10 mo. ago • 98%

104-0

38 comments

My favorite part about that story is how the US built a fighter that could actually do everything needed to counter what we thought the Soviet plane could do. It was a massive flex that happened by accident.

93
- I learned about this from this amazing video: https://youtu.be/RmlWmDokzGg?si=uL9QX9eICFPd3C0z
  
  12
  
  Mustard is a treasure.
  
  8
- Is this some form of Beetlejuicing?
  
  5
As a kid I couldn't decide whether the F-14 or F-15 was the most fucking awesome thing in existence. I mean, just look at them! Those planes are what sexy feels like before you're old enough to know what sexy even means.

64
- To me it was F14. F15 is cool and all, but... I definitely saw Top Gun while way too young.
  
  28
  
  I mean, even without watching Top Gun the retractable wings were the coolest thing ever for a kid. It was the aviation equivalent of Mad Max flipping on the supercharger on the V8 Interceptor.
  
  (I know, I know. You can't actually spin up a supercharger like that, but it's still fuckin cool.)
  
  25
  
  I'm told that I first learned to swear by watching Top Gun with my older siblings. Dad was impressed that I even used the words correctly in context. Mom was not happy at all.
  
  14
- I mean, if you ignore the f4, the f14/15 are the sexiest aircraft ever. But, c'mon, the f4? That's jizzing pants territory.
  
  12
  
  It was the X29 for me. That thing was sick.
  
  7
- It's the F14. Its wings fucking move to change the shape of the aircraft!
  
  4
I guess this refers to MiG-24 vs. F-15. Wikipedia writes:

The appearance of the MiG-25 sparked serious concern in the West and prompted dramatic increases in performance requirements for the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle, then under development in the late 1960s. The capabilities of the MiG-25 were better understood by the West in 1976 when Soviet pilot Viktor Belenko defected in a MiG-25 to the United States via Japan. It turned out that the aircraft's weight necessitated its large wings.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-25

45
- The MiG-25 will never not be cool though.
  
  8
From the title I assumed it was going to be about the F-104 Starfighter AKA Widowmaker AKA Lawn Dart AKA Aluminium Death Tube.

13
- My understanding is that the 104 was great at the tasks for which it was designed. Unfortunately those tasks no longer exist, and the auxiliary tasks is where it was truly horrible. Tasks that may not be the primary role, but are still critical to the operation. You know, such as landing, slow flight, maneuvering, etc.
  
  18
- the starfighter looks so sexy though
  
  7
  
  I concur. Missing half of the wing area never looked better. X15 is a close 2nd.
  
  3
- Mood music from Robert Calvert's concept album about the Starfighter.
  
  3
Didn't the opposite happen with Novichok

2
You know or that was all a tactic of the military-industrial complex to justify its projects.

-8
- How terrible. I sure hope that never, ever happens again.
  
  5

You've viewed 38 comments.