The sky-high aircraft and aviation thread

Variants of what?

The Buccanneer and for the most part other aircraft variants - yes, I may know that [aircraft] first entered service during [date], but I won't know when [variant] entered service and by which date the previous variant was phased out.

Yeah, I'm usually a bit fuzzy on that kind of thing as well, at most I'll mostly know the technical differences between variants rather than chronological ones.

For the Buccaneer, that's bigger, more powerful engines and the necessary changes to the air intakes, along with a number of small improvements, apparently replacing the S.1 (at least in frontline service) completely by 1966.

Which won?

I think we all know the answer, don't we?

The Buccaneer.

Was the Bucc ever offered to the Americans?

SQUIDDLECOPTER

Answering my own question — they looked at it, thought it good, but thought their A-6 was better, and developed that instead.

Some interesting stories here — especially about the fun and games at Red Flag...

Huh, cool.

@squiddleTron:

Hello and welcome to the aviation thread. If you have any questions, just ask away.

The Intruder's one killer machine, that much's for sure. But then again, so is the Bucc, with that rock-steady low-level handling. There's a story of one clipping it's nose on a telephone cable during an exercise. While climbing.

Yeah, I've fallen in love with the Buc too. There's just something about a very bulky aircraft having absurdly good performance that's very cool.

Of course, it helps that it looks nice too.

That it does. It's also bloody big too, pretty much matches and F-15 for overall dimensions and I remember reading somewhere that the rear radio/equipment bay (right about in the fattest part of the fuselage) is apparently large enough to stand up in. Didn't quite believe that, but looking at my Airfix model again, it seems plausible.

Yeah, it does seem a little absurd. Still, I like it regardless.

...Now I'm imagining Top Gun but with the Royal Navy/Buccaneers.

According to my calculations, the fuselage is around 1.8 metres wide at that point and slightly taller than that. Don't know what it looks like inside there, but the bulk's there.

Now that'd be fun! You'd have move the focus to ground attack there obviously, but hey. Incidentally, at least some of the Phantom pilots from Ark Royal did train at the Top Gun school, which alone had more fast jets than the entire FAA at that time.

Well, I guess you could have a second protagonist with a Buccaneer and a primary protagonist using [insert relevant fast jet type here].

Phantom FRS.1 probably, or a Phantom FGR.2 if you want the Interservice Rivalry.

Anyway, Air Vectors:

The De Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou & DHC-5 Buffalo

Late happy new year, folks!

Anyway, those are good aircraft. I've always admired bush pilots for their skill...

Very nice and rather simple machines those two.

On another note, I've been playing through H.A.W.X. in the last few days. It may have some glaring problems with realism, from the amount of weapons carried (over hundred missiles even on hardest difficulty) to the abilities of planes in combat (shooting down Berkuts in an A-10...), but I'll be damned if it's not very, very, very much fun.

edited 1st Jan '12 3:46:43 PM by Catfish42

...anyway, guess what I've found:

• Embraer Flies First Indian Air Force EMB-145 AEW&C
• Super Tucano Ordered for USAF Light Air Support Requirement — Hawker Beechcraft aren't happy about that, that is certain.
• Final Raptor Rolls Off the Line
• US Finalises $29 Billion Saudi F-15SA Sale — The US Government announced on December 29 that it has finalised a $29 billion deal to sell 84 F-15SA Strike Eagles to the Royal Saudi Air Force.

edited 2nd Jan '12 12:49:50 AM by Greenmantle

Semi-necro.

Okay, I was writing a scene in my (main) novel, and it features a (fairly) high altitude battle between a dragon rider and an AH-64 Apache. In that scene, the DR cast a barrier on him that blocks all the projectile weapons, so it kept shrugging off Hellfire and M230 rounds.

Pilot's solution: Decapitate the rider with the rotors.

Would this be remotely plausible?

Only as a murder-suicide mission, methinks. Dragon bones and guts would do quite a number on the aerodynamic efficiency of the blades, not to mention the damage the magical barrier would do...

Also, you have no idea how much that scenario reminds me of D-War.

edited 3rd Jan '12 5:59:50 PM by Fuschlatz

Quite likely. Plus, it's a pretty easy attack to see coming and evade.

No, I meant the rider.

Also, none projectiles can get through it. If you run into him and punch him, he wouldn't be able to block it.

Still, would need to be very exact to hit the rider and only the rider. I assume your dragon doesn't glide through the air rock steady and flaps its wings, which would make the target even harder to hit.