Modern single engine General Aviation aircraft, as fighters? (1 Viewer)

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I'd go with the MFI-15 or SAAB Safari, still produced today under licence....

General characteristics

Crew: one, pilot
Capacity: 1 passenger
Length: 7.00 m (23 ft)
Wingspan: 8.85 m (29 ft ½ in)
Height: 2.60 m (8 ft 6½ in)
Wing area: 11.90 m² (128.1 ft²)
Empty weight: 690 kg (1,521 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 1,200 kg (2,645 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Avco Lycoming IO-360-A1B6 fuel injected, air cooled flat-4 piston engine, 200 hp (149 kW)

Performance

Maximum speed: 196 kts (362 km/h)
Cruise speed: 154 kts
Stall speed: 55 kts ()
Service ceiling: 6,100 m (20,000 ft)
 
COOL thread! I am a pilot and during my days as a flight instructor I actually DID have one or two (in hindsight ill-considered) mock dogfights with fellow instructors when we were out in the Flight Training Area...we were flying Czech-designed SambaXL aircraft with 4 cylinder Rotax 912 engines...good times! I reckon a SR22 would be a pretty good dogfighting platform...
 
I'd go with the MFI-15 or SAAB Safari, still produced today under licence....

General characteristics

Crew: one, pilot
Capacity: 1 passenger
Length: 7.00 m (23 ft)
Wingspan: 8.85 m (29 ft ½ in)
Height: 2.60 m (8 ft 6½ in)
Wing area: 11.90 m² (128.1 ft²)
Empty weight: 690 kg (1,521 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 1,200 kg (2,645 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Avco Lycoming IO-360-A1B6 fuel injected, air cooled flat-4 piston engine, 200 hp (149 kW)

Performance

Maximum speed: 196 kts (362 km/h)
Cruise speed: 154 kts
Stall speed: 55 kts ()
Service ceiling: 6,100 m (20,000 ft)

You might want to check your source.

That "Maximum speed: 196 kts (362 km/h) " may actually be the dive speed.

Max level speed at sea level may be more like 141kts. Cruising speed 126-128kts. At least according to the 1972-73 Jane's. It also gives and empty weight of 600kg for the MFI-15 with max weights of 825kg acrobatic (+6G,-3G), 900kg utility (+4.4, -1.76G). 950kg normal and 1100kg in restricted class (1000kg max landing weight) as the MFI-17 with stations for underwing stores.
Granted a Piper Cherokee Arrow II is a bigger plane (1202kg) but using basically the same engine it goes 152kts at sea level with retractable landing gear.

Don't get me wrong, the MFI-15/17 was a pretty amazing little plane.
 
Lancair IV, 335 mph, catch me if you can. yeah, it's a kit, but there's a thousand plus of them out there, more than a lot of 'production' planes. For something a little bigger, the SOCATA TBM850, again it's fast, bigger payload, of course it is a turboprop......?
 
COOL THREAD!!!!!

HERE'S ONE FOR YOU FOLKS!!!!

"Unventuresome Swedes spend their vacations at the seashore with wives and children. Count Carl Gustaf von Rosen, on the other hand, has left the family home this year and with four other men has gone off to Biafra on a big-game hunt of sorts. The weapon they chose is an odd one: a Swedish single-engine aircraft known as the MFI-9B trainer, equipped to hold twelve rockets in pods under its wing. The bag claimed so far has been equally unusual: it includes four MIGs, one Ilyushin 28, two Canberras, a Heron and a control tower, all belonging to the federal government of Nigeria.

Psychological Lift. Von Rosen, 59, is a Swedish nobleman with a passion for airplanes and a penchant for underdogs. "Once I get into a plane," he says, "I feel that I can do just about anything as long as I believe in it." As a young man he flew a Heinkel air ambulance in Ethiopia, helping victims of Italian aggression. When Russia attacked Finland, he signed up as a lieutenant in the Finnish air force. In the Congo in 1960, Von Rosen flew supplies for Swedish troops on United Nations peace-keeping duty. Now a senior pilot for a charter flight service called Transair Sweden, Von Rosen last summer hauled relief supplies to Biafra.

The plight of the Biafrans rekindled his sympathies for the outgunned and inspired an improbable, wildly romantic scheme: to marshal pilots and planes and create an instant air force for the planeless Biafrans. Last week, as the Biafran rebellion against Nigeria neared its second anniversary, Von Rosen and his flyers attacked the Nigerian airport at Benin, reported damage to one MIG and several civilian planes sitting on the ground. That raid and two earlier forays, which damaged British- and Russian-made Nigerian planes at Enugu and Port Harcourt, eased the pressure on Biafra's landing strip at Uli. With no Nigerian bombers overhead for a change, transports were shuttling in.

Von Rosen's air corps, which includes two Biafran pilots, has also given a psychological lift to Biafran troops fighting on despite the loss of their capital. Soon after Umuahia fell in April, Biafrans retaliated by recapturing the junction town of Owerri following a lengthy siege. Last week Biafran units were moving slowly southward from Owerri toward the oilfields around Port Harcourt. The Biafran strategy is not so much to regain lost territory as to prolong the standoff and inflict federal casualties until the Nigerians agree to peace talks and grant them independence. Toward such a goal, Count von Rosen's air force, however Lilliputian, is a significant help. As soon as his squadron has effectively disabled Nigerian airpower on the ground, Von Rosen intends to use his planes in close-up tactical air support of the Biafran troops.



Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,941667,00.html#ixzz1asWHBc2d"


aircraft_mfi-9b_biafra_1.jpg
My sister in law's parents had a ground view of that war, they were missionaries in Nigeria close to the disputed territory. It was one vicious bloodbath.

Von Rosen is a very interesting individual. He was the nephew of Carin Rosen, Herman Goerings first wife.
 
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That Lancair would be tough! I was thinking of something completely opposite, old school. First though was an old Navion. They have a sliding canopy, so I would feel cool getting in! I have always liked the Meyers 200d, built like a tank and pretty fast too.

Never mind, I just thought of the trump card, nobody can beat it! A Maule Rocket with 210hp. Were any of these aerobatic??


Ahh, still liking the Meyers, always thought they were cool. Plus I'm an ogre, I like aluminum and steel.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2LOSfUioyc Nice flyby!
 
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There were a few Bonanza's built with an acrobatic rating, I don't know the differences or the limitations when doing acrobatics. I do believe there was a little bit of structural beefing up and I doubt that acrobatics were allowed with with a normal full load (back seat passengers and baggage) :)

Edit, from wiki;

F33C Bonanza
(1970) F33A certified for aerobatics, 118 built
 

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