Who here loves fighter jets? VERY IMAGE HEAVY BEWARE!

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I don't know where to post this topic, I've wanted to for a awhile. Jets were one of the first things I remember ever getting an asperger level of obsession over. I hate war with a passion and I was not cut out for the military way of life (long story)..but I just love fighter jets, attack planes and bombers. My love for them brought me to eventually love Japanese mecha too, stuff as Gundam and Macross. But this topic is for jets. Is it against the rule to do an eye candy thread? If it is please just warn me, delete this topic and give me a slap in the wrist. I have an image bucket growing full of jets:

I've organized my folders and moved the F-111 outside of general aviation. I will update this
56k beware:

I'll start the F-111, a truly beautiful design that was the first (American) jet with variable geometry wings. I was lucky enough to see one at an airshow when I was 5. Sadly they were phased out in favor of the
F-15E strike eagle. Thankfully the F-15 is my favorite jet ever and I live quite close to the biggest "mudhen" base in the USA. More F-111s!

Current operators: Australia and they sadly want to phase out more F-111s for the uglier F-18 hornet. The Australians seem to be very proud of their "hand me down" F-111 fleet however and I believe one sunk a north Korean vessel recently.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dPEBkpYc1A















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Here's a funny little story for you Top Gun fans (I dislike the movie despite loving jets). The F-111 was originally going to get a carrier variant but the navy felt it didn't fit their needs so the F-14 was born. I don't like the Tomcat feel and feel its very overrated, you won't see me posting pics of it but you can. I think the F-111 and F-15 are much cooler.

Last edited by NeueZiel on 09 May 2012, 8:21 am, edited 7 times in total.

Here I've included all variants of the sukhoi fitter. Its a very underrated, favored design of mine. I've always enjoyed the shockcone radar of the early sukhois and
Mig-21s. It gives them a lot of personality.

The fitter has taken part in several skirmishes with the US, most notably in 1988 when two F-14s shot down two Libyan fighters that engaged with their atoll missiles.
Both missed and were promptly shot down by two aim-9s. The fighters also participated heavily in the Iraq-Iran war, taking many losses.

Its a very innovative, cool design in my opinion. The Su-7 was the first fighter jet with variable geometry wings and it could fulfil a number of rolls, though none
very well. I believe it was mostly relegated to fighter-bomber duty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2DKVFAZ9pA here's a nice little patriotic su-22 vid because I can't find anything else and I think the iraq-iran vids would be a bit too
grim for forum goers, possibly offensive. The omitted video shows us just how war is and the 20 sec quite is quite frightening. You can try youtubing it yourself.

For all you "little Marxists" and communists fans, the early sukhois and especially the -21 were the face of the movement and a symbol to many people. They were heavily imported allies of the soviet union,
though not as much as the Mig-21 fishbed.

Most famous operations of this jet off the top of my head: Peru, Libya, and Vietnam (not during the US-Vietnam war). I'm pretty sure its been phased out by the USSR/Russia Federation years ago in favor of he Su-24 and Su-34.































































a fitter with its contemporary the Mig-29

I'll probably post more until this is deleted for spam or something. I hope you guys enjoy this, doubtful but hey.

Next up another Russian jet and a Mig at that. One of my favorite Migs of all time: the flogger. The flogger has two variants, one that served the traditional interceptor/fighter role and a devoted ground attack plane called the -27. They were both made from he same airframe and are pretty identical, the Mig-27 has a different looking nose and weaponry of coursee.

The Mig-23 has the "esteemed" honor of doing the tango with the US military on several occasions, one case being when two Libyan floggers like felt trolling the radar in a no fly zone during an F-14 patrol. Well, I love the Mig-23, but I gotta say those guys got what they deserved and never stood a chance. War is war after all.

During the Persian-Gulf war of the 90s, F-15s claimed 8 Mig-23s as well. The plane was also used extensively during the earlier Iraq-Iran war, in many cases being used to dispense chemical agents on the kurds by Saddam. One cannot forgot the Israel conflicts with Syria and Egytp as well, well the Flogger also faced its own loses due to factors such as SAMS (surface to air missiles) and other jets.

