[Dysko]

  Cool photos, Admiral!  Especially the photo of the Red Bull Air Race! You caught exactly the right moment!
Some times ago, I saw on an airplane magazine some photos of the Blue Angels. Wow! There was an image where the planes in the diamond formation were almost touching each other! Also, Fat Albert is another cool thing about the Blue Angels. I've never seen a C-130 climbing almost vertically...
And also, I found this on the link you posted:

USCGC STEADFAST (WMEC 623)
The United States Coast Guard Cutter STEADFAST (WMEC 623) has proudly served the people of the United States for over 30 years. Commissioned in 1968, STEADFAST was home ported in St. Petersburg, Florida for her first 24 years of service. In 1992, she was decommissioned for Major Maintenance Availability (MMA) to extend her service another 25 years. Following MMA in February 1994, STEADFAST was re-commissioned and home ported in Astoria, OR.

STEADFAST has an illustrious record. Since commissioning in 1968, STEADFAST has completed over 330 Search and Rescue cases, interdicted over 1.6 million pounds of marijuana and 27,700 pounds of cocaine, seized over 65 vessels, and stopped over 3500 undocumented migrants on the high seas from entering the United States. STEADFAST was the first, and is one of only two cutters awarded the gold marijuana leaf, symbolizing one million pounds of marijuana seized. Legend holds STEADFAST was named "El Tiburon Blanco" (Spanish for "The White Shark") by Colombian drug smugglers in the 1970's for being such a nemesis to their illegal drug operations. To this day the crew uses the symbol of "El Tiburon Blanco" as one of their logos to epitomize STEADFAST's aggressive law enforcement posture. STEADFAST is currently under the OPCON and ADCON of COMPACAREA. As a Coast Guard resource, we are deployed anywhere along the western seaboard of North and Central America.

Quite ironical, isn't it?

Well, in my view the F-117 has the same chunky "low-poly" effect as the F-22, but to even larger extent. It's not particularly pretty plane to my eyes.

But its shape is quite different from other stealth planes, since when it was designed there weren't enough information about radar waves' behaviour on curved surfaces. And there is also a "sentimental" reason: it's the first model I built, 8 years ago... Lastly, the F-117 became very famous for its surgical strikes during the Gulf War, making it a sort of legendary aircraft (also for its very secret origin).

SR-71 didn't NEED to be stealthy

, its shape is not designed to make it stealth, but to make it fly at over Mach 3 at a ridiculously high altitude. The stealth effect is a secondary effect. The only "wanted" stealth feature is its paint, that is slightly radar-assorbent.

[Admiral Nelson]

Fat Albert is impressive -- A C-130 flying _lower_ than Alcatraz!



The Blue Angels are amazing in how close they can come to one another:

[Dysko]

Fat Albert is impressive -- A C-130 flying _lower_ than Alcatraz!

Also this impressed me quite a lot: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6640270698366329887&q=fat+albert&hl=en

The Blue Angels are amazing in how close they can come to one another:

Right! That was ecactly what I meant! They are amazing!

[Mobius]

I would use another airplane for training,like an F-22....

I'd prefer an F-23, which is aestetichally MUCH better than the F-22. If only the guys at USAF chose the F-23 instead of the F-22...

When I was little I remember that this event hit my heart...

I like the Blue Angels but our Frecce Tricolori(=tri-coloured arrows,should be) are a nice team!

I think that the F-22 and the YF-23 are well shaped.I prefer the second one though the first is evidently better.The B-2(I have a couple of B-2 models somewhere....)is the most expensive bomber ever built and quite fascinating.

Since I don't remember too much things about airplanes,I ask you some infos about an US airplane scrapped after a serious incident.It was much bigger than a fighter and I remember a Concorde-like design....

[Admiral Nelson]

That would be the XB-70, probably one of the most beautiful aircraft ever made:

Link

[Herra Tohtori]

I don't have that cool pictures...  I used to have a video taken from inside the mentioned glider, while we were doing loops and vertical turns. But I lost it when PartitionMagic... did something it wasn't supposed to do on my HD. I know, backups for the win and so forth...
 


Anyway, this one I took while I was in the army and we were transported from an excercise back to our barracks area at Hamina... by ages old, cranky Mil Mi-8 transport helicopters.




