G.J.S

VF-96 operated some flights to/from HMS Hermes in 1963. All aircraft made it back to USS Ranger, no “one-way gifting” of airframes.

Looks very good chap. A hell of a lot cleaner and with less scratches than the ones I’ve held!

Mr. Kazansky for the win!

If it’s true to the original, it’s going to require one heck of a runway length - or rely on earth curvature to get airborne

Now i know what a GR3 would look like trying to hold in a fart.

VERY impressive. Quality work on display here. Also like the display cabinet in view behind the bang seat, some fantastic looking small scale work there too! Kudos, you are producing a pit to be rightly proud of.

A word to the wise . . . .

This thread needs to be burned. Mssr Mistang can believe whatever he/she wishes to believe. The only thing that is blatantly obvious is that he/she gets off on lighting a match and watching the resulting conflagration. ”Stop feeding the fish”

The F-14 being “a 6G ‘plane” is a bit of a misnomer - it was Service limited to 6.5, as a life extension measure. There is no hard limit - if the pilot needs to pull hard enough to pop rivets, he or she can. Service limits - which in this thread seem to be quoted as ‘the word of god’ and thou shall not stray, are solely for life extension, or as a safety barrier should the airframe type have an issue arising from an accident, but the type cannot be grounded for operational reasons. I’m very sure the F-14 can happily register G above 6.5 quite comfortably. If you were flying on operations, and somewhere on ingress or egress you had a safety of crew issue (SAM inbound), would you only pull to the service limit? Or would you pull like your life depends on it? The aircraft can take a lot. Aircrew are very familiar with the types they fly, they know what limitations are in place, and the reasons for them. But limitations can be exceeded.

Very good work. I like the “feel” of the pictures that your drawing method shows. Particularly like the Bader.

Only at altitude. 25 down, Spey rules. Quicker acceleration, mucho greater thrust. Top end suffered somewhat, but you really don’t need to be above M1.4 for too much. No point blasting out to M2 dash, get to intercept point and have no fuel for the return. The North Sea is no place to join the M2 club if you have to swim home At altitude though, the J was in its element, the engines preferred it up there.

One mile viz as a minimum? Half a mile to the left, half a mile to the right, Press-on!

I don’t own Viggen (yet), but what I have seen in real world is reverse thrust being used down to a guessed approx 50kts, then wheel brakes from there. Why burn out the brakes from the moment you land?

RF-4, Alconbury crew I think, last pass before RTB. Vaguely remember hearing crew were relatively inexperienced. Also something about a panel from engine underside going free - but that wouldn’t have caused a flight issue. Un-baffled CFT?

The “Splitter plates” don’t move forward or backward. The rearmost half (immediately before the intake) will move, in increasing angle relative to the airflow (think constriction of the inlet). At higher air speeds, the angle increases. The “small holes” on the plates, are to remove the sluggish boundary layer airflow before it enters the inlet.

Not in sim (or even close to it right now), but - have you tried turning panel lights off? Night time panel illumination levels are in no way bright enough for adequate daytime visibility, it may be that the levels you are setting are for night use. Not day.

“AN OLD FIGHTER PILOT” A ragged, old, derelict shuffled into a down and dirty bar. Stinking of whiskey and cigarettes, his hands shook as he took the "Piano Player Wanted" sign from the window and handed it to the bartender. "I'd like to apply for the job," he said. "I was an F-4E driver, flying out of Udorn back in ' Nam , but when they retired the Phantom all the thrill was gone, and soon they cashed me in as well. I learned to play the piano at AUSSIE-Club happy hours, so here I am." The barkeep wasn't too sure about this doubtful looking old guy, but it had been quite a while since he had a piano player and business was falling off.. So, why not give him a try. The seedy pilot staggered his way over to the piano while several patrons snickered. By the time he was into his third bar of music, every voice was silenced. What followed was a rhapsody of soaring music unlike anything heard in the bar before. When he finished there wasn't a dry eye in the place. The bartender took the old fighter pilot a beer and asked him the name of the song he had just played? It's called "Drop your Skivvies, Baby, I'm Going Balls To The Wall For You" he said. After a long pull from the beer, leaving it empty, he said "I wrote it myself." The bartender and the crowd winced at the title, but the piano player just went on into a knee-slapping, hand-clapping bit of ragtime that had the place jumping. After he finished, the fighter pilot acknowledged the applause, downed a second proffered mug, and told the crowd the song was called, "Big Boobs Make My Afterburner Light." He then launched into another mesmerizing song and everyone in the room was enthralled. He announced that it was the latest rendition of his song, "Spread 'em Baby, It's Foggy Out Tonight and I Need To See The Centerline", excused himself and headed for the john. When he came out the bartender went over to him and said, "Hey fly boy, the job is yours, but do you know your fly is open and your pecker is hanging out. "Know it?" the old fighter pilot replied, "Hell, I wrote it!"

Susceptible to countermeasures though . . . .

@Victory205 HA! Another piccy of “that incident” lol .

M. E is not bad, not too bad at all, but I’m holding out for an M. or J. or . . . . Awww crap!?! ANY!

It wouldn’t be frowned upon - landings could be done by an I.P. in the rear, instruments with very limited viz cues in an F-4. Savvy pilots in a dual control Phantom (not many in the RAF) would make sure that rear seat crew were relatively current in “get us home” ability. On normal ops it could be just handling, how to return to airfield, basic flight safety. I’d rather have someone in the rear who - should I take a bird to the face, can get us away from terra firma and take stock of the situation.

With that being the reason - wouldn’t it be a good idea to hand off to the back seater to gain some stick time, so if he has to take control in an emergency, he already has a good amount of time from the rear.