Interesting mission

[Cybrludite]

Originally posted by Cmdr Powers
According to the Pocket Guide to Military Aircraft (hamlyn, $14.95), Bahrain's aircraft insignia is a red, white, red, white roundel (white in the middle, surrounded by two red and one white rings).

So, their air force insignia is a target?

[JonA]

Originally posted by Cmdr Powers
As for the BAC Lightning- astounding aircraft! The only reason they aren't still around in RAF service is because the airframes are old!

They may be old but there are some working models in the USA somewhere I believe. There are some in the UK too but they're only allowed to taxi up and down the runway. The CAA won't permit them to fly anymore.

Its the last plane to be made entirely by the British. Every component was made in our country. It was also groundbreaking for its time as it was the only aircraft that could take off, go immediately into a vertical climb and break the sound barrier straight up. Even now it's a rarity to find an aircraft with that much thrust.

But then it was basically a jet engine with some wings and a cockpit.

[Cmdr Powers]

Originally posted by Cybrludite
So, their air force insignia is a target?

Yup.

[Cmdr Powers]

Originally posted by JonA
But then it was basically a jet engine with some wings and a cockpit.

The Lightning was designed in an era when anything and everything was being tried. It's design was unique and groundbreaking.

It's two engines were mounted vertically, one above the other, rather than the more conventional, side-by-side, layout. It's wings were cropped aspect deltas that combined the advantages of full delta wings (low incidental drag and high lift) with the advantages of severely swept wings (low induced drag and supersonic capability). The only other aircraft of this time to incorporate anything like the Lightning's unique wing was the Soviet MiG-21, but the Mikoyan design lacked the notches at the aft wing roots and had to resort to other aerodynamic 'tricks' to achieve low drag and high maneuverability.

IIRC, the BAC Lightning carried the Red Top, heat-seeking air-to-air missile, rather than the ubiquitous American Sidewinder, and later carried the Firestreak heat-seeking missile. It could also carry up to 44 5cm rockets and all models incorporated two 30mm cannon.

The Lightning was entirely a British design and, in many ways, was superior to other aircraft of it's time, such as the F-8 Crusader, the F-104 Starfighter, and the MiG-21 "Fishbed". It was also flown by the Air Forces of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Sorry to go on so long, but the Lightning was one helluva flying machine!

[Sarge]

Here's another entry for the "Didja know they were still flying?" file: There's a B-57 Canberra here in Qatar. I saw it taking off a few days ago, and I noticed it parked on the ramp when I was landing this morning. Couldn't make out any markings, but it's definitely wearing desert camo paint. It makes a very distinct whistling noise in the air.

[Cmdr Powers]

Was that a B-57 or an RB-57? The RB has this huge radar blister just under the nose. Canberras were used in 'Nam and have been lurking around the world in various Air Forces. A classic, and obviously still useful, design. The nearest thing to it that the Americans made was the North American B-45 Tornado.

[Liz Not Beth]

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[Cmdr Powers]

Good Lord! *Choke*, *Gasp*!

Ain't no B-58 Hustlers left on the planet. Likewise B-36's (nuclear or otherwise). Oh, there might be a B-58 up on blocks- yeah, I saw one at the Pima Air Museum in Arizona, I think.

Liz, you must be talking about that testbed Peacemaker that carried a nuke in its bomb-bay. I hate to tell you, but while the B-36 carried it, it couldn't carry anything else.

And I might add that the song about the B-36 goes something like... "Our bomber flies ten-thousand miles, but all it can carry is a bomb like a cherry, our bomber flies ten-thousand miles."

[Liz Not Beth]

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[Cmdr Powers]

The B-36 was certainly impressive- and Strategic Air Command (the James Stewart movie) is going to be on TNT this week, I think- but for totally cool superplane, you want the North American Aviation B-70 Valkyrie. Mach 3, high altitude, encapsulated ejection seats, fold-down wingtips, droopy SST nose. I was in grade school when the B-70 was being tested and even checked "the Ride of the Valkyries" out of the library- I was so enthused!

- and then the Soviets deployed high-altitude SAMs and the MiG-25 Foxbat, and strategic nuke bombing went to the deck.

-and then one prototype B-70 was lost in a very stupid, unnecessary accident. The sole-remaining Valkyrie is at Wright-Patterson AFB, IIRC.

I loved that bomber- and the XF-103 Mach 3 Interceptor that was designed to escort her.

(Okay, I didn't mean the Republic XF-103 Thunderwarrior- I meant the North American Aviation XF-108 Rapier. But they were pretty much vaporware anyway- never got beyond the mockup stage.)

[Liz Not Beth]

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[Cmdr Powers]

What was stupid about it was that the XB-70 wasn't scheduled to fly that day. It was an unscheduled photo op hop. The F-104 chase plane got too near the vortices coming off of the big delta wing and rolled across the back of the bomber, taking out both vertical stabilizers. The Valkyrie rolled over and plunged.

The F-104 Starfighter isn't the most stable, maneuverable of fighters on its best behavior. Flying near the tail of a huge delta-wing bomber so that the camera can get a nice pic is, to me, stupid.

Oh well.

[Liz Not Beth]

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[Cmdr Powers]

I'm sure if anyone could convince them it would be you, Liz!

[Sarge]

I haven't gotten close enough to see if there's a radome under the B-57's nose. I've only seen one here, so I'm guessing it's an RB model. There's not a whole lot of tactical use for just one bomber, but one recon plane is useful.