Kill records for the Mig-23 are dubious at best. Sides from all wars claim that the -23 shot down at least one plane during each battle and Iraqi pilots claimed a flogger took down an F-16. I love my Mig-23, but these claims are most likely the results of political propaganda and whatnot. The Mig-23, compared to its rivals in each war, is a relatively low tech jet. It was very state of the art at the time of its unveiling and a crowning achievement of Soviet engineering but by the time it was brought out to war its contemporaries were fair superior or had much better training.

Don't fret Mig-23, I still love you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67FoFR90XYs heres









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this is an example of the Mig-27 variant





IMG]http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g296/sierrahotel13/Fighter%20jets%20and%20aviation%20in%20general/Mig%2023%20and%20variants/mig44.jpg[/IMG]











my favorite kind of photo, I love aircraft lined up on the runway

I also love fighter planes. I think that they're awesome. I enjoy looking at them.

I'll be posting more after a shower, expect a lot of eye candy and some REALLY cool videos coming up.

Love the cone trying to get on on picture #5
Love the photos

Those are my favorite kinds of jet photos too. I love the sight of them on the runaway, lined up neatly or being worked on. The F-111 was such a beauty. Its harder to get good photos for certain jets though. I ADORE the site of russian/soviet runways covered in snow where you see men dressed in winter attire brushing snow off their sukhois. Say what you will about the Warsaw pact and communism, they loved their airforce..especially some of the less flattering jets. The Russian federation is a shadow of what USSR was, not that I'm complaining. I hate war, like I say. But the aviator lover in me mourns all the abandoned airfields, jets sent to the scrapheap to rust. I'll try posting some jet graveyards at least. We have some in the United States but the Russian ones are really something, if you're a fan of the game STALKER you mght appreciate the desolate look a lot.


I recall a rather heartbreaking story about an aviator in east block Germany who proudly flew Sukhoi fitters (22 variant I think). Many people dismissed the jet as ugly and this was in the 80s when the sleeker Mig-29s was coming into use. He used the fitters, loved flying them, loved working on them etc. When the Iron Curtain fell he was infuriated that the civilians went and immediately began demolishing all the old sukhois and mig-21s. Of course they kept the relatively high tech Mig-29s, they are the same ones you see flying with the Luftwaffe if you ever watch the military or history channel. To the people the mass produced fitters and fishbeds were a symbol of military oppression I suppose.

The venerable old F-4 phantom, "The Smoker" as my dad calls it. Most famous for their combat sorties against the North Vietnamese Migs, until the introduction of the Top Gun and Red Flag training programs both planes were pretty close matches performance wise. This perplexed westerners who were shocked to their high quality American jets shot down by what appeared to them as low tech "pinko"fighters not fit for a rice farmer (no offense there, I appreciate all the Migs and am only taking in terminology a pilot then would use). The early airwar of Vietnam was a sobering moment for the US military and they had to up the anty. Eventually they did, both navy and airforce adopted their own special training programs for dog fighting. F-4s were at a very big advantage vs the Migs in terms of terrain as well, the North Vietnamese used typical soviet tactics were fighters were given orders via ground control. Additionally many of the older Migs used, such as the -17 and -19 were much better turners.

After proper training the US navy and Airforce were better equiped to deal with the threats of their enemy's airpower and the tides turned greatly. Great aces came from both sides of the war, though the USN boosted a slightly higher kill score.

A number of countries operate(d) the F-4, mostly enemies of the Soviet Union and its allies. In a show of good will the US government sold squadrons of F-5 Freedom Fighters, F-4 Phantoms and F-14 Tomcats. A few years later on the whole 'coup rebellion thing happened and now one of the US biggest military enemies has a large amount of American produced planes! These aircraft served in the Iraq-Iran war, though finding out who shot down who is so confusing. There's so much propaganda, confusion and many factors. I do believe they had air to air kills but its such a headache trying to believe what's true. It seems every claimed air to air kill of the Iranian or Iraqi military can also be attributed to ground fire or pilot error. This is not me being racist toward either nations, I find the Iraq-Iran war truly fascinating and think the Persians are beautiful people with a rich culture. Military stuff is so damn confusing though.

