Wasnt really sure where to put this... but it is current news kinda? Current air power on display at least...



Today, I witnessed an air demo, from 2 F-22 Raptors...
Now I was under the impression, it was going to be a few fly-bys, then theyd leave...

Well they come in, in tight formation, then split off...
come back over the run way 1 by 1... the first one splits off again towards the lake, the 2nd one pulls straight up........ gets up to the cloud level, flatens back off, then, TURNS, (not like an airplane turns, BUT LIKE A FUCKING CAR TURNS) and proceeds to, SLIDE over to a point where its directly ABOVE ME.

And as it gets above me..... Id say it had to be up somewhere over 2000 feet... probably more... but hard to judge that, It proceeds, to STAND STILL... Then, TURNS again (like a car turns) and fly's a lil to the south... where it stops... and tips STRAIGHT UP on end... WITHOUT Climbing... Then... (and this is the really bizarre and hard to explain one) Instead of flatening out, or climbing... It FLIPS...

Now if youve ever seen a small aerobatic plane, someone like Shaun Tucker will do this... pull his bi-plane straight up, and sit it still (so its just hangen in air) But the min he turns, gravity, and propelltion brings him spinning back down... NOT THE RAPTOR...

As It flips... It somehow re-catches itself, and continues to hoover..... Almost doing all of that in the same spot!!!!!

This Raptor continued to do bizaaaarrrroooo things... like a snake pattern... (again, car turning, in an S pattern) Well the other raptor continued doing low level passes over the airshow crowd. (It should be noted, the Raptor that was going nuts above me, was no where near the airshow crowd... it was directly over the freaking HIGHWAY hahahaha)

After about 10 mins im guessing... Nuts raptor went over to the runway... and did a few more passes...

Then after about 15 mins total... They took off, off to find the Stratotanker, and get a lil drink... (I really dont wanna know how much gas those things were burning off doing that INSANE stuff)


Ive been watching Airplanes / Airshows, for YEARS...

The best way to describe what I saw today, was a Harrier on Steroids... was just, UNREAL...
Dont know just how effective this ability would be at dodging missles... But im betting an old fashioned gun to gun dogfight is out of the question against the Raptor.....

tomorrow (well today) I will get to see a formation, of 4 WW2 bombers... a B-17, B-24, B-25, and Lancaster... Which will be one of the rarest formations ever (only 2 Lancs and 2 B-24's left flying in the world... both B-24's in the US, 1 Lancs from England, other from Canada, so almost never are those 2 types even at the same airport let alone flying together)

But, What I saw today... will be VERY HARD TO BEAT

(Think I heard they will be doing the same demo's in Dayton Ohio this weekend, at the Dayton airshow... anyone in the area reading this, GO SEE IT... Even if you dont like airplanes, It will blow your mind seeing what these jets can do.)

I heard a story of a mock battle where two Raptors took down eight Eagles with no problem. Thats a pretty amazing feat considering the Eagle is a pretty damn good jet.

Methinks the Russians beat everything we have if not through technical prowess, then for the love of all things phallic.

the superb agility of the F-22 is because of the 2D thrust vectoring.

?

I love jet fighets, I hope someday i can see an F-22 or a Super Hornet F-18 on a show.

My thoughts exactly, Ara.

i know what the "fuck yeah" means...so its wrong to admire such incredible piece of technology only because it is militar?

Its weird... im totally against war...
but love warbirds??? (Ex-military planes) especially of the WW2 era...




The Raptor (from the show yesterday)




Saw the Blue Angels today...

But the thing that really got me...
Was climbing inside the B-24 (which my grandpa's both served on variations) and finding out the guy in front of me was a pilot of B-24's during WW2... He actually was tempted to take the thing up hahaha... the crew of this B-24 had to get him out of it HAHHAHA, and then
it was time for

7 plane bomber formation

2 B-17's
1 B-24 (only 2 left flying)
1 Lancaster (only 2 left flying)
3 B-25's

all over the field together...

then the 4 Big Bombers (17, 24, Lanc) did the missing man formation

Simply beautiful

in 1997, i got to see a stealth plane fly over...i was on the boston esplanade for the 4th of july show/fireworks.

my lord...they told us it was coming, everyone was looking in all directions for it, and then there it was flying right over us...we never heard it coming and we heard only the barest of sound when it was right over us. it was jet black, and flat...like a huge silent bat.

i'm not one to get all hot and bothered about military planes, but this one was seriously cool.

No. I used to love going to see the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels with my dad when I was a kid. It is incredible technology, I'll admit that, but when you think about the amount of money that gets spent developing and building what, at the end of the day, are tools of destruction...I just wish we spent some of that money developing tools that would help people. Like Bill Hicks said, "Can't we use that smart bomb technology to deliver bananas to hungry people?"

The the 1st pic...the upper plane is a P-38, the middle one is a P-47, right?

uuuhhh...
some WW2 Vets are going to be upset with that one...

2nd one down is the P-51 Mustang...
one of the few planes you can name by SOUND before seeing it... (has a very unmistakable sound to it...)

speaking of sound... first time i saw a Stealth fighter... me and my bro HEARD it first... then spotted it at 25,000 feet over the city waiting to come down... (course the bombs would have been droped and wed be dead by then)



heres the thing that bugs me with the Raptor...
the US Airforce / Navy, vs the next 3 largest countries (in terms of airpower)

probably China, Russia, North Korea?

The initial dog fight / conflict.... the Mig's and Su-37's, and others hold there own... get some kills, get a few shot down...

but the min they go land to refuel...
the next wave of US fighters / bombers is over head to flatten the airfields...

the BILLIONS spent to develop the Stealth and Raptor... really werent needed after the fall of the Soviet Union... And since the end of WW2, the Russians have been the only other country that have made a fighter worth fearing.

But they're really cool.

See that's the funny thing about the Raptor, it is nearly too capable for its own good. The Eagle can hold its own in a fight and the Raptor is so far more advanced that its worth is really questionable. Boeing and Lockheed probably hurt themselves with that.

There a lot of fighters nowdays that match or surpass the F-15, here are some : Rafale, Eurofighter, Su-35, Su-37, Jas-39 Gripen...

yeah, those other jets can all match the F15 and F/A18...
but the US's numbers would still dominate...

Oh yeah, I was there for that.

I was also in downtown Pittsburgh the night of the Home Run Derby this year (not at the stadium) when they had a fly-by of two fighter jets in formation. It scared the shit out of me, because I didn't know it was coming and all of a sudden there's two jets screaming towards the city at a VERY low altitude (I would guess around 1000 feet). Then they banked, climbed and flew out of sight.

Yeah, I understand that, which is why I said they could hold their own rather than saying they dominate the skies.

But again, the US's numbers would win the outcome.

take all the Rafale's vs's an equal number of F-15's...
and the US still probably has twice the number of JUST F-15's sitting in reserve / getting air refueled, waiting for the Rafale's to land / to bomb the air base.

And then theirs still F-4
s F-16's, F-18's, F/A-18's, F-22's, F-117's, Harriers, B-1's, B-2's, B-52's, a fleet of just retired F-14's that im sure would LOVE to get back into the air...

And if all that fails... theres still




from left to right
Canada's (and one of only 2 flying) Avro Lancaster's
EAA's B-17 Alluminum Overcast
Yankee Air Museums B-17 Yankee Lady
Commemoritive Air Forces LB-30 (B-24) Diamond Lil