McDonnell Douglas F 18 Hornet's birth

[hachBORHSO 94]

 

[Arrow 83]

Wow, nice documentary! I wasn't aware Northrop had a YF-17 evolution of the F-5 that got that far in development. My nation's air force managed to get 20+ years service out of the CF-5A Freedom Fighter, so I'm guessing the YF-17 was probably high on their 4th gen procurement list. Cool to see a callout to the Canadian, Australian and Spanish air forces, as the 1st foreign forces to procure the Hornet. My country's RCAF loves the 1st edition hornets so much that they just bought 24 used birds from Australia  - doh! Shades of the RCN's disastrous procurement of used UK subs, induces some fear & anxiety in me about that recent purchase. 

This has me pumped to put in more stick time with the CF-188, which I recently downloaded here.

[+Gepard 11,304]

A F-17 Cobra would be a nice What if plane in SF2 world.

[Arrow 83]

21 hours ago, Gepard said:

A F-17 Cobra would be a nice What if plane in SF2 world.

Question that comes to mind; would that aircraft be more like an evolution of the F-5E Skoshi Tiger, or more similar to the F-18 Hornet? Or might it even be something more akin to the F-16 Falcon? I admittedly know very little about the YF-17, but I'm very intrigued.

Edited April 30, 2019 by Arrow

[+Gepard 11,304]

It was smaler than the F-18, cheaper and lighter. Comparable to the early F-16.

[Arrow 83]

Ah well, no doubt it would have been very attractive to my country's air force. I know our RCAF are insistent upon a 2 engine requirement, so the F-17 would have checked that box. To the best of my knowledge, the RCAF has never made use of the F-18s strong capability for landing on Aircraft Carriers. Mostly because my country's navy hasn't owned an aircraft carrier  since 1969 - doh!   I'm guessing other navy's don't allow aircraft from other nations to land on their carriers anyways.   That said, I'm betting that strong F-18 undercarriage has saved some RCAF pilots from injuries on poor landings.

Edited April 30, 2019 by Arrow

[Wrench 9,849]

Quote

I'm guessing other navy's don't allow aircraft from other nations to land on their carriers anyways. 

it's called 'cross decking'. and yes, they do. Royal Navy, French Navy, and the USN. Look it up!

[fallenphoenix1986 603]

On 4/30/2019 at 7:34 PM, Arrow said:

 I'm guessing other navy's don't allow aircraft from other nations to land on their carriers anyways.

Rarely, usually only during exercises as a one off. However a Rafale M squadron embarked on an American carrier a year or so back while the CdG was in refit, and a USMC F-35B squadron will embark on the Queen Elizabeth's first cruise as the RAF/RN wont have enough jets in time.

With that said the USN and USMC were the only Hornet operators with access to carriers, no other nation operating the type trains for carrier ops.

Edited May 1, 2019 by fallenphoenix1986