I will give the Irans the props though: they have the sickest paint schemes for their F-4s and F-14s.

A whole plethora of countries used the F-4 and its variants as well, I don't feel like cheating and going to wikipedia right now. Greece, Japan, Germany etc. The US retired its F-4s but brought them back for first Persian Gulf War to serve the role of "wild weasels", flying low and trolling radar. Israeli F-4s have an extensive combat record with Egypt and Syrian Migs as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpYfqI8uMKM

Now, I'm going to post one last batch before I go read my book. I'm gradually going up, though not in any real particular order. Once I get into the sukhoi flankers and F-15 eagles there are going to be A TON of pictures. My sukhoi folder is so big and I already feel I'm overwhelming people but until someone complains I'll just keep posting.

Next up is another very infamous soviet jet...The Mig-21 Fishbed! It and the C-130 are the most exported aircraft in the world and the fishbed is a mainstay of countless third world air forces that can't afford the fancier stuff. Lately a few Flankers have been integrated into a few third world airforces, usually good will from Russia, but if you see a really, really poor country and you wonder "Man..how can see these guys even have an airforce?" You can bet there's a hangar with a Mig-21 somewhere. I know my post sounds derogatory, but its for these reasons I admire the fishbed. Its design came into being during the 50s and it STILL has staying power, of course with numerous avionic upgrades and improvements.

The Mig-21 will never compete with a hundred million dollar F-22 raptor, but its a cool jet. You ever dreamed of owning your own fighter jet? Might wanna check ebay for Mig-21s. Of course I'm going to assume you're stinking rich because the transportation costs alone along with fuel..sheesh. Even the cheapest jet is still a fortune. The Mig 21 is a great plane though, it was made to take off from the most crude of runways like its other soviet brethren and it was created with efficiency and cost in mind.

The Mig-21 is also a symbol of the soviet union. Low cost, high numbers, small size etc. A Mig 21 is quite petite compared to its american rival the F-4 phantom. Many armchair generals still debate which plane is truly superior. In the end the majority will agree on the F-4 phantom, but that's probably taking pilot training into account. I think most aces of the Vietnam war feared the agile, older Mig-17 and 19 more to be honest.

I still love the fishbed, it fascinates me and has so much personality. I'll admit, 98% of jets and bombers have a personality to me. Now enjoy some pictures:
The Mig-21 was and is still used by many airforces around the world. It has an extensive combat record with the US in Vietnam and Israel via Syria and other countries. I'm sure there have been other skirmishes
as well but I don't want to retreat to wikipedia so fast. I believe the Iraqi military used the Mig-21 and Su-22 fitter in either the Iraq-Iran war or the Persian Gulf war. To be honest, such a huge bulk of the Iraqi
airforce was hit before it even took off so I can't be certain.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reVZ9aPYi9A *great video*

DO YOU FLY?
Do you skydive at least?

No to either sadly. My extent of flying has been in passenger planes to other countries and states. I get vertigo actually, though I would swallow my fear if I could fly shotgun or backseat in a jet. More coming tomorrow guys. I don't care if a ton of people don't read it but if this makes sense this posting is therapeutic for me.

I'm back again to post a very classic, oldie that is deeply endeared into my heart that really doesn't get much love at all. What jet is that? The F-105 Thunderchief, one of the few Century series jets I'm going to bother posting. The F-105 was a workhorse of the Vietnam war, built as a fighter bomber and its operators gave it the nickname "Thud" because of the sound it made when it was shot down. This was frequently the case as by the end of the Vietnam war the over half othe F-105's production line had been destroyed in combat. This plane flew some of the most dangerous, deadly missions in the war and despite being dubbed a fighter bomber it lacked the air to air dog fighting capabilities of the F-4 phantom. The F-105 was not completely defenseless in the sky however and is credited with 27 kills (I had to cheat to wiki this part,sorry).

