I witnessed an historic event today at work; the first flight of the first production model F-35. It was kind of funny because most of the line workers stopped doing their work so they could go outside to see the maiden voyage or watch the live webstream video on their electronic workstation monitors. A day I won't soon forget.

http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/new...F35FL12156.xml

 

Thats pretty cool Stealth. Man I love those fighter jets!

 

That should be a good flying plane. Haven't heard yet, but will it have super-cruise like the F-22?

I do like that they are reusing some of the old names, like the Lightning, and the Thunderbolt, but when are the going to have a new one with the name of the best prop fighter of WWII, the Mustang? Or the best early jet, the Saber.

 

The P-47 Mustang and the P-47 Thunderbolt were my favorite WWII planes...

But, the name Hellcat, would be much more, "intimidating" than "Mustang"... You know, unless they were racing...

 

I'm sure enemy fighter pilots arn't thinking about the names in terms of fear.

 

Last I heard, Shaw AFB, SC will be the first base for the USAF version of the F-35. I still like watching the video of the V/STOL taking off, that's freaking awesome to watch.

http://www.thevideosense.com/video/F35-JSF-take-off/

No matter how awesome any of these new aircraft are, none of them are going anywhere without tanker fuel.

KC-10 FE out...

 

P-47 Mustang????? Who made that, Republic American?

 

I think he meant P-51 Mustang. My ole man flew them in WW2 and Korean conflict, He still brags about it at 87 years old, bless his heart.

 

So, STEALTH, if you witnessed it, you work for Lockheed or similar at the base in Ft Worth (NAS-JRB Fort Worth)???

Caught ya!!!

And as I recall, for the P-47 and P-51, they both were made, but the P-47 was the Thunderbolt. (The P-51 was the Mustang.) And yes, the P-47 was made by Republic American.

 

Yeah, it was a typo...

I meant P-51..

The P-51 came so late in the war, that every time an "impact" poll is done, the P-47 beats the P-51...

I still like the 51 more...

Yes, I know the name doesn't mean much, I'm talking interms or historical impact (Hellcat).. With the upcoming technology, and improving upon today's combat tactics, it's likely the enemy will die without ever having seen their killer. (F-22 & F-35)...

 

If you want a fighter to have a name that invokes fear,

you should call it the F-35 "Mother In-Law"



Im kind of getting scared just thinking about it......

 

Even though the Mustang came later in the war, groups flying it destroyed more German planes than groups flying any other fighter type. It was that good. Nothing wrong with the Thunderbolt, but the Mustang was better. Look how long they lasted after the war. The Mustang was flown by our military well into the 50's. The Thunderbolt was scrapped after the war.
As to who made them, the Mustang was North American, who also did the F86 Saber and F100 SuperSaber. The Thunderbolt was Republic.

As for not seeing your enemy, that was the thought in the late 50's and 60's when planes like the Phantom did not have guns. The thought was all kills would be by missile. That got some pilots killed. And why later models of the Phantom had a gun.

 

and the best thing about it, it's UNION BUILT by Union workers!

 

I was legal, I was watching on the boss's computer like they told us, the live office intranet webstream.

 

The respective service chooses the name of the A/C. I believe I remember reading in the Air Force Times where the Air Force had a write-in suggestion thing to come up with the nickname. Traditionally, the Air Force uses 'birds of prey" for their modern fighter names, but this is a departure from that trend to bring back some Air Force heritage (the AF is big on that right now... including uniforms coming down the line). I would assume that it would be up to the Navy to come up with their own name, if they choose, since the Hellcat was a Navy aircraft ala "Wildcat", "Tomcat","Tigercat", "Bearcat", etc., all Navy A/C