Trip to the National Museum of the US Air Force

Gnomey · Apr 27, 2012

Agreed, really doesn't look Soviet at all. Nice shots Glenn!

Airframes · Apr 27, 2012

Agree on both counts. Nice shots Glenn.

Wayne Little · Apr 28, 2012

Both are pretty cool....Thanks Glenn

Messy1 · Apr 30, 2012

You are right Crimea. The Su-27 is a beautiful looking plane too!

T Bolt · Apr 30, 2012

The Tornado came about when in 1968 the United Kingdom, West Germany and Italy got together and formed Panavia Aircraft to produce a low-level, variable-sweep wing,supersonic multirole combat aircraft. It first flew in August 1974 and was introduced into service in 1979–1980
The Tornado was used by the Royal Air Force), Italian Air Force and Royal Saudi Air Force during the first Gulf War and was also in Yugoslavia during the Bosnian War and Kosovo War, in Iraq during the second Gulf War, , as well as in Afghanistan and during the Libyan civil war.

Airframes · Apr 30, 2012

Nice ones Glenn. Back in the 1960s, when it was just known as MRCA (Multi Role Combat Aircraft), it seemed to take so long to come to fruition, with only a mock-up having been seen, that it became known as Mother Riley's Cardboard Aeroplane !

Lucky13 · Apr 30, 2012

Awesome shots!

rochie · Apr 30, 2012

Airframes said:
Nice ones Glenn. Back in the 1960s, when it was just known as MRCA (Multi Role Combat Aircraft), it seemed to take so long to come to fruition, with only a mock-up having been seen, that it became known as Mother Riley's Cardboard Aeroplane !

then after that it was Must Refurbish Canberra Again !!!!!

Aaron Brooks Wolters · Apr 30, 2012

Agree about the Mig-29, I always thought the Tornado was a sharp craft to. Was it really that bad Karl? Glenn, thank you again for taking the time sir. :thumbleft:

T Bolt · May 1, 2012

The F-22 is an air superiority fighter, which uses stealth technology and also has capabilities that include ground attack and electronic warfare. It entered service in late 2005 and due to budget restraints the original order for 750 was reduced to only 187 before production was halted in late 2011. Raptors are only operated by the U.S. Air Force due to a ban on foreign sales.

Airframes · May 1, 2012

Aaron, it was a period of getting used to longer development times. The Canberra was retained in service (among other types) until the first Tornado GR1s came along (and much later i other roles), and were up-dated many times. It became a joke that MRCA meant what Karl described !
Oops! Crossing posts - nice shots of the Raptor Glenn.

Crimea_River · May 1, 2012

Still enjoyng this thread Glenn. Keep them coming!

Gnomey · May 1, 2012

Good shots Glenn!

Matt308 · May 1, 2012

Was that particular F-22 a mock up or test article? With so few, you would have thought they would have upgraded a test article to an operational configuration.

T Bolt · May 1, 2012

For quite a while they had the YF-22 displayed in the same place, but this year was first time I saw a F-22 there. According to Wikipedia the YF is at the museum at Edwards now. There weren't any specifics about this aircraft but I believe it is a production F-22

T Bolt · May 3, 2012

The F-117A was the world's first operational stealth aircraft. It first flew in 1981 and achieved operational stats in 1983 as a ground attack aircraft, so the "F" in front of its number is somewhat misleading, which may have been the point. The F-117 was used during the both Gulf Wars and the Kosovo War where one was lost in combat. They were retired from service in 2008 and mothballed in climate controlled hangers instead of being shipped to the graveyard at Davis-Monthan AFB.