AIRPOWER/Cold War - Its literally the first two lines of their hymn

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Ace Oliveira: Dec 27, 2009; "I wonder if there is beer on the sun."

Holy poo poo, I didn't know jack poo poo about Cold War airpower, but now I know some pretty interesting poo poo. Maybe if this was an Cold War infantry thread I could participe in it, but this is still interesting as gently caress, nonetheless.

As someone with an interest that borders on obsession about the Vietnam War, how were the F-4 Phantoms that the US military used back then? Nothing says "hardcore" quite like an F-4 Phantom, except maybe a Huey Hog or a AH-1 Cobra.

# ¿ Dec 17, 2010 02:47

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# ¿ May 2, 2024 05:52

Ace Oliveira: Dec 27, 2009; "I wonder if there is beer on the sun."

iyaayas01 posted:

Depends on what you mean by "how were"? They possessed an acceptable top speed and range, as well as a respectable payload (8 air to air missiles or a sizable load of bombs) but were not the most maneuverable and suffered dearly in close in combat from their initial lack of a gun on board.

Basically, how they performed in combat, their armament, maybe even their combat history. I didn't know that the Phantom didn't have a gun on board, for example. That seems like really lovely design decision.

Another old Cold War era plane that I like is the A-1 Skyraider. It was a propeller-driven plane in the Jet Age. And it's successor was the A-10 Thunderbolt. God, I love the Skyraider.

Look at this badass motherfucker. It even has a poker spade and a happy face on it!

# ¿ Dec 17, 2010 18:06

Ace Oliveira: Dec 27, 2009; "I wonder if there is beer on the sun."

SyHopeful posted:

I didn't know toilets were part of the armament for Skyraiders.

And holy poo poo, the A-1 is gigantic. I never noticed how big they are. And am I the only one here who can only pronounce "Skyraider" and "Skyrider"?

# ¿ Dec 17, 2010 19:33

Ace Oliveira: Dec 27, 2009; "I wonder if there is beer on the sun."

NosmoKing posted:

I kept holding off on it, but no discussion about cold war flying death machines is complete without a mention of Project Pluto.

A giant mach 3 treetop level unmanned bomber that was powered by an unshielded nuclear reactor that pumped out lethal amounts of radiation as it flew.

http://www.merkle.com/pluto/pluto.html

Jesus Christ, who the gently caress thought this was a good idea? It's more insane than the Davy Crockett recoiless rifle!

# ¿ Dec 18, 2010 17:38

Ace Oliveira: Dec 27, 2009; "I wonder if there is beer on the sun."

iyaayas01 posted:

Skyraiders are awesome

Holy smokes. I didn't know Skyraiders were such good airplanes. And the fact that some of them actually took down jet-powered aircraft is insane, but not very surprising considering the origins of the Skyraider. From what I read of your post, the US Military basically took all the good qualities of the Navy's aircraft and put them on the A-1. Such a great aircraft.

When you get done on the A-10 saga, you should do a write-up on the F-86 Sabre. They're the only early Cold War era planes that I know of that could carry tactical nuclear weapons. I don't know of any other planes that could do that, but I'd like to know more.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2010 22:29

Ace Oliveira: Dec 27, 2009; "I wonder if there is beer on the sun."

iyaayas01 posted:

We hung them on EVERYTHING during the early years of the Cold War...even...the Skyraider.

DAAAAAAAMN

Did the Soviets put tactical nukes on their planes, too?

# ¿ Dec 29, 2010 19:41

Ace Oliveira: Dec 27, 2009; "I wonder if there is beer on the sun."

iyaayas01 posted:

AC-119 will make you love it:

That was a pretty cool spy satellite write up.

That was the plane the replaced the AC-47, right? American soldiers in Vietnam called them Puff, the magic dragon. They were armed with three M134 miniguns. They were basically the percursor of the AC-130. They were way too vulnerable to ground fire, though. They were some pretty interesting aircraft. You should do a post about those fixed wing gunships. Hell, even the mighty AC-130 was used in Vietnam.

# ¿ Jan 6, 2011 14:44

Ace Oliveira: Dec 27, 2009; "I wonder if there is beer on the sun."

Flikken posted:

Did John Ringo plan this raid?

Not enough rape for him to have planned this.

# ¿ May 7, 2011 23:42

Ace Oliveira: Dec 27, 2009; "I wonder if there is beer on the sun."

Ridgewell posted:

Seconding this!

Hell yeah. Nukes are interesting as hell, and their effects are one of the biggest reasons why.

# ¿ Aug 4, 2011 00:27

Ace Oliveira: Dec 27, 2009; "I wonder if there is beer on the sun."

Insane Totoro posted:

http://www.life.com/gallery/41912/one-ride-with-yankee-papa-13#index/0

A Life Magazine photographer took a ride in a helicopter on a mission in Vietnam. There is a whole series of terrifying photographs.

It's really one of the best photo series to come out of the entire war.

The guy who took those pictures was Larry Burrows, who later died in Laos. A lot of photographers and journalists died in Vietnam, including Errol Flynn's son.

# ¿ Oct 20, 2011 16:11

Ace Oliveira: Dec 27, 2009; "I wonder if there is beer on the sun."

iyaayas01 posted:

Yeah, RATs were pretty much standard equipment on fighter aircraft in the '50s and '60s.

There was a pretty good article on the Thunderscreech in Air and Space a while back...the title was "ZWRRWWWBRZR"

Here's an excerpt:

If they made a movie about the development of the M2 Bradley, they totally should make a movie about a early cold war prototype plane that could make people poo poo themselves and have fits because of the propeller.

# ¿ Nov 7, 2011 01:54

Ace Oliveira: Dec 27, 2009; "I wonder if there is beer on the sun."

Jefferoo posted:

If you really wanna see how far we've come, watch this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=?Ki86x1WKPmE

F-35 ship usability testing. Neat stuff.

It's just a white screen, Jeff.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2011 15:27

Ace Oliveira: Dec 27, 2009; "I wonder if there is beer on the sun."

Sexual Lorax posted:

I'm guessing this is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki86x1WKPmE

Maybe it's just growing up with Transformers, but all that poo poo opening up at 0:32 and 1:16 makes the entire video for me.

When did that big top scoop get added to the -B? I remember closet-style doors opening on the top to expose the front fan, but not that huge backwards speed brake looking thing.

Thanks. drat, that video is awesome. The music also owns. From the little I've read about the F-35, it seems like a pretty impressive aircraft. I also didn't know it could open itself up like that.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2011 15:51

Ace Oliveira: Dec 27, 2009; "I wonder if there is beer on the sun."

Naramyth posted:

This was the same flawed logic that went into the M14. The one gun to replace everything(SMG, LMG, service rifle) didn't work then, and it won't work now in the air.