hrtpaul wrote:Adam the Akrodude wrote:This is absolutely outstanding! From DH-89 to F-4 versus F-8 discussion - brilliant!
I am guilty as charged and would have had my ass kicked on another forum over this most outrageous thread drift!I do find it interesting and amusing to see how a discussion starts about something and morphs in to something else entirely. Ross, you're going to have to give us your details so we can have a good yak when you are down this way - thread drifts guaranteed!
Ray, I have to say your Jen/Susan comparison to F-8/F-4 had me in tears sir!
It's alright Paul, I understand your chagrin. F-4 drivers often did get to see F-8's in their rear view mirrors to the west of Miramar! Being the true thoroughbred that this bird was, it's worst attribute was landing it back on the boat. It had the highest accident rate in this regard - part of it's mystic and charisma! Must have been terrifying trying to land a Crusader on the smaller "27 Charlie" carriers at night with a pitching deck with only a 11 foot ramp to hook clearance. I've read that quite a few ex-Crusader pilots had heart conditions later in life from all the stress they went through flying Crusaders. The worst Crusader was the "J" model - upgraded from the "E". It received special boundary layer controls blowing air over the wings to lower approach speed plus a larger fin. This made the aeroplane a complete dog and unfit for carrier use - big mistake. Imagine designing an aeroplane with the approach speed lower than the speed that the RAT can operate. Loose the generator on approach at night and it's all over! The C and E performed outstandingly over Nth Vietnam and the VNAF were scared of the Crusader. One MiG-17 pilot when seeing that he was being chased by an F-8 decided to eject!
I liken the F-8 to a muscle car like a Mustang, Challenger or Camaro, with the F-4 being something like a SRT Jeep Cherokee! F-8 - gorgeous design, with nifty wing. F-4 looks like it came out of a steel forge with bent up wingtips and bent down tail and smoking like a steelworks stack - big, powerful, brutish with a smoke trail that could be seen for miles! One had finesse, the other brute force and strength! Both jets are complete legends - as were those that flew over Nth Vietnam in particular. I take back my comment about building only one F-4 in 1/32. I'd like to also build a Blue Angels F-4J, flown by Cdr Harley Hall who lead the team in 1970 and went back to the fleet and was shot down over Vietnam at the end of the war in 1973 and still listed as MIA.
Once gain you keep telling yourself that
Think I will be sending you a Susan Boyle CD young Paul.....just to help you keep things in perspective where this debate is concerned
TOR