It was fun, although it lasted sadly little time.

[Mobius]

The Valkyrie! It was the Valkyrie!

Thanks,Nelson.

[Dysko]

our Frecce Tricolori (=tri-coloured arrows, should be) are a nice team!

Well, a year ago I saw an airshow (I've said that some posts ago, if I remember well) where there were a lot of European teams. Yes, the Frecce Tricolori is a good team, but I think the Red Arrows were much better.
*expecting to be exiliated from Italy*
Obvioulsy, Lidia Menapace (an Italian politician who wants to disband the team because it's "polluting, very expensive, an armed show and a symbol of maschilism") will always find my opposition.

[Mobius]

*expecting to be exiliated from Italy*
Obvioulsy, Lidia Menapace (an Italian politician who wants to disband the team because it's "polluting, very expensive, an armed show and a symbol of maschilism") will always find my opposition.

Since I'm in your side,you couldn't be exiliated.
Myabe the Frecce Tricolori aren't so excellent due to the airplanes they use?

Lidia Menapace...I'll write what I think of her in Italian so you can't understand....
Pu****a di me**a,che ca**o ti parli?Ma va a fa****o invece di sparare simili mi******e!!!!

She wants female pilots in the Frecce Tricolori=she was accidents?

[Fineus]

I hate to say it but the Red Arrows are actually better than the Blue Angels... that said they're both excellent sets of pilots. The RA just seem to have the edge

[Herra Tohtori]

Midnight Hawks FTW. They just happen to have only four planes to fly (plus one spare), and as the planes are borrowed from Kauhava Air Academy, they are in full operational conditional - means they have no smoke system, so their performances are by default less... dashing... than their counterparts from bigger countries with bigger resources.

Skill-wise, they are perhaps on the top of the world. Anecdote:

In 26.6.2006 (this summer), the Red Arrows and Midnight Hawks performed at the same location, Midnight Sun Airshow. During display practice, the Red Arrows pilots had possibility to fly on the back seats of Midnight Hawks.

Apparently they marvelled at how close to each other the Midnight Hawks flew...


It's a shame the Finnish Air Force will soon decommission the BAe Systems Hawk Mk.51, but they are starting to age.

[Dysko]

Maybe the Frecce Tricolori aren't so excellent due to the airplanes they use?

It's not for the airplane: the MB.339 is one of the best basic trainers in the world, much comparable to the Hawk. And it's the only jet trainer that can perform the lomcevak (as far as I know).
Obviously, its evolution, the M-346 should perform much better. But the best thing would be a team composed of Typhoons... Well, I think that's quite impossible since THAT would be really expensive!
It's just a problem of maneuvers. For example, when Italy won the World Championships, the Frecce Tricolori made a giant heart in the sky when the team returned. Maybe seen on TV seems different, but that maneuver wasn't well performed (the 2 formations weren't synchronised).
When I saw the Red Arrows making it, it was perfect.

Herra, I've problems watching videos, but as soon as I resolve them I'll look for a Midnight Hawks video on the net.
So far, I've downloaded the diamond formation for use with FS2002

[Sarafan]

My favourite aircraft? The classic F-14, it looks amazing, and even better when it breaks the sound barrier:

[Janos]

That would be the XB-70, probably one of the most beautiful aircraft ever made:

Link

And then Soviets freaked out and started to build MiG-25 and then the Americans freaked out and built F-15 and in the end everyone lost money for pretty much nothing. Although fighters are cool and Soviet gimmicks were even cooler.

Cold War. Serious Business. Stupid Mistakes.

[Col. Fishguts]

Cold War. Serious Business. Stupid Mistakes.

The cold war brought us dozens of insane and friggin cool machines.

Caspian sean monster FTW.



Not really a plane, but it still flies.

[Nuke]

im supprised noone has mentioned this beast

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-225

[NGTM-1R]

Not really a plane, but it still flies.

Prefer the Lun myself. Smaller, cheaper, actually armed. And apparently in service, though only two of them or so.

[IceFire]

No airplane thread is complete without the CF-105 Arrow.


The best interceptor fighter never to see service.

[Mars]

I thought that was the Spitfire or F-14

[Mobius]

The Delta Dagger?Where is the Delta Dagger?