

[ValeTudoGuy]

They were a sight to behold, saw one a good few times in the 80's at Mildenhall airshow.


My favourite memory from an airshow was an F-15 that went for a time to height record, standing on runway to 40,000 feet in a few minutes. Being one of the first planes to have thrust greater than weight it just went vertical from rotation. That and the Lightning squadron scramble at the last airshow at RAF Binbrook

I have seen three aerial feats that truly moved me... A Vulcan flying vertically, it hung in mid air completely still for what seemed like minutes before it started to accelerate and made a sound like the air was literally being torn in two.


A MiG 29 keeping pace with an F15 in a show of aerobatics.. Which is amazing when you realise that there was absolutely no fly by wire computer control in the MiG... It was all Pilot skill.


And a B2 Bomber that managed to "Sneak Up" on a crowd of tens of thousands of people.... You should have heard the crowd gasp when they were encompassed by a shadow and when you looked up you realised a 50 meter wide $2billion stealth bomber was traveling almost silently a few hundred feet over your head.

[ValeTudoGuy]

Regards to the F-22 and communication, are you implying that the Americans will work in harmony with each other? more like target each other haha

Hahaha, there is that.... Because Muricah!

[SmokeyDave]

I have seen the aerial feats that truly moved me... A Vulcan flying vertically, it hung in mid air completely still for what seemed like minutes before it started to accelerate and made a sound like the air was literally being torn in two.


A MiG 29 keeping pace with an F15 in a show of aerobatics.. Which is amazing when you realise that there was absolutely no fly by wire computer control in the MiG... It was all Pilot skill.


And a B2 Bomber that managed to "Sneak Up" on a crowd of tens of thousands of people.... You should have heard the crowd gasp when they were encompassed by a shadow and when you looked up you realised a 50 meter wide $2billion stealth bomber was traveling almost silently a few hundred feet over your head.

Blimey, if/when we finally meet up, is our conversation going to be cigars or aircraft?

As you probably gathered, I love my planes, especially 60's - 80's.

[Edamski]

Oh I saw a Vulcan at riat a few years ago and it was an impressive sight. I just remember seeing this triangle lurking in the distance! Don't make em like that any more!

Speaking if which, I miss the harrier.

[sheppsea]

The mouse still roars

Am I the only one who has no knowledge of (or interest in) planes?

[ValeTudoGuy]

Blimey, if/when we finally meet up, is our conversation going to be cigars or aircraft?

As you probably gathered, I love my planes, especially 60's - 80's.

My stepfather was a sergeant in the airforce and I used to get to go behind the scenes at the air shows. It's actually amazing how much respect the international pilots have for each other.

The Russians and American pilots in particular used to love having tours around each other's crafts... I'm not sure their respective government's would have been all too happy.

The one exception to the rule... And this was rumoured at the time so read into it what you will.
At one of the air shows in the early to mid 90's, the Egyptian and Israeli airforce are booked to come to the same show... They both kicked off but ended up coming.

Any way, the Egyptians came with a hefty assortment of planes in somewhat of a dick swinging exercise. After seeing what the Egyptians has come with the Israelis packed up and went home to the disappointment of the crowd.... They only blew up the runways that the Egyptian planes weren't there to defend on the way back though!

Hahaha, I don't know how true it is but it's Pretty cheeky!

[SmokeyDave]

I was a typical kid brought up in the 70's, a diet of Action Man and Victory comics, hit my teens when the Falklands War started.

Watching the day to day footage of the Sea Harriers and then the Vulcan mission got me hooked.

What followed was two decades of airshow visits and 7 years in Air Cadets, until I had to leave hitting 18 years old. As a 14 year old getting to fly and also shoot a 7.62 SLR was a dream come true

Airshows tailed off for me as the best bases stopped them due to being in permanent operations.

My brother now does aviation and motorsport photography, often getting calls from the pilots asking if he is around at a certain time as they are "passing through".

[butternutsquashpie]

Dick waving! Purely dick waving!

Until they get the full thing relinquished, the Russians will keep laughing.
And Psht, "our" pride is way too high to have them continue to laugh.

Sent from my BlackBerry Q10 using Tapatalk for Android.

[Edamski]

My stepfather was a sergeant in the airforce and I used to get to go behind the scenes at the air shows. It's actually amazing how much respect the international pilots have for each other.

The Russians and American pilots in particular used to love having tours around each other's crafts... I'm not sure their respective government's would have been all too happy.

The one exception to the rule... And this was rumoured at the time so read into it what you will.
At one of the air shows in the early to mid 90's, the Egyptian and Israeli airforce are booked to come to the same show... They both kicked off but ended up coming.

Any way, the Egyptians came with a hefty assortment of planes in somewhat of a dick swinging exercise. After seeing what the Egyptians has come with the Israelis packed up and went home to the disappointment of the crowd.... They only blew up the runways that the Egyptian planes weren't there to defend on the way back though!

Hahaha, I don't know how true it is but it's Pretty cheeky!

Love that story haha!

UKCF aviation day out?

[mattyhall22]

I used to go to a to of Airshows as a kid, my favourite was Mildenhall. The yanks definitely know how to put a good airshow on

The Saab Vigen is one of the loudest I have heard when it did a low level high speed pass, set all the car alarms off. The Vulcan is a loud bugger though, and the harrier when it is doing it VTOL demo.

Think it was the SU-27 that used to do "tail slides" and the "cobra" which would stall other aircraft engines, looked awesome in a display.

I have been to RAF Cosford quite a few times, its a place to visit even when its not the airshow, there are loads of displays and static aircraft to see.

[mattyhall22]

Oh and the Frecce Triclori (Italian display team) and the Blue Angels (US Navy team) just aren't the same as the Red arrows! Used to love hearing the inter plane commentary "Red leader to Red 4, Break now" BRRRRRMMMMMMMMMMMM