Upgrade to enjoy this feature!
Vital MX fantasy is free to play, but Premium users receive great benefits. Premium benefits include:
- View and download rider stats
- Pick trends
- Create a private league
- And more!
Only $10 for all 2026 SX, MX, and SMX series.
Now why would you put missiles on pylons on a stealth airframe which has internal weapons bays? Might as call up the enemy radar operators and just give them your planned route 🙄
Are those man hours or clock hours? If it's total man hours, that's actually better than I might have thought!
Clock. The maintainers spent 8 hours (maybe it was "only" 6, I can't remember exactly) working on the plane for every one hour of flight...and most flights were more than one hour. That's a lot of maintenance.
I don't have a frame of reference, but I always figured it was a team of 4+ for 8 hours (or more) for a man hour total over 30.
The Shop
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
Buddy of mine flew Hornets in the navy and multiple airframes in the Indiana ANG. Made numerous deployments to the Mid-East over 20+ years. Said only the A-10 would stop the bad guys in their tracks. But he also stated that a very clean environment free of surface to air threats was required for the A-10 to operate with impunity.
F-15C will be arriving at “Airbase Arizona” on Falcon Field in Mesa AZ at around 1:30 today….
5 minutes from my home.
A Tyndall bird.
Any landing you can wade away from...
This was a flyby of the boat after the airborne change of command for VF-31. The pilot was the outgoing CO.
Interesting tidbit, they were supersonic when going by the boat and I was told some poor young sailor was just opening a hatch to go up to the flightdeck when the shockwave hit and it slammed the door into him. He was medevaced on the same C2 COD as the two guys in the jet. The guys in the jet were just leaving as planned following the Change of Command.
😄😄 Right?
Man, heck of a backstory! Thanks for sharing. Hope that sailor recovered.
On Indy in ‘97, we had a Hornet lose its left main gear on launch from cat 3. When the wing dropped, it hit the center deck hatch where the kid who plugs in the AC weight sits and slammed it on his legs. Luckily, our flight surgeon was a a shit hot doc who got the kid stabilized and they were able to fly him off. I think they were able to save his legs, too.
Cool in-cockpit video on the Dragon Lady. The U-2 Spyplane and how hard it is to fly. 😲
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1Bu2LZMKL9/
Pit Row
https://theaviationist.com/2026/09/28/is-nasa-sr-71-blackbird-returning-to-flight/
Is An SR-71 Blackbird Returning to Flight 27 Years Later?
Back when painting cool shit on the vertical stabs was allowed. Maybe the nav rescinded that rule? Our A-6 with the 555 side number had three buffalo nickels in place of the digits. That, and my disregard for radio etiquette, were the limits of our squadron’s creativity.
Rising Suns
Eagles
Swords and Shields
Scotch patterns
Crowns
Ravens
Felix the Cat..
Betty Boop
Skunks
Skunks in lab-coats
Sharks (Outlaw Sharks!)
Marvin the Martian
My favorite? A possum on an S3 tail. Out in the middle of the dez to out in the middle of the Indian Ocean…& back. That bird shot off the deck like no other. And its “electronics suite” was amazing. Straight outta the future…
A fucking Possum. On one bird. Only time I saw that, too.
It was the best of times.
You don't always need to be stealthy, and some weapons work much better if not stuffed into a bay. Yes, it is preferable to have clean wings, but there are situations where it makes sense.
Dambusters' 90s CAG bird...
A loner Hornet…
When you’ve made the grade.
A single seat CAG is the real deal. No explanations needed
Signed,
“Jus’ Military Adjacent” and no patches worn. 🤣
Who wore “Casper”…?
Was that AF or USN…it’s been a minute or 100; but, remember seeing it…
What The Hell is That Arse End Off ?
I can see the one up in the air, but what is it ?
XB-70 Valkyrie...
I wish I could answer that! Lol
Post a reply to: Historic Aircraft from back in the day