Warbird Information Exchange

Sounds like a T-6! I like it even better.

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Don't touch my junk!!

The Bug is actually a phenomenal dogfighter...from what I hear it's the Super Bug that's the real dog.

I've been told second hand from a Hornet Pilot that the S-Hornet is a disappoint also and a lot of guys are trying to avoid them. I also think there is a similar idea in the maintenance section (but that could be the VF Squadron’s BS flowing over to the new VFA units). But I’d have to refresh that idea with my friend who still is in the Nav.

I served with a lot of A-7 guys, they tended to hate the hornet from the maintenance viewpoint, and anyone could fix the hornet, not a ton of skill to keep the system up and running. The Corsair II took skill and Talent from what I’m told.

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www.tailhookstudio.com

The big joke in our A-6 squadron was "What is our primary misson?"
Keeping F-18s from running out of gas! Our KA-6Ds were tasked to the max on evey deployment!

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Don't touch my junk!!

Why didn't the Blue ANgles every use the Tomcat?

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When all is said and done more is said than done.

Limited number of available airframes, exprience with the F-4 as a team aircraft, amount of assets needed to support a team of Tomcats, number of aircrew.....and finally MONEY

All I can say is I never stood taller or walked prouder than when I was dragging a tool box out to a plane as a Naval Aircraft Mechanic and I would put our A-7 and F/A-18 driver against anybody and Know they would be coming home! No slack in light Attack!!!!

Dan, I think 100mg of penecillin three times a day will cure whatever you
and the boys have. I'm thinking all that HOT Florida sun......

Now I'm a big believer in "different strokes for different folks". I probably
watch the Blues upward of ten times a year. (It's easy for me. They pra-
ctice not far from me.) I see the Snowbirds once a year and they pretty
well put me to sleep. Slow, lethargic maneuvers just bore me unless they have propellers, but they can sure fly formation.

The Blues get the oldest, highest time airframes in the inventory. They
probably have enough to last a looooong time unless the decision is made
to put them in something else.

The last Rhino drivers I talked with said the Super Hornets did have some
compromises, but the short legs of the early models were definitely fixed
as was the ability to bring unexpended ordinance back aboard. They also
said that if they had to fight air-to-air tomorrow they would want to do it
in a Super Hornet. The electronics, the new $100,000 helmet, and the
capabilities of the newest generation missiles are a quantom leap over
what came before. These guys were former Tomcat drivers.

Good points, Owen. I saw the Rhino demo ( I still have a problem with that, being so close to a certain Phantom) this weekend at Houston. I saw that thing do manuevers the original Hornet never did !

Randy/Tim have you heard of some specific gripes about it that aren't common knowledge ?

I know that the Navy brass wants it to be the be all/end all for fleet aircraft.I also understand that when you make an airframe try to do many jobs that performance in specific areas will suffer copared to a job specific platform.

The following saying applies to most things in life:

"You want it good, fast or cheap? Pick two!"

regards,

t~

Where does this rhino stuff come from? Is It some kind of Air force plot? Bug, Hornet but not Rhino!

Rhino on top



Probably due its landing weight and to distinguish the 2 aircraft. f-18/e is quite the "piggy" compared to the c.

regards,

t~

I can't remember what my friend, who’s in the navy, said but the overall impression was not favorable, and could be said they were promised a corvette and got something else.

Another good Friend, whose Brother is a Marine Hornet pilot, said that a lot of pilots would try and avoid the rhino squadrons (I'm not sure if the Marines are getting them yet but the Navy and Marines work close enough that I think he is getting a lot of feed back that would not be made public)

And I don't care what someone says in interviews, I've seen how one "MUST" toe the line when it comes to PR, if you want to keep flying in the Navy you will say what you are suppose too

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I don't know how the term "Rhino" got started.
It might be from the pronounced nose of the bird.
The term is used to differentiate between types
when setting the arrestor gear during recoveries.

The Pax River guys called it the Super Bug but it apparently never caught on with the fleet. They started calling it the Rhino. Maybe it's wishful thinking on their part ?