Plane / Planes / Aircraft / Aeroplane / Airplane appreciation

http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/HL-10/Large/ECN-2409.jpg

I love how deadpan the caption is;
"Pilots assist with pilot entry into lifting body"
Yet they're all pissing about and laughing their heads off like a bunch of kids.

It's an asymmetric design, looks weird from all angles.

Symmetric.

Reminds me of this.

All these planes are very nice, but nothing beats the fourteen4thirtyfive for causing chaos and destruction.

fourteen4thirtyfive

?

..the footbal thread reference number..

Footbal can fuck the fuck off to the land of no tags.

Why is the Hawker-Siddeley Harrier special? Is is just because it can take off with no runway and no forward roll at all? Well maybe, but lets get to what makes it truly special.....and that is VIFFing. Thats right, VIFFing. Thats Vectoring In Forward Flight.

Is VIFFing really that useful? Well to be honest, its a 50/50 call. The RAF instructed pilots against it, whereas the USMC (US Marines) positively encouraged it. The principal is that the forward motion and momentum can be literally thrown to one side, or up by an instant massive redirection of the nozzles. In car terms, imagine chasing another car and just as you're about to catch it, the driver of the other car turns all four wheels sideways, and sidesteps (crab-like), out of your way. You go shooting past, and directly into his view. Then he is chasing you. If this were to be done with actual jets from different countries (lets say in a staged test - I say this so as not to offend some on here), the advantage could go to the Harrier pilot. Of course, other jets may do twice the speed of sound, so therefore are much, much faster than the Harrier. But I'd like to think, in very skilled hands, its still useful.

Shamefully, the UK government mothballed the Harriers, and now have nothing to replace it. No VTOL jet exists in the UK forces for use.

Here James May enjoys a flight in a Harrier, and waxes lyrically about the lovely beast that it is. James May is a bit of a science buff, and even he in demonstrably impressed. So would I be. Lucky basket.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtQRHm1CZdI

Sometimes, its okay to feel proud of British engineering, know-ho, and derring-do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRfDsSnLtE4

it isnt beautiful though

To an engineer, it possibly is.

Yes, you are right. I was being a little childish. Here is a painting I did of my model USAF Thunderbolt. I have always found ww2 aircraft aesthetically satisfying.

sorry for the poor quality image, photo was uploaded from a print via scanner.

The Fokker Tri-plane, which was most notably used by the Red Baron.

Is VIFFing really that useful?

Probably not, against modern AAMs that can turn at 12g

^^beauty. tried to make one of those once but the top wing kept falling over.

it isnt beautiful though

Disagree, but nice Thunderbolt anyway. (Looks like a photo)

An RAF Harrier pilot I spoke to at a lecture reckoned that VIFF was really just a party trick made rather too much of by the know-little media. He reckoned you might catch out a pursuing pilot once with it, but not twice.

The joke about Harriers is of course that the "obsolete" RAF Harrier fleet of GR7 and GR9s has now been sold to the US marine Corps for spares for their fleet of Harrier IIs. Number estimates vary but it's between 40 and 70; the price is said to be £110m.

Must be a piece of shit if the the USMC is prepared to pay at least £1.5m per copy just to use as spares.

Well when the VTOL Joint Strike Fighter has been in service for over 40 odd years we can all sit back and chuckle.

i prefer the OG version

are helicopters allowed in this thread?

Yo Dawg I heard you liked helicopters so i put a helicopter on your helicopter

http://www.chinook-helicopter.com/sling_loads/RVN_Huey_b.jpg

The Fokker Tri-plane, which was most notably used by the Red Baron.

http://patriciahysell.wordpress.com/2010/04/21/richtofen/

F35 program goes over budget and over deadline....

....Buys old harriers instead.

Was that the same plane in Die Hard 4? blimey I thought they already went and finish it.