Recent content by bf109xxl

The Soviet Air Force reasonably believed that in conditions of strong AA fire (the reality of the Eastern Front), pilots would not be able to strictly adhere to speed restrictions. During testing, firing was carried out both with single shots and with bursts of varying duration. In the USSR...

What exactly is this cannon? Where did you find this designation? Or is that your creative nickname for the F-22?

The main reason was that the aircraft could be lightened: the fuel capacity of the Q-5's internal tanks was reduced, a couple of wing machine guns and less vital armor (and even oxygen equipment and some radio equipment!) could be removed, which was widely practiced in Soviet air regiments. In...

For me, this is an astonishing result. Either the tests involved particularly outstanding pilots, or I am underestimating the weakness of Soviet pilot training, or the Soviets used some special testing methodology... For me, it's a real mystery. The LaGG and Yak also had centreline mounting...

Comparison of motor-cannons according to Soviet data: Source: "Soviet Aviation Weapons: Aircraft Against Tanks" by Oleg Rastrenin, 2017

The Soviets noted the unreliable functioning of the 37 mm cannons on early Cobras. In addition, the trigger was awkward, making aiming difficult for the pilot - this drawback was initially improved directly in the units. But in general, Soviet pilots considered the weapons on the N and Q series...

In 1943, a wind tunnel (T-106) was launched in the USSR, which allowed the study of aerodynamics at high subsonic speeds, but until 1945, swept wings were practically not studied. And all of the TsAGI's recommendations for the first Soviet aircraft with swept wings (35°) were, as far as I...

Was the probability of hitting a tank evaluated during testing? According to the results of Soviet tests of 37 mm cannons (111P) on LaGG and Yak aircraft, the results were completely disappointing: even the most experienced pilots demonstrated a probability of only a few percent, while less...

The Jaguar was a very well-balanced aircraft with sufficient thrust-to-weight ratio and high maneuverability - further increases in combat load would have simply killed its maneuverability, turning the Jaguar into something resembling a Tornado. It was precisely its high maneuverability that...

I seriously doubt that an aircraft with such a power plant, which included a rocket engine, could in principle be operated normally and used as a front-line fighter or fighter-bomber. And it must be acknowledged that the F-104 could be adapted for a wider range of tasks. It is unlikely that the...

The upper side armor of the IS-3 (damn, that's the ONLY CORRECT designation for this tank!) could be penetrated even by a 7.5 cm KwK 42 AP shell from a distance of 1600 m (at 60°). And a single successful hit from a 100 mm shell in the welded joint in the middle of the "pike nose" of a...

The Draken was rather a good all-weather interceptor; it was less suitable for close air combat - at least, according to Finnish pilot Jyrki Laukkanen, who flew both the Draken and the MiG-21F-13. In my opinion, the Draken's effectiveness in ground-attack missions is hardly comparable to that of...

1. This wing shape is called trapezoidal with rounded wingtips. This is the term used both in Soviet documents and in technical literature. 2. Practically any wing shape of a single-engine monoplane fighter from World War II can be approximated either by a trapezoid or a combination of two...

Shhh! That will ruin the whole concept.

Maybe the Scimitar didn't reach its full potential, and the Super Scimitar would've been more effective as a strike aircraft than the F-4 and Buccaneer.