Most F-105s were destroyed by ground fire and SAMs (surface to air missiles) aka the flying telephone polls of death. Always fly parallel to them, pilots would say! By the end of the Vietnam War the F-105 had been phased out in favor of the F-4II and F-111. Remaining F-105 squads were used for dangerous wild weasel missions where they would fly low, troll radar and destroy SAMs.

With the end of the Vietnam War, F-105s were phased out completely. With over half its production line destroyed in combat and the fact that the design itself was rather outdated (like all century jets at the time). I believe a few went to the air national guard (don't quote me here) and some went to Taiwan. The jet is no longer in service anymore.


The F-105 is very interesting and if you are into war literature I recommend any book discussing the exploits of the pilots. Thud aviators probably had the most dangerous, high risk missions involving aircraft in the air, faced many losses and were preyed on frequently by Vietnamese Migs. A funny story though: a crew of F-4 pilots decided they would get the jump on some North Vietnamese fighters and switched all their radio speak to whatever the F-105 pilots used in hopes that the NV would intercept the signals . They pretended they were in fact F-105 pilots flying on a typical strike mission. Of course the migs came, thinking they had their ducks in a barrel and were promptly destroyed by the fighter pilots who had superior training by this point in the war.


One last interesting fact before I post pictures: the F-105 looks suspiciously like a Mig 21 fishbed if you are viewing it from up above!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDVGlVpWrM0 GREAT retro clip, highly recommended if you want a glimpse into the past













an F-105 air to air kill, looks like a Mig 17 being targeted


doesn't it look A LOT like a Mig 21 from the bottom?









Yes, the Thunderbirds use to fly F-105s!

Ah yes, the F-8 Crusader aka "The Last Gunfighter". With the advent of high-tech missile air to air weaponry most aviators assumed that the days of dog fighting were a thing of the past after the Korean War. Well, they were wrong at the time and the even the relatively "modern" early 90s Gulf War had several dog fights. Sadly, it looks like any future air to air engagements done via jet fighter will be beyond visual range (BVR) with high-tech missiles but BVR was a new fancy concept during the Vietnam War. Even in our most recent wars involving air power we cannot guarantee what engagements can be won purely by long range missiles.

The F-8 was very unique when it entered service, the last of a lineage and its concept was pretty antiquated. The jet's primary role was to battle with enemy Migs using guns primarily and it was these jets that performed the first air superiority missions. In the first engagement with NV forces an F-8 was lost but by the end of the war it had the best kill ratio of all the Navy's jets, at 19:1. Despite being the last gunfighter the bulk of these kills were made by air to air missiles. In trained hands it was a pretty good match for the Mig-17s and 19s but still was an outdated model and was phased out by the end of the war.

The F-8's bares many superficial similarities with the A-7 Corsair and A-6 Intruder but they are very different planes. Enjoy the pictures, it was very hard to find good F-8 pictures, its an unappreciated plane it seems. A very cool jet with a great reputation.

I prefer them wrecked.



And burning.

Poor mudhen, I liked the story though about the pilot getting to safety and how the Libyan family helped and gave him food.

Lol, I think I had the vid of the Mig-29 crash. It happened at an airshow, the pilot survived but a TON of people were killed. The video is really gruesome and you can hear children crying and you can see body parts strewn about on the ground. Don't have it anymore, it was kind of disturbing to be honest, I'm pretty de-synthesized to stuff but I've been to a lot of airshows and it made me feel bad.


Not a fan of destruction, but hey to each his own. Were you living in Iraq or something during Operation Desert Shield or do you just like fire and destruction general? Strange to see someone that loves seeing such pretty planes smashed to pieces.

holy picture spam batman. my thougths of the tl dr cause of all the pics is. remote control / ai controlled are the way of the future. ai can handle insane g force. humans